Three fifties of them sat or played in their great hall as Brian entered, and they gazed on him but spoke no word.

Then Brian strode to the wide hearth, and without a word he seized from it a spit that was made of beaten gold, and turned again to go.

But at that the laughter of the sea-maidens rippled through the hall and one of them said: "Thou art a bold man, Brian, and bolder than thou knowest; for if thy two brothers were here, the weakest of us could vanquish all the three.

Nevertheless, take the spit for thy daring; we had never granted it for thy prayers." So Brian thanked them and bade farewell, and he rose to the surface of the water.

Ere long his brethren perceived him as he shouldered the waves on the bosom of the deep, and they sailed to where he was and took him on board.