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 my comrades are waiting cold and hungry in the snow outside. Fionn mac Cumall, with some of the Fians, are out there, and he sent me to look for a house that would shelter him from this night's storm."

"There is no man in Ireland we would sooner welcome this night than the chief of the Fianna," said one of the men. "So hurry, Caeilté, and bring Fionn and his warriors in. In his own place Fionn has never been known to refuse hospitality to man or beast, and not one of us would refuse it to him."

Caeilté quickly returned to Fionn, who said:

"You have been a long time away, it seems to me. Never before in my life have I been so distressed as I am now by the biting wind and storm of this night; no, not even by all the wounds I have received in battle."

Caeilté spoke gently to him, for the great hero-chief was growing old, and told him of the house that lay hidden on the hillside, and through the blinding snow and darkness the Fians made their way thither. The man who had spoken to Caeilté before came forward and conducted them to the end of the room,