Ethna the Bride by Arianrhod Wolfchild

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Ethna the Bride

Ireland

The fairies, as we know, are greatly attracted by the beauty of mortal
women, and Finvarra the king employs his numerous sprites to find out
and carry off when possible the prettiest girls and brides in the
country. These are spirited away by enchantment to his fairy palace at
Knockma in Tuam, where they remain under a fairy spell, forgetting all
about the earthly life and soothed to passive enjoyment, as in a sweet
dream, by the soft low melody of the fairy music, which has the power to
lull the hearer into a trance of ecstasy.

There was once a great lord in that part of the country who had a beautiful wife called Ethna, the loveliest bride in all the land. And
her husband was so proud of her that day after day he had festivals in
her honour; and from morning till night his castle was filled with lords
and ladies, and nothing but music and dancing and feasting and hunting
and pleasure was thought of.

One evening while the feast was merriest, and Ethna floated through the dance in her robe of silver gossamer clasped with jewels, more bright
and beautiful than the stars in heaven, she suddenly let go the hand of
her partner and sank to the floor in a faint.

They carried her to her room, where she lay long quite insensible; but towards the morning she woke up and declared that she had passed the
night in a beautiful palace, and was so happy that she longed to sleep
again and go there in her dreams. And they watched by her all day, but
when the shades of evening fell dark on the castle, low music was heard
at her window, and Ethna again fell into a deep trance from which
nothing could rouse her.

Then her old nurse was set to watch her; but the woman grew weary in the silence and fell asleep, and never awoke till the sun had risen. And
when she looked towards the bed, she saw to her horror that the young
bride had disappeared. The whole household was roused up at once, and
search made everywhere, but no trace of her could be found in all the
castle, nor in the gardens, nor in the park. Her husband sent messengers
in every direction, but to no purpose -- no one had seen her; no sign
of her could be found, living or dead.

Then the young lord mounted his swiftest steed and galloped right off to Knockma, to question Finvarra, the fairy king, if he could give any
tidings of the bride, or direct him where to search for her; for he and
Finvarra were friends, and many a good keg of Spanish wine had been left
outside the window of the castle at night for the fairies to carry
away, by order of the young lord. But he little dreamed now that
Finvarra himself was the traitor; so he galloped on like mad till he
reached Knockma, the hill of the fairies.

And as he stopped to rest his horse by the fairy rath, he heard voices in the air above him, and one said, "Right glad is Finvarra now, for he
has the beautiful bride in his palace at last; and never more will she
see her husband's face."

"Yet," answered another, "if he dig down through the hill to the centre of the earth, he would find his bride; but the work is hard and the way
is difficult, and Finvarra has more power than any mortal man."

"That is yet to be seen," exclaimed the young lord. "Neither fairy, nor devil, nor Finvarra himself shall stand between me and my fair young
wife;" and on the instant he sent word by his servants to gather
together all the workmen and labourers of the country round with their
spades and pickaxes, to dig through the hill till they came to the fairy
palace.

And the workmen came, a great crowd of them, and they dug through the hill all that day till a great deep trench was made down to the very
centre. Then at sunset they left off for the night; but next morning
when they assembled again to continue their work, behold, all the clay
was put back again into the trench, and the hill looked as if never a
spade had touched it -- for so Finvarra had ordered; and he was powerful
over earth and air and sea.

But the young lord had a brave heart, and he made the men go on with the work; and the trench was dug again, wide and deep into the centre of
the hill. And this went on for three days, but always with the same
result, for the clay was put back again each night and the hill looked
the same as before, and they were no nearer to the fairy palace.

Then the young lord was ready to die for rage and grief, but suddenly he heard a voice near him like a whisper in the air, and the words it said
were these:
"Sprinkle the earth you have dug up with salt, and your work will be
safe."

On this new life came into his heart, and lie sent word through all the country to gather salt from the people; and the clay was sprinkled with
it that night, when the men had left off their work at the hill.

Next morning they all rose up early in great anxiety to see what had happened, and there to their great joy was the trench all safe, just as
they had left it, and all the earth round it was untouched.

Then the young lord knew he had power over Finvarra, and he bade the men work on with a good heart, for they would soon reach the fairy palace
now in the centre of the hill. So by the next day a great glen was cut
right through deep down to the middle of the earth, and they could hear
the fairy music if they put their ear close to the ground, and voices
were heard round them in the air.

"See now," said one, "Finvarra is sad, for if one of those mortal men strike a blow on the fairy palace with their spades, it will crumble to
dust, and fade away like the mist."

"Then let Finvarra give up the bride," said another, "and we shall be safe."

On which the voice of Finvarra himself was heard, clear like the note of a silver bugle through the hill. "Stop your work," he said. "Oh, men of
earth, lay down your spades, and at sunset the bride shall be given
back to her husband. I, Finvarra, have spoken."

Then the young lord bade them stop the work, and lay down their spades till the sun went down. And at sunset he mounted his great chestnut
steed and rode to the head of the glen, and watched and waited; and just
as the red light flushed all the sky, lie saw his wife coming along the
path in her robe of silver gossamer, more beautiful than ever; and he
sprang from the saddle and lifted her up before him, and rode away like
the storm wind back to the castle. And there they laid Ethna on her bed;
but she closed her eyes and spake no word. So day after day passed, and
still she never spake or smiled, but seemed like one in a trance.

And great sorrow fell upon every one, for they feared she had eaten of the fairy food, and that the enchantment would never be btoken. So her
husband was very miserable. But one evening as he was riding home late,
he heard voices in the air, and one of them said, "It is now a year and a
day since the young lord brought home his beautiful wife from Finvarra;
but what good is she to him? She is speechless and like one dead; for
her spirit is with the fairies though her form is there beside him."

Then another voice answered, "And so she will remain unless the spell is broken. He must unloose the girdle from her waist that is fastened with
an enchanted pin, and burn the girdle with fire, and throw the ashes
before the door, and bury the enchanted pin in the earth; then will her
spirit come back from Fairyland, and she will once more speak and have
true life."

Hearing this the young lord at once set spurs to his horse, and on reaching the castle hastened to the room where Ethna lay on her couch
silent and beautiful like a waxen figure. Then, being determined to test
the truth of the spirit voices, he untied the girdle, and after much
difficulty extracted the enchanted pin from the folds. But still Ethna
spoke no word; then he took the girdle and burned it with fire, and
strewed the ashes before the door, and he buried the enchanted pin in a
deep hole in the earth, under a fairy thorn, that no hand might disturb
the spot. After which he returned to his young wife, who smiled as she
looked at him, aud held forth her hand. Great was his joy to see the
soul coming back to the beautiful form, and he raised her up and kissed
her; and speech and memory came back to her at that moment, and all her
former life, just as if it had never been broken or interrupted; but the
year that her spirit had passed in Fairyland seemed to her but as a
dream of the night, from which she had just awoke.

After this Finvarra made no further efforts to carry her off; but the deep cut in the hill remains to this day, and is called "The Fairy's
Glen." So no one can doubt the truth of the story as here narrated.

---

Source: Lady [Jane Francesca Elgee] Wilde. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1888), pp. 42-45.

found at: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/abduct.html#brosnan