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e Deirdrê still marvelled at the sounds that came so close together, Lavarcam returned. Nor had she been back a minute before three men came through the trees and slowly walked past, close to where Lavarcam and Deirdrê were hidden.
"I have never seen men so near before," said Deirdrê. "Only from the outskirts of the forest have I seen them very far away. Who are these men, who bring no joy to my eyes?"
And Lavarcam made answer: "These are Naoise, Ardan, and Ainle--the three sons of Usna."
But Deirdrê looked hard at Lavarcam, and scorn and laughter were in her merry eyes.
"Then shall I have speech with Naoise, Ardan, and Ainle," she said, and ere Lavarcam could stop her, she had flitted through the trees by a path amongst the fern, and stood suddenly before the three men.
And the rough hinds, seeing such perfect loveliness, made very sure that Deirdrê was one of the sidhe[15] and stared at her with the round eyes and gaping mouths of wondering terror.
For a moment Deirdrê gazed at them. Then: "Are ye the Sons of Usna?" she asked.
And when they stood like stocks, frightened and stupid, she lashed them with her mockery, until the swineherd could no more, and blurted out the whole truth to this most beautiful of all the world. Then, very gently, like pearls from a silver string, the words fell from the rowan-red lips of Deirdrê: "I blame thee not, poor swineherd," she said, "and that thou mayst know that I deem thee a true man, I would fain ask thee to do one thing for me."
And when the eyes of the herd met the eyes of Deirdrê, a soul was born in him, and he knew things of which he never before had dreamed.
"If I can do one thing to please thee, that will I do," he said. "Aye, and gladly pay for it with my life. Thenceforth my life is thine."
And Deirdrê said: "I would fain see Naoise, one of the Sons of Usna."
And once more the swineherd said: "My life is thine."
Then Dei