And Midhir took a hill for himself, and his wife Fuamach was with him
there, and his daughter, Bri. And Leith, son of Celtchar of Cualu, was
the most beautiful among the young men of the Sidhe of Ireland at that
time, and he loved Bri, Midhir's daughter. And Bri went out with her
young girls to meet him one time at the Grave of the Daughters beside
Teamhair. And Leith came and his young men along with him till he was on
the Hill of the After Repentance. And they could not come nearer to one
another because of the slingers on Midhir's hill that were answering one
another till their spears were as many as a swarm of bees on a day of
beauty. And Cochlan, Leith's servant, got a sharp wound from them and he
died.
Then the girl turned back to Midhir's hill, and her heart broke in her
and she died. And Leith said: "Although I am not let come to this girl,
I will leave my name with her." And the hill was called Bri Leith from
that time.
After a while Midhir took Etain Echraide to be his wife. And there was
great jealousy on Fuamach, the wife he had before, when she saw the
love that Midhir gave to Etain, and she called to the Druid, Bresal
Etarlaim to help her, and he put spells on Etain the way Fuamach was
able to drive her away.
And when she was driven out of Bri Leith, Angus Og, son of the Dagda,
took her into his keeping; and when Midhir asked her back, he would not
give her up, but he brought her about with him to every place he went.
And wherever they rested, he made a sunny house for her, and put
sweet-smelling flowers in it, and he made invisible walls about it, that
no one could see through and that could not be seen.
But when news came to Fuamach that Etain was so well cared by Angus,
anger and jealousy came on her again, and she searched her mind for a
way to destroy Etain altogether.
And it is what she did, she persuaded Midhir and Angus to go out and
meet one another and to make peace, for there had been a quarrel between
them ever since the time Etain was sent away. And when Angus was away
from Brugh na Boinn, Fuamach went and found Etain there, in her sunny
house. And she turned her with Druid spells into a fly, and then she
sent a blast of wind into the house, that swept her away through the
window.
But as to Midhir and Angus, they waited a while for Fuamach to come and
join them. And when she did not come they were uneasy in their minds,
and Angus hurried back to Brugh na Boinn. And when he found the sunny
house empty, he went in search of Fuamach, and it was along with
Etarlaim, the Druid, he found her, and he struck her head off there and
then.
And for seven years Etain was blown to and fro through Ireland in great
misery. And at last she came to the house of Etar, of Inver Cechmaine,
where there was a feast going on, and she fell from a beam of the roof
into the golden cup that was beside Etar's wife. And Etar's wife drank
her down with the wine, and at the end of nine months she was born again
as Etar's daughter.
And she had the same name as before, Etain; and she was reared as a
king's daughter, and there were fifty young girls, daughters of princes,
brought up with her to keep her company.
And it happened one day Etain and all the rest of the young girls were
out bathing in the bay at Inver Cechmaine, and they saw from the water a
man, with very high looks, coming towards them over the plain, and he
riding a bay horse with mane and tail curled. A long green cloak he had
on him, and a shirt woven with threads of red gold, and a brooch of gold
that reached across to his shoulders on each side. And he had on his
back a shield of silver with a rim of gold and a boss of gold, and in
his hand a sharp-pointed spear covered with rings of gold from heel to
socket. Fair yellow hair he had, coming over his forehead, and it bound
with a golden band to keep it from loosening.
And when he came near them he got down from his horse, and sat down on
the bank, and it is what he said:
"It is here Etain is to-day, at the Mound of Fair Women. It is among
little children is her life on the strand of Inver Cechmaine.
"It is she healed the eye of the king from the well of Loch da Lig; it
is she was swallowed in a heavy drink by the wife of Etar.
"Many great battles will happen for your sake to Echaid of Midhe;
destruction will fall upon the Sidhe, and war on thousands of men."
And when he had said that, he vanished, and no one knew where he went.
And they did not know the man that had come to them was Midhir of Bri
Leith.
And when Etain was grown to be a beautiful young woman, she was seen by
Eochaid Feidlech, High King of Ireland, and this is the way that
happened.
He was going one time over the fair green of Bri Leith, and he saw at
the side of a well a woman, with a bright comb of gold and silver, and
she washing in a silver basin having four golden birds on it, and little
bright purple stones set in the rim of the basin. A beautiful purple
cloak she had, and silver fringes to it, and a gold brooch; and she had
on her a dress of green silk with a long hood, embroidered in red gold,
and wonderful clasps of gold and silver on her breasts and on her
shoulder. The sunlight was falling on her, so that the gold and the
green silk were shining out. Two plaits of hair she had, four locks in
each plait, and a bead at the point of every lock, and the colour of her
hair was like yellow flags in summer, or like red gold after it is
rubbed.
There she was, letting down her hair to wash it, and her arms out
through the sleeve-holes of her shift. Her soft hands were as white as
the snow of a single night, and her eyes as blue as any blue flower, and
her lips as red as the berries of the rowan-tree, and her body as white
as the foam of a wave. The bright light of the moon was in her face, the
highness of pride in her eyebrows, a dimple of delight in each of her
cheeks, the light of wooing in her eyes, and when she walked she had a
step that was steady and even like the walk of a queen.
And Eochaid sent his people to bring her to him, and he asked her name,
and she told him her name was Etain, daughter of Etar, King of the
Riders of the Sidhe. And Eochaid gave her his love, and he paid the
bride-price, and brought her home to Teamhair as his wife, and there was
a great welcome before her there.
And after a while there was a great feast made at Teamhair, and all the
chief men of Ireland came to it, and it lasted from the fortnight before
Samhain to the fortnight after it. And King Eochaid's brother Ailell,
that was afterwards called Ailell Anglonach, of the Only Fault, came to
the feast. And when he saw his brother's wife Etain, he fell in love
with her on the moment, and all through the length of the feast he was
not content unless he could be looking at her. And a woman, the daughter
of Luchta Lamdearg, of the Red Hand, took notice of it, and she said:
"What far thing are you looking at, Ailell? It is what I think, that to
be looking the way you are doing is a sign of love." Then Ailell checked
himself, and did not look towards Etain any more.
But when the feast was at an end, and the gathering broken up, great
desire and envy came on Ailell, so that he fell sick, and they brought
him to a house in Teffia. And he stopped there through the length of a
year, and he was wasting away, but he told no one the cause of his
sickness. And at the end of the year, Eochaid came to visit his brother,
and he passed his hand over his breast, and Ailell let a groan. "What
way are you?" said Eochaid then. "Are you getting any easier, for you
must not let this illness come to a bad end." "By my word," said Ailell,
"it is not easier I am, but worse and worse every day and every night."
"What is it ails you?" said Eochaid. "And what is it that is coming
against you." "By my word, I cannot tell you that," said Ailell. "I will
bring one here that will know the cause of your sickness," said the
king.
With that he sent Fachtna, his own physician, to Ailell; and when he
came he passed his hand over Ailell's heart, and at that he groaned
again. "This sickness will not be your death," said Fachtna then; "and I
know well what it comes from. It is either from the pains of jealousy,
or from love you have given, and that you have not found a way out of."
But there was shame on Ailell, and he would not confess to the physician
that what he said was right. So Fachtna went away then and left him.
As to King Eochaid, he went away to visit all the provinces of Ireland
that were under his kingship, and he left Etain after him, and it is
what he said: "Good Etain," he said, "take tender care of Ailell so long
as he is living; and if he should die from us, make a sodded grave for
him, and raise a pillar stone over it, and write his name on it in
Ogham." And with that he went away on his journey.
One day, now, Etain went into the house where Ailell was lying in his
sickness, and they talked together, and then she made a little song for
him, and it is what she said:
"What is it ails you, young man, for it is a long time you are wasted
with this sickness, and it is not the hardness of the weather has
stopped your light footstep."
And Ailell answered her in the same way, and he said: "I have good cause
for my hurt; the music of my own harp does not please me; there is no
sort of food is pleasant to me, and so I am wasted away." Then Etain
said: "Tell me what is it ails you, for I am a woman that is wise. Tell
me is there anything that would cure you, the way I may help you to it?"
And Ailell answered her: "O kind, beautiful woman, it is not good to
tell a secret to a woman, but sometimes it may be known through the
eyes." And Etain said: "Though it is bad to tell a secret, yet it ought
to be told now, or how can help be given to you?" And Ailell answered:
"My blessing on you, fair-haired Etain. It is not fit I am to be spoken
with; my wits have been no good help to me; my body is a rebel to me.
All Ireland knows, O king's wife, there is sickness in my head and in my
body." And Etain said: "If there is a woman of the fair-faced women of
Ireland tormenting you this way, she must come to you here if it
pleases you; and it is I myself will woo her for you," she said.
Then Ailell said to her: "Woman, it would be easy for you yourself to
put my sickness from me. And my desire," he said, "is a desire that is
as long as a year; but it is love given to an echo, the spending of
grief on a wave, a lonely fight with a shadow, that is what my love and
my desire have been to me."
And it is then Etain knew what was the sickness that was on him, and it
was a heavy trouble to her.
But she came to him every day to tend him, and to make ready his food,
and to pour water over his hands, and all she could do she did for him,
for it was a grief to her, he to wither away and to be lost for her
sake. And at last one day she said to him: "Rise up, Ailell, son of a
king, man of high deeds, and I will do your healing."
Then he put his arms about her, and she kissed him, and she said: "Come
at the morning of to-morrow at the break of day to the house outside the
dun, and I will give you all your desire."
That night Ailell lay without sleep until the morning was at hand. And
at the very time he should have risen to go to her, it was at that time
his sleep settled down upon him, and he slept on till the full light of
day.
But Etain went to the house outside the dun, and she was not long there
when she saw a man coming towards her having the appearance of Ailell,
sick and tired and worn. But when he came near and she looked closely at
him, she saw it was not Ailell that was in it. Then he went away, and
after she had waited a while, she herself went back into the dun.
And it was then Ailell awoke, and when he knew the morning had passed
by, he would sooner have had death than life, and he fretted greatly.
And Etain came in then, and he told her what had happened him. And she
said: "Come to-morrow to the same place."
But the same thing happened the next day. And when it happened on the
third day, and the same man came to meet Etain, she said to him: "It is
not you at all I come to meet here, and why is it that you come to meet
me? And as to him I came to meet," she said, "indeed it is not for gain
or through lightness I bade him come to me, but to heal him of the
sickness he is lying under for my sake." Then the man said: "It would be
more fitting for you to come to meet me than any other one. For in the
time long ago," he said, "I was your first husband, and your first man."
"What is it you are saying," she said, "and who are you yourself?" "It
is easy to tell that," he said; "I am Midhir of Bri Leith." "And what
parted us if I was your wife?" said Etain. "It was through Fuamach's
sharp jealousy and through the spells of Bresal Etarlaim, the Druid, we
were parted. And will you come away with me now?" he said. But Etain
said: "It is not for a man whose kindred is unknown I will give up the
High King of Ireland." And Midhir said: "Surely it was I myself put that
great desire for you on Ailell, and it was I hindered him from going to
meet you, the way you might keep your good name."
And when she went back to Ailell's house, she found his sickness was
gone from him, and his desire. And she told him all that had happened,
and he said: "It has turned out well for us both: I am well of my
sickness and your good name is not lessened." "We give thanks to our
gods for that," said Etain, "for we are well pleased to have it so."
And just at that time Eochaid came back from his journey, and they told
him the whole story, and he was thankful to his wife for the kindness
she had showed to Ailell.
It was a good while after that, there was a great fair held at Teamhair,
and Etain was out on the green looking at the games and the races. And
she saw a rider coming towards her, but no one could see him but
herself; and when he came near she saw he had the same appearance as
the man that came and spoke with her and her young girls the time they
were out in the sea at Inver Cechmaine. And when he came up to her he
began to sing words to her that no one could hear but herself. And it is
what he said:
"O beautiful woman, will you come with me to the wonderful country that
is mine? It is pleasant to be looking at the people there, beautiful
people without any blemish; their hair is of the colour of the
flag-flower, their fair body is as white as snow, the colour of the
foxglove is on every cheek. The young never grow old there; the fields
and the flowers are as pleasant to be looking at as the blackbird's
eggs; warm, sweet streams of mead and of wine flow through that country;
there is no care and no sorrow on any person; we see others, but we
ourselves are not seen.
"Though the plains of Ireland are beautiful, it is little you would
think of them after our great plain; though the ale of Ireland is heady,
the ale of the great country is still more heady. O beautiful woman, if
you come to my proud people it is the flesh of pigs newly killed I will
give you for food; it is ale and new milk I will give you for drink; it
is feasting you will have with me there; it is a crown of gold you will
have upon your hair, O beautiful woman!
"And will you come there with me, Etain?" he said. But Etain said she
would not leave Eochaid the High King. "Will you come if Eochaid gives
you leave?" Midhir said then. "I will do that," said Etain.
One day, after that time, Eochaid the High King was looking out from his
palace at Teamhair, and he saw a strange man coming across the plain.
Yellow hair he had, and eyes blue and shining like the flame of a
candle, and a purple dress on him, and in his hand a five-pronged spear
and a shield having gold knobs on it.
He came up to the king, and the king bade him welcome. "Who are you
yourself?" he said; "and what are you come for, for you are a stranger
to me?" "If I am a stranger to you, you are no stranger to me, for I
have known you this long time," said the strange man. "What is your
name?" said the king. "It is nothing very great," said he; "I am called
Midhir of Bri Leith." "What is it brings you here?" said Eochaid. "I am
come to play a game of chess with you," said the stranger. "Are you a
good player?" said the king. "A trial will tell you that," said Midhir.
"The chessboard is in the queen's house, and she is in her sleep at this
time," said Eochaid. "That is no matter," said Midhir, "for I have with
me a chess-board as good as your own." And with that he brought out his
chessboard, and it made of silver, and precious stones shining in every
corner of it. And then he brought out the chessmen, and they made of
gold, from a bag that was of shining gold threads.
"Let us play now," said Midhir. "I will not play without a stake," said
the king. "What stake shall We play for?" said Midhir. "We can settle
that after the game is over," said the king.
They played together then, and Midhir was beaten, and it is what the
king asked of him, fifty brown horses to be given to him. And then they
played the second time, and Midhir was beaten again, and this time the
king gave him four hard things to do: to make a road over Moin Lamraide,
and to clear Midhe of stones, and to cover the district of Tethra with
rushes, and the district of Darbrech with trees.
So Midhir brought his people from Bri Leith to do those things, and it
is bard work they had doing them. And Eochaid used to be out watching
them, and he took notice that when the men of the Sidhe yoked their
oxen, it was by the neck and the shoulder they used to yoke them, and
not by the forehead and the head. And it was after Eochaid taught his
people to yoke them that way, he was given the name of Eochaid Airem,
that is, of the Plough.
And when all was done, Midhir came to Eochaid again, looking thin and
wasted enough with the dint of the hard work he had been doing, and he
asked Eochaid to play the third game with him. Eochaid agreed, and it
was settled as before, the stake to be settled by the winner. It was
Midhir won the game that time, and when the king asked him what he
wanted, "It is Etain, your wife, I want," said he. "I will not give her
to you," said the king. "All I will ask then," said Midhir, "is to put
my arms about her and to kiss her once." "You may do that," said the
king, "if you will wait to the end of a month." So Midhir agreed to
that, and went away for that time.
At the end of the month he came back again, and stood in the great hall
at Teamhair, and no one had ever seen him look so comely as he did that
night. And Eochaid had all his best fighting men gathered in the hall,
and he shut all the doors of the palace when he saw Midhir come in, for
fear he would try to bring away Etain by force.
"I am come to be paid what is due to me," said Midhir. "I have not been
thinking of it up to this time," said Eochaid, and there was anger on
him. "You promised me Etain, your wife," said Midhir. The redness of
shame came on Etain when she heard that, but Midhir said: "Let there be
no shame on you, Etain, for it is through the length of a year I have
been asking your love, and I have offered you every sort of treasure and
riches, and you refused to come to me till such a time as your husband
would give you leave." "It is true I said that," said Etain, "I will go
if Eochaid gives me up to you." "I will not give you up," said Eochaid;
"I will let him do no more than put his arms about you in this place, as
was promised him." "I will do that," said Midhir.
With that he took his sword in his left hand, and he took Etain in his
right arm and kissed her. All the armed men in the house made a rush at
him then, but he rose up through the roof bringing Etain with him, and
when they rushed out of the house to follow him, all they could see was
two swans high up in the air, linked together by a chain of gold.
There was great anger on Eochaid then, and he went and searched all
through Ireland, but there were no tidings of them to be had, for they
were in the houses of the Sidhe.
It was to the Brugh of Angus on the Boinn they went first, and after
they had stopped there a while they went to a hill of the Sidhe in
Connacht. And there was a serving-maid with Etain at that time, Cruachan
Croderg her name was, and she said to Midhir: "Is this your own place we
are in?" "It is not," said Midhir; "my own place is nearer to the rising
of the sun." She was not well pleased to stop there when she heard that,
and Midhir said to quiet her: "It is your own name will be put on this
place from this out." And the hill was called the Hill of Cruachan from
that time.
Then they went to Bri Leith; and Etain's daughter Esa came to them
there, and she brought a hundred of every sort of cattle with her, and
Midhir fostered her for seven years. And all through that time Eochaid
the High King was making a search for them.
But at last Codal of the Withered Breast took four rods of yew and wrote
Oghams on them, and through them and through his enchantments he found
out that Etain was with Midhir in Bri Leith.
So Eochaid went there, and made an attack on the place, and he was for
nine years besieging it, and Midhir was driving him away. And then his
people began digging through the hill; and when they were getting near
to where Etain was, Midhir sent three times twenty beautiful women,
having all of them the appearance of Etain, and he bade the king choose
her out from among them. And the first he chose was his own daughter
Esa. But then Etain called to him, and he knew her, and he brought her
home to Teamhair.
And Eochaid gave his daughter Esa her choice of a place for herself. And
she chose it, and made a rath there, that got the name of Rath Esa. And
from it she could see three notable places, the Hill of the Sidhe in
Broga, and the Hill of the Hostages in Teamhair, and Dun Crimthain on
Beinn Edair.
But there was great anger on Midhir and his people because of their hill
being attacked and dug into. And it was in revenge for that insult they
brought Conaire, High King of Ireland, that was grandson of Eochaid and
of Etain, to his death afterwards at Da Derga's Inn.