Manannan Mac Lir was one of the Faery Kings said to have ruled Tir Nan Og, the Enchanted Faery Isle lying in a chilled sea mist to the west of Eire. Tiring of his wife, Fand, he promptly deserted her. Unconcerned, Fand was half in love, and wishing to marry Cuchulainn. She, immediately, took off to Ireland with her sister, Li Ban, where they traveled to meet him. In the form of two birds bound together by a red-gold chain, Fand and Li Ban settled on a lake at Mag Muirthemna in Ulster near where Cuchulainn often hunted. As it happened, he was out one day and came upon them. To capture them, he threw his javelin at them. Fortunately, they escaped, merely wounded.

Disappointed, Cuchulainn went away to a menhir where he sat down and went to asleep. Later that day, he saw two women, one in a green cloak and one in crimson. The one in green approached him, laughingly and struck him with a horsewhip. The woman in crimson followed and also struck him. They kept at it until he was close to death. The mighty hero of the Red Branch Knights, the HOUND OF CULLEN, took to his bed with an unusual malady, which no Druid or doctor in all of Ireland could cure. Cuchulainn, the great hero of Ulster, had been faery-struck.

For an entire year, Cuchulainn lay on his sick-bed at Emain-Macha without speaking. Then, just before Samain (November Eve), an unknown messenger came and sang to him, promising to cure him if he would only accept the invitation of the daughters of Aed Abrat. They wished to meet with him in the Sidhe Otherworld.

Cuchulainn arose from his sick-bed and hurried to the place where the malady had been thrust upon him. Straight away, Li Ban appeared before him. She entreated him to go with her to the Plain of Delight to fight against Labraid’s dreaded enemies. And she promised him that as his reward, he could take Fand to wife.

Cuchulainn refused. He would not accept an invitation without knowing to what sort of place he was going. So he sent his charioteer, Loeg, in his stead to bring him back a full report of the goings-on there. Leaving with the faery woman in her boat of bronze, Laeg soon returned with glorious stories of the Otherworld of the Sidhe. Soon after, Cuchulainn set out for the place himself.

After overthrowing Labraid’s enemies, he stayed in the Otherworld a month with the faery woman, Fand, then returned to Ireland alone. Not long thereafter, Fand came and joined him. Now, as it happened, Cuchulainn was married, and Emer, his wife, was overcome with jealousy. She schemed and plotted to murder Fand, but Fand, deciding it was in her best interests, returned to her husband and Manannan took her back again.

After she left, Cuchulainn was inconsolable and wandered madly through the mountains of Ulaid (Ulster). Emer, not having any other alternatives, procured a magic drink for him from the Conchobar Druids. To her great relief, it made him forget all about the Otherworld and the faery woman. The Druids then gave Emer another drink so that she forgot all about being jealous and once again, they could live happily. Then Manannan Mac Lir, himself, came and shook his mantle between Cuchulainn and Fand to prevent the two from ever meeting again in this lifetime. And thus it was that the Sidhe-women failed to steal away the great Cuchulainn. The Champion of Ulster did not go to the Otherworld again until he met a natural death during his last great fight. It is to be noted that Cuchulainn was more than just a faery tale; he was a real-life hero.

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