Welcome one and all to the second installment of Fairie Friday! If you missed last weeks installment about the Tuath De Danann you can read it here! You will also find the international time-table for what time the 1 hour Live Q&A Twitter Chat starts on Friday at 12:30 p.m. (PST aka: california time). Remember to use #fairiefriday to join in the conversation and ask questions or impart knowledge!
Firstly.
NO.
Secondly: Really? REALLY? You're going to go with characters who don't end up together as a love story? reeeaaalllyyy??
Friends, let me introduce to you an epic love story that make those pale in comparison: And also has a happy fucking ending.
.........
Mostly.
Ireland loves love. And they love war and music and drink and grand craic, and if you can get all of those combined, then you're going to have the best story ever!
For the sake of not spending 4 hours trying to type up the entirety of this wonderful story in excruciating detail, and to spare you from the 'son of' 'daughter of' and 'begets', enjoy this shorted and modern summary of Etain and Midir, who happen to be play a fairly large role in my book. Hahaha...oops.
This story is both like, and unlike many 'love' stories of the gods. It's sort of a mishmash of all the best parts and worst parts to make up for the most interesting and amazing story. There are multiple versions and you can bet I read them all. Short of learning to read Old Irish, I'm giving you the best/truest version I know. If you know of another version, I'm not surprised.
Meet Midir: A king of the Tuath De Danann. Handsome, a fair ruler, a fierce warrior, beloved by all. He has a wife, Fuamach. She's cool. For now. Together they have some kids, they foster others. Aengus Og being one of the fosters (he's a story for another time).
Meet Etain: The Helen of Troy. I mean Ireland. Also, her name isn't Helen. She's golden of hair, blue of eye, fair of skin, walks with grace.....you get the point. She's fucking perfect and it's not fair. There you go.
ONE DAY Midir is wandering around, sad, a bit heart broken over his beloved foster son Aengus Og, leaving the nest. He stumbles upon a beautiful woman, Etain. We covered her. They see each other and fall instantly in love. He marries her, much to Fuamach's displeasure. And unfortunately for all of them, she gets a druid to cast enchantments on both herself and Etain as she tries to chase her out of their home, Bri Leith. It fails a couple times but on the 3rd time she manages to drive Etain out, who oh-so-luckily lands in Aengus Og's land.
Feeling bad for his foster father, and being a little smitten with Etain he promises to help hide her, and builds her an invisible home (don't worry, she's invisible too. Duh.) filled with sunlight and flowers and all the things she needs until Fuamach calms the hell down.
Fuamach does not calm the hell down.
Eventually the vengeful Fuamach and her druid are able to trick Midir and Aengus Og into meeting away from the invisible home and then break the enchantments. She turns Etain into a fly and becomes a gust of wind, trying her best to tear this poor girl's wings of and batter her body into the sea. She fails however, because Aengus and Midir aren't completely stupid and realize they've been tricked. They return in time for Aengus to behead Fuamach.
We feel kind of bad for her.
Etain, meanwhile, has been flung about in the winds all across Ireland without rest for nine years (some say a thousand). Exhausted she manages to finally get blown inside a castle by the sea.
A castle that's throwing a party for a newly married king and queen.
And Etain is so freaking tired she falls into the cup of the bride, who swallows her. Yikes. You'd think she was dead and that this is the end of the story.
you would be wrong.
Etain isn't human guys. She's a freakin' Tuath De Danann. So instead of dying she's reborn as.....that's right! A HUMAN. And she's given the name Etain. I'm sure the mom looked at her and said, "you know, she looks like an Etain. Let's name her that." As she grew in age she grew in beauty (of course). And while bathing near a lake with a bunch of her friends, the most handsome man in the world--take one guess as to who it is--visits her and informs this poor girl that she's going to be the downfall of many men and that both humans and Sidhe (pronounced 'shee') would suffer heavy losses in battle for her.
Awesome. Just what a 10 year old wants to hear.
She grows up into a fine young woman and as she is again by a well (what is with this girl and water, am I right?) and spotted by the High King of Ireland, Eochaid Feidlech. He falls for her beauty, her regal standing, her....hair. No seriously. They waxed poetic about her hair for several sentences.
Eochaid pays her bride price and is all "hahah I have the prettiest girl in all the land!". But at the wedding dinner in walks Ailell, Eochaid's brother. He sees the fair and beautiful Etain and wouldn't you know it, he falls in love!
But unlike other men, he realizes this is like...a terrible thing and tries to ignore the feelings. Sadly it doesn't work and after a year and a day he's on deaths door from holding in this terrible secret of loving her. You actually feel BAD for this guy! Eochaid has to go off raiding or warring and instructs Etain to take care of his brother and try to nurse him back to health. She quickly realizes he's in love with her (though he never says so), and wanting to heal him and also do as her husband asks, she tells him to meet her by a boulder before dawn and she would give him all he desires.
When she gets there a man comes to her that isn't Ailell. Ailell meanwhile, has passed out asleep right before he's supposed to get up. This happens three times (yup), and on the 3rd night she finally confronts the man who looks like Ailell but isn't. It turns out it's Midir. He waxes poetic to her and tells her that she was rightfully his wife, that they loved each other more than anything in the world and tells her about her whole past. To which Etain says:
"Uh yeah, no, I remember none of this and I think you're lying."
(can we take a moment here to applaud this girl for not being stupid to trust a strange man who professes his love and says they were together in a past life? Even though it's true? Can we just take this moment to thank Ireland for having smart women in their stories? Kay cool. Author rant done)
Midir admits to being the one putting a curse on Ailell making him fall in love with Etain, and promises to take it off of him to prove he's telling the truth of who and what he is. The next day Ailell is all better. Yay. Except that Midir has only just begun to fight. He comes to Etain during a fair and none can see him but her. He tell hers all she had and all she could have again (and they're pretty awesome stuff, guys) and asks her again to come away with him. She says she can't just run away. He asks if she'll go with him if her husband says she's free to go, to which she agrees.
Long story short, Midir comes to Eochaid and they play a chess match with stakes. Eochaid wins twice and on the 3rd time (are you seeing a pattern here guys?) Midir wins and says the stake he wishes to obtain is Etain. To which Eochaid promptly says "fuck you, no." So Midir lowers his stake and says "fine, then let me hug her and give her a kiss." To which the king agrees.
When Midir arrives it's not as a humble human. Oh no. He's in full blown Tuath De Danann mode. He's beautiful and shiny and has a sword (think the elves in LoTR. Tolkien did!). When he arrives inside the king has hired all his best fighters just in case Midir tries to run away with Etain.
Hahaha, silly, silly, human.
In the more common and more believed version Eochaid spends his whole life searching for his wife and never finds her.
And in a more uncommon version he takes his daughter thinking it to be Etain and finds out only in the morning when the enchantment wore off that it was his daughter. He's so appalled he kills himself. The daughter gives birth to their child, which is also a girl and becomes the woman who makes kings. Yup.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. Etain and Midir, their love spanned time and space and humans. And if you follow history, even despite the war with humans, Etain and Midir survived and still live to this day. And love. Wow. How's that for a love story huh!?!?
----------------------
Next week we'll be covering the Fomorians and Fir bolgs, both who conquered Ireland before the Tuath De Danann. And boy are they interesting!
DON'T FORGET TO JOIN ME TODAY AT 12:30 pm PST (Caliornia time) USING #fairiefriday FOR A LIVE Q&A TWITTER CHAT ABOUT MIDIR, ETAIN, AND ALL THINGS IRISH GOOD FOLK!
-----------------------
If you liked this then have a look at my awesome YA NOVEL Brenna Morgan and the Iron Key! It has Etain and Midir in it! You can buy it here!
AND IF YOU'RE UNDECIDED CHECK OUT IT'S AMAZING MOVIE-ESQUE BOOK TRAILER!!!
As promised from last week we're going to take a break from our fun Irish Mythology History (but we might as well just call it history, eh?) to talk about the best love story in all the land!
THE WOOING OF ETAIN
Now Katie, I hear you all saying as you roll your eyes, you've got to be joking. No love story is better or more famous than Romeo and Juliet or The Fault In Our Stars.
Firstly.
NO.
Secondly: Really? REALLY? You're going to go with characters who don't end up together as a love story? reeeaaalllyyy??
Friends, let me introduce to you an epic love story that make those pale in comparison: And also has a happy fucking ending.
.........
Mostly.
Ireland loves love. And they love war and music and drink and grand craic, and if you can get all of those combined, then you're going to have the best story ever!
For the sake of not spending 4 hours trying to type up the entirety of this wonderful story in excruciating detail, and to spare you from the 'son of' 'daughter of' and 'begets', enjoy this shorted and modern summary of Etain and Midir, who happen to be play a fairly large role in my book. Hahaha...oops.
This story is both like, and unlike many 'love' stories of the gods. It's sort of a mishmash of all the best parts and worst parts to make up for the most interesting and amazing story. There are multiple versions and you can bet I read them all. Short of learning to read Old Irish, I'm giving you the best/truest version I know. If you know of another version, I'm not surprised.
Meet Midir: A king of the Tuath De Danann. Handsome, a fair ruler, a fierce warrior, beloved by all. He has a wife, Fuamach. She's cool. For now. Together they have some kids, they foster others. Aengus Og being one of the fosters (he's a story for another time).
Meet Etain: The Helen of Troy. I mean Ireland. Also, her name isn't Helen. She's golden of hair, blue of eye, fair of skin, walks with grace.....you get the point. She's fucking perfect and it's not fair. There you go.
ONE DAY Midir is wandering around, sad, a bit heart broken over his beloved foster son Aengus Og, leaving the nest. He stumbles upon a beautiful woman, Etain. We covered her. They see each other and fall instantly in love. He marries her, much to Fuamach's displeasure. And unfortunately for all of them, she gets a druid to cast enchantments on both herself and Etain as she tries to chase her out of their home, Bri Leith. It fails a couple times but on the 3rd time she manages to drive Etain out, who oh-so-luckily lands in Aengus Og's land.
Feeling bad for his foster father, and being a little smitten with Etain he promises to help hide her, and builds her an invisible home (don't worry, she's invisible too. Duh.) filled with sunlight and flowers and all the things she needs until Fuamach calms the hell down.
Fuamach does not calm the hell down.
Eventually the vengeful Fuamach and her druid are able to trick Midir and Aengus Og into meeting away from the invisible home and then break the enchantments. She turns Etain into a fly and becomes a gust of wind, trying her best to tear this poor girl's wings of and batter her body into the sea. She fails however, because Aengus and Midir aren't completely stupid and realize they've been tricked. They return in time for Aengus to behead Fuamach.
We feel kind of bad for her.
Etain, meanwhile, has been flung about in the winds all across Ireland without rest for nine years (some say a thousand). Exhausted she manages to finally get blown inside a castle by the sea.
A castle that's throwing a party for a newly married king and queen.
And Etain is so freaking tired she falls into the cup of the bride, who swallows her. Yikes. You'd think she was dead and that this is the end of the story.
you would be wrong.
Etain isn't human guys. She's a freakin' Tuath De Danann. So instead of dying she's reborn as.....that's right! A HUMAN. And she's given the name Etain. I'm sure the mom looked at her and said, "you know, she looks like an Etain. Let's name her that." As she grew in age she grew in beauty (of course). And while bathing near a lake with a bunch of her friends, the most handsome man in the world--take one guess as to who it is--visits her and informs this poor girl that she's going to be the downfall of many men and that both humans and Sidhe (pronounced 'shee') would suffer heavy losses in battle for her.
Awesome. Just what a 10 year old wants to hear.
She grows up into a fine young woman and as she is again by a well (what is with this girl and water, am I right?) and spotted by the High King of Ireland, Eochaid Feidlech. He falls for her beauty, her regal standing, her....hair. No seriously. They waxed poetic about her hair for several sentences.
Eochaid pays her bride price and is all "hahah I have the prettiest girl in all the land!". But at the wedding dinner in walks Ailell, Eochaid's brother. He sees the fair and beautiful Etain and wouldn't you know it, he falls in love!
But unlike other men, he realizes this is like...a terrible thing and tries to ignore the feelings. Sadly it doesn't work and after a year and a day he's on deaths door from holding in this terrible secret of loving her. You actually feel BAD for this guy! Eochaid has to go off raiding or warring and instructs Etain to take care of his brother and try to nurse him back to health. She quickly realizes he's in love with her (though he never says so), and wanting to heal him and also do as her husband asks, she tells him to meet her by a boulder before dawn and she would give him all he desires.
When she gets there a man comes to her that isn't Ailell. Ailell meanwhile, has passed out asleep right before he's supposed to get up. This happens three times (yup), and on the 3rd night she finally confronts the man who looks like Ailell but isn't. It turns out it's Midir. He waxes poetic to her and tells her that she was rightfully his wife, that they loved each other more than anything in the world and tells her about her whole past. To which Etain says:
"Uh yeah, no, I remember none of this and I think you're lying."
(can we take a moment here to applaud this girl for not being stupid to trust a strange man who professes his love and says they were together in a past life? Even though it's true? Can we just take this moment to thank Ireland for having smart women in their stories? Kay cool. Author rant done)
Midir admits to being the one putting a curse on Ailell making him fall in love with Etain, and promises to take it off of him to prove he's telling the truth of who and what he is. The next day Ailell is all better. Yay. Except that Midir has only just begun to fight. He comes to Etain during a fair and none can see him but her. He tell hers all she had and all she could have again (and they're pretty awesome stuff, guys) and asks her again to come away with him. She says she can't just run away. He asks if she'll go with him if her husband says she's free to go, to which she agrees.
Long story short, Midir comes to Eochaid and they play a chess match with stakes. Eochaid wins twice and on the 3rd time (are you seeing a pattern here guys?) Midir wins and says the stake he wishes to obtain is Etain. To which Eochaid promptly says "fuck you, no." So Midir lowers his stake and says "fine, then let me hug her and give her a kiss." To which the king agrees.
When Midir arrives it's not as a humble human. Oh no. He's in full blown Tuath De Danann mode. He's beautiful and shiny and has a sword (think the elves in LoTR. Tolkien did!). When he arrives inside the king has hired all his best fighters just in case Midir tries to run away with Etain.
Hahaha, silly, silly, human.
Midir takes Etain into his arms and kisses her. Etain remembers all the memories of a lifetime ago, and away they run in Tuath De Danann style: they rose up in the air and went up through the roof. When the king runs outside it's to see two swans chained together with a golden chain flying away.
 |
| PEACE OUT FOOLISH MORTALS! |
This is where the story deviates.
In one version the king finds Midir's home and they battle and dig into his rath (a fairy fort or fairy hill) so much that Midir goes up to stop him. He trots out 50 women who all are enchanted to look like Etain. He ends up taking his own daughter (surprise, he has a daughter and never even knew!) and Etain cries out 'no' and he takes both Etain and his daughter back.
In the more common and more believed version Eochaid spends his whole life searching for his wife and never finds her.
And in a more uncommon version he takes his daughter thinking it to be Etain and finds out only in the morning when the enchantment wore off that it was his daughter. He's so appalled he kills himself. The daughter gives birth to their child, which is also a girl and becomes the woman who makes kings. Yup.
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. Etain and Midir, their love spanned time and space and humans. And if you follow history, even despite the war with humans, Etain and Midir survived and still live to this day. And love. Wow. How's that for a love story huh!?!?
----------------------
Next week we'll be covering the Fomorians and Fir bolgs, both who conquered Ireland before the Tuath De Danann. And boy are they interesting!
DON'T FORGET TO JOIN ME TODAY AT 12:30 pm PST (Caliornia time) USING #fairiefriday FOR A LIVE Q&A TWITTER CHAT ABOUT MIDIR, ETAIN, AND ALL THINGS IRISH GOOD FOLK!
-----------------------
If you liked this then have a look at my awesome YA NOVEL Brenna Morgan and the Iron Key! It has Etain and Midir in it! You can buy it here!
AND IF YOU'RE UNDECIDED CHECK OUT IT'S AMAZING MOVIE-ESQUE BOOK TRAILER!!!
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