Connla and the Fairy Maiden

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Conla of the fiery hear was son of Con of the hundred fates.

One day, as he stood by the side of his father, on the height of Asna, he saw a maiden

clad in strange attire coming towards him.

Whence commised Thou maiden, said Conla,

I come from the plains of the ever-living, she said.

There where there is neither death nor sin.

There we keep holiday all the way nor need we help from any in our joy.

And in all our pleasure we have no strife, and because we have our homes in the round

green hills, men call us the health folk.

The king and all with him wandered much to hear a voice when they saw no one.

For save Conla alone, none saw the fairy maiden.

To whom art thou talking my son, said Con the king.

Then the maiden answered, Conla speaks to a young fair maid, whom neither death nor old

age awaits.

I love Conla, and now I call him away to the plain of pleasure, Moe-Mail, where Bodhag is

king for I.

Nor has there been complaint or sorrow in that land since he has held the kingship.

Oh, come with me, Conla of the fiery hear, ruddy as the dawn with thy tawny skin, a fairy

crown awaits thee, to grace thy cumly face and royal form.

Come, and never shall thy cumliness fade, nor thy youth till the last awful day of judgment.

The king in fear at what the maiden said, which he heard though he could not see her, called

allowed to his druid, Corin by name.

Oh, Corin of the many spells, he said, and of the cunning magic, I call upon thy aid.

A task is upon me too great for all my skill and wit, greater than any laid upon me since

I seized the kingship.

A maiden unseen has met us, and by her power would take from me my dear, my cumly son.

If thou help not, he will be taken from thy king by women's wails and witchery.

Then Corin the druid stood forth and chanted his spells towards the spot where the maiden's

voice had been heard.

And none heard her voice again, nor could Conla see her longer.

Only as she vanished before the druid's mighty spell she threw an apple to Conla.

For a whole month from that day Conla would take nothing, either to eat or to drink, save

only from that apple, but as he ate it, it grew again and always kept whole, and all the

while they grew within him and made he yearning and longing after the maiden he had seen.

But when the last day of the month of waiting came, Conla stood by the side of the king

his father on the plane of Arkhamin, and again he saw the maiden come towards him, and again

she spoke to him.

Tis a glorious place for sooth that Conla holds among short-lived mortals awaiting the

day of death.

But now the folk of life, the ever-living ones, beg and bid thee, come to my mill, the plane

of pleasure, for they have learnt to know thee, seeing thee in thy home among thy dear ones.

When Conla the king heard the maiden's voice, he called to his men aloud and said,

some enswift my druid Corin, for I see she has again this day the power of speech.

When the maiden said, oh mighty Con, fighter of a hundred fates, the druid's power is

little loved, it has little honour in the mighty land, people with so many of the upright.

When the law will come, it will do away with the druid's magic spells that come from

the lips of the false black demon.

Then Con the king observed that since the maiden came, Conla has sung spoke to none that speak

to him, so Con of the hundred fates said to him, is it to thy mind what the woman says,

my son?

Tis hard upon me, then said Conla, I love my own folk above all things, but yet, but yet

a longing ceases me for the maiden.

When the maiden heard this, she answered and said, the ocean is not so strong as the waves

of thy longing, come with me in my cura, the gleaming straight-blighting crystal canoe.

Soon we can reach Bodhag's realm, I see the bright sun sink yet far as it is, we can reach

it before dark.

There is to another land worthy of thy journey, a land joyous to all that seek it, only

wives and maidens well there.

If thou wilt, we can seek it, and live there alone together in joy.

Then the maiden ceased to speak, Conla of the fiery hair rushed away from them and sprang

into the cura, the gleaming straight-blighting crystal canoe, and then they all, king and

court, saw it glide away over the bright sea towards the setting sun, away and away till

I could see it no longer, and Conla and the fairy maiden went their way on the sea, and

were no more seen, nor did any know where they came.

End of Conla and the fairy maiden, in Celtic fairy tales by Joseph Jacobs.