when her son was grown, she wept one day, and explained that the king of erin would die the next day, because the king of spain had brought a great army against him. the son said he would help if he were there, and the mother sent him by magic. he asked the king of spain for a day's truce and went to the king of erin as a guest. the next day, he arrayed himself as a champion and drove the king of spain's army from the field. the king of erin had two sons, cowards who had hidden from the fight, but their mother told the king that the champion was the older of them. during the feasting, the queen gave the champion a drink that made him drowsy and then pushed him from the window into the sea, but he swam for four days and nights until he came to a rock where he lived for three months. a ship rescued him; the captain had tried to reach the lonesome island and failed because of fire. with the son, he succeeded, and the son told his mother what had happened with the queen.