Etain

In the hollow hills of Ireland, in the lacy margin where the Atlantic tide touches the shore, on the islands just beyond sight off the western coast, lies a country invisible to most human eyes, a country called Tir na nOg - the Land of Youth. Life in this Otherworld flows and eddies much like life in Ireland, except that to all of the strife and clamor, love and jealousy of the mortal world is added the shimmering loveliness of the fairy realm. Wars are waged, songs are crafted and sung before the ladies and gentlemen of the court, and the young fall deeply in love, as they do in our world.
Our tale begins in that golden world with the marriage of two people who are hopelessly, blissfully in love: Etain, the most beautiful and best-hearted woman in all of Tir na nOg, and her true love, Midir, handsome, clever and fiercely devoted.
But not all the denizens of that Otherworld are without flaw or fault. Midir's first wife, Fumnach, is afire with jealousy at the sight of his joyful new bride, and from her rage and envy she concocts a dark spell, With one touch of her wand of scarlet rowan, Etain is transformed into a splendid golden fly. The humming of her wings is a comfort to all who hear it, and the drops of water which fall from those delicate wings possess the power to cure disease. Midir recognizes his beloved Etain even in her new form, and the two spend all their hours together.

Fumnach:
Change, O Etain
Bear my hatred
I was once a bride
Change, O Etain.

Midir:
Stay, my lovely fly
Stay, my sweet love
Sing an I will listen to you forever
And my heart will be at peace.

Not content with merely depriving Etain of her human form, Fumnach resolves to split the two lovers forever. She conjures up a lashing wind that drives Etain out of the house she shared with Midir, out beyond the safety of land and into the wildness of the sea winds.
Helpless against the power of the spell, Etain spends seven years buffeted among the waves and rocks. Sea-spray drenches her wings; loneliness pulls her closer to an ending in the cold grey ocean.
At last, exhausted, she comes to land on the roof of a house in Northern Ireland in which people are feasting. The sight of a warm fire, laughing faces and a hearty meal cheers her heart.

Etain:
I see it now -
the splendid new world,
the world of bright fires in which I am.
I come willingly and cheerfully
I bless the people before me
May the wine do them good today.

Closer and closer she creeps towards the warmth and merriment, hungry for the sound of voices after her long trial. But too close! In her frailty and eagerness she falls into a goblet of wine which is in the hand of a warrior's wife. That good woman swallows Etain along with the wine, and thereby conceives a daughter.

Etain:
I'm not certain where I was yesterday
or even the day before that!
But no matter, I'm here now,
flying in a dream.

Strange that I am betwixt and between here
But I don't mind at all!
Strange that I am betwixt and between here
Somewhere between two lives.

I am Etain, but yet not Etain
I don't remember who she is!
But no matter if she's gone
because she will come again!

Strange that I am betwixt and between here
But I don't mind at all!
Strange that I am betwixt and between here
Somewhere between two lives.

Etain is reborn in Ireland as the daughter of a wealthy cheiftan. Beloved by many, she is said to possess the three graces - the gift of love, the gift of generosity, and the gift of kindness.

Etain:
I came here from some other world, I think
but I do like the world as it is!
I was lost in the storm for many long years
but at last I've come safe through my trouble.

From the fairies I received song and gladness and beauty
and I'm in love with the world!
I was born here but I dream about some other place
but I do like the world as it is!

One day while Etain and her handmaidens are bathing at the well they spy a man approaching them on horseback. He is Eochaid, the king of Ireland, and as soon as his eyes light on Etain's radiant face, he loses his heart to her and asks her to be his Queen.
She consents to marry him, and the two live very happily together as King and Queen for quite some time.

Eochaid:
O my darling, my treasure, my heart
O Etain stay with me forever
I will stay wherever you are
and we will always be in love
I will stay in the place where you are.

But truth will have its way, and dreams come to an end. Slowly the memory of another life and another world comes to Etain, and the silver polish wears away from the life she has created in the mortal world. She stretches her mind, as if waking from a long sleep.
One bright morning the King and Queen walk out into the woods that encircle their castle. No sooner have they stepped in among the trees than a heavy mist falls, obscuring their sight.

Eochaid:
My darling, let us go outside under the sky
for it's a fine day in the wood
The birds are singing in the branches
The sun is warming the lovely trees in
the wood.

Give me your hand, Etain
for it's a great wood that we have
Perhaps we'll meet with danger
Perhaps we'll meet with some wonder there in
the wood.

A man dressed in a scarlet tunic steps from the mist; his hair is shining yellow and his eyes sparkling grey. He bows to Eochaid and asks, "Will we play a game of chess together?" And Eochaid answers, "We will, surely, sir; for I am good at that game."
The two sit down to play. Eochaid wins the first game and demands as his prize fifty dark grey horses with fifty silver bridles. He wins the second game and demands fifty boars, fifty white red-eared cows, fifty bright cloaks and fifty gold-hilted swords. The stranger wins the third game, and as his prize he demands, "My arms around Etain and a kiss upon her lips."
Etain gasps with recognition and turns to look at her two husbands.
Eochaid agrees to honor Midir's demand in a month's time. When the fated day arrives, Eochaid arranges all of the best warriors in Ireland in concentric circles around the castle, ring within ring of warriors, and the King and Queen in the center of the house.
But Midir walks through the troops without casting a harsh word or shedding a drop of blood and comes to stand in the very room in which the King and Queen are drinking their wine. "I have come for that which we agreed upon," he says, and with great sadness Eochaid leads Etain into the center of the room. "You may put your arms around her and take but one kiss."

Midir:
I walked right past the men
They didn't see me
for I was invisible to them.
They couldn't hear me
for I walked so quietly past them.
I walked so quietly past them.

The moon didn't trace
my shadow on the wall,
and the dogs didn't bark.
Like the wind I came,
In the way of a thief in the night.
In the way of a thief in the night.

Midir puts his arms around Etain and his mouth upon her mouth. In the twinkling of an eye they fly up through the skylight in the shape of two downy white swans, linked by a chain of gold. They fly all through the starry night, over the sea and through the strange mist that keeps the two worlds apart, until at last they reach the beautiful country which is their own true home.

Midir:
Come with me, my love
We will go to that country
where we were long ago
where we shall be again.

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