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The wife of Huon. In LE CHANSON D'ESCLARMONDE (a sequel to HUON DE BORDEAUX), Huon discovered that, as he was married to Esclarmonde, a mortal, his right to inherit the kingdom of Faerie was disputed by Arthur who had resorted thither after his reign in Britain. The fairies refused to obey Huon but Morgan took Esclarmonde to the Terrestrial Paradise, where she was bathed in the fountain of Youth and changed by Jesus into a fairy.
# 156
A follower of Arthur. His father was King Aelens of Iceland.
# 156 - 697
The lady of Vallone, she planned to make Merlin, of whom she was enamoured, a prisoner; but he made her a prisoner instead.
# 156
The master of wisdom who gave into Lugh's keeping the spear which gave victory in battle. He dwelt in Gorias, one of the four cities from which the Tuatha de Danaan had come. The Book of Invasions suggests that this was in the northern Isles of Greece.
# 454
Hero of a late medieval Scottish romance. Something of an adventurer, he journeys to the court of King Asland to ask for his daughter's hand. This is refused but not before the two have fallen in love. Shortly afterwards, Estmere learns that a Spanish prince is threatening King Asland and his daughter, and disguising himself as a Moorish harper he infiltrates the castle, slays the Spaniard and wins the hand of the lady. Witty and lighthearted romance full of magic and colorful adventures.
# 454
The Lord of the Scottish Wilderness, father of Passaleon. He was killed by Bruyant the Faithless.
# 156 - 198
The pagan king of Sarras who imprisoned Galahad, Perceval and Bors, but who, when he was dying, asked their forgiveness which was granted.
# 156 - 418
ILLE ESTRANGE, where Lionel was kept prisoner by Vagor.
# 156
# 562: (aideen or EET-an) Second bride of Midir the Proud; transformed by Fuamnach into a butterfly; driven by a magic tempest into the fairy palace of Angus; swallowed by Etar's wife, and reappears as a mortal child; visited by Eochy (Eochaid), the High King, who wooes and makes her his wife; the desperate love of Ailill for Etain; Midir the Proud comes to claim Etain, as his Danaan wife; recovered by Eochy.
# 166:
Etain waited a little and then went back and found Ailell newly awakened and full of anger at himself. He told her how it had been, and she appointed to meet him next morning, but the same thing happened. And on the third morning she spoke to the strange man. 'You are not the man I have appointed to meet,' she said. 'And I have not come out for wantonness but to heal a man who is laid under sickness for my sake.' 'You would be better to come with me, for I was your first husband in the days that were long ago.' 'Why,' said she, 'what is thy name at all, if it were to be demanded of thee?' It is not hard to answer thee,' he said, 'Mider of Bri Leith is my name.' 'And what made thee to part from me, if we were as thou sayest?' said Etain. 'Easy again is the answer,' said Mider (Midhir); 'it was the sorcery of Fuamnach and the spells of Bressal Etarlam that put us apart.' And Mider said to Etain: 'Wilt thou come with me?' 'Nay,' answered Etain, 'I will not exchange the king of all Ireland for thee; for a man whose kindred and whose lineage is unknown.' 'It was I myself indeed,' said Mider, 'who filled all the mind of Ailill with love for thee; it was I also who prevented his coming to the tryst with thee, and allowed him not to spoil thy honor.' After all this the lady went back to her house, and she came to speech with Ailill, and she greeted him. 'It hath happened well for us both,' said Ailill, 'that the man met thee there: for I am cured forever from my illness, thou also art unhurt in thine honor, and may a blessing rest upon thee!' 'Thanks be to our gods,' said Etain, 'that both of us do indeed deem that all this hath chanced so well.'
And after that, Eochaid came back from his royal progress, and he asked at once for his brother; and the tale was told to him from the beginning to the end, and the king was grateful to Etain, in that she had been gracious to Ailill; and 'What hath been related in this tale,' said Eochaid, 'is well-pleasing to ourselves.' Mider appeared once again to Etain in the likeness of the stranger she had seen when she was a girl. No one saw him or heard the song he sang praising the beauties of Tir Nan Og and begging her to come with him. She refused to leave Eochaid. 'If he renders thee to me, wilt thou come?' he said. 'If my lord does that I will come,' she answered, and he left her. Soon after this a stranger appeared to Eochaid and challenged him to three games of chess. They played for stakes, but, according to custom, the stakes were named by the winner after the game was won. Twice Eochaid won, and he set high stakes, the first a great tribute of horses and the second three tasks which it took all Mider's fairy hosts to accomplish. The third time Mider won and he asked for Eochaid's wife. Eochaid refused, and Mider modified the demand for the right to put his arms round her and kiss her. Eochaid granted that and set the time of granting at the end of a month. At the end of that time Mider appeared. Eochaid had drawn all his forces round him and secured the doors as soon as Mider entered so that he should not carry her away. Mider drew his sword with his left hand, put his right arm round her and kissed her. Then they rose together through the roof and the warriors rushing out saw two white swans flying over the Palace of Tara linked with a golden chain. That was not the end of the story, for Eochaid could not rest without Etain, and after years of searching he tracked her to Bri Leith, and made war on the whole realm of fairy, and made great havoc there until at lenght Etain was restored to him. But the wrath of the Tuatha De Danann rested on Eochaid and all his descendants because of the great harm they had wreaked upon the land of Tir Nan Og. This tale has been retold here at some lenght and from two different sources alternating each other, namely from, as mentioned, Lady Gregory, and from Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES, as an example of the subtle and poetic treatment of the heroic fairy themes in the Irish legends. The challenge to games of chess occurs in many Celtic legends and fairy tales. The theme of metempsychosis or reincarnation occurs often in the early legends.
# 236: Apart from being a remarkable tale, THE WOOING OF ETAIN has a remarkable history. Although it is preserved in lebor na huidre, the beginning of the first section and the ending of the third are missing, and only the short second section is complete. This situation persisted until this century, when a complete version of the story was discovered lying innocently among a part of the Yellow Book of Lecan housed in Cheltenham; and in 1937 the complete text of THE WOOING OF ETAIN finally appeared in print. The three sections are virtually independent tales. The first comprises a set of variations upon the regeneration theme of the rival lovers; thus, in the opening episode, Boand goes from her husband Elcmar to the Dagdae and then back to Elcmar. Oengus' efforts to win Etain away from her father represent a variant of the type found in the Welsh 'How Culhwch Won Olwen', while his concealing her from Mider suggests that the two gods were originally rivals. In the second section, Echu and Ailill are the rival claimants, Ailill's lovesickness recalling that of Gilvaethwy in 'Math Son of Mathonwy'; Etain goes from Echu to Ailill and back to Echu. In the final section, it is Mider and Echu who contest Etain, and the tasks assigned Mider recall those imposed upon the Dagdae in the first section and those imposed upon Culhwch; Etain goes from Echu to Mider, back to Echu (in the person of her daughter), back to Mider and, in some traditions, back to Echu - the uncertain conclusion underlines the seasonal motif. 'The Wooing of Etain' is also a kind of legal primer. The first section, wherein Oengus gains possession of Bruig na Boinde (at Samuin, naturally), demonstrates that the Irish had a poetic sense of law. Frank O'Connor in THE BACKWARD LOOK says that 'The trick - borrowing the use of New Grange for a day and a night and then claiming successfully that this means for all time - has some esoteric meaning which I cannot grasp'; but there is nothing esoteric here. Oengus' argument that 'it is in days and nights that the world passes' explains everything. Mider uses the same trick in the third section, for, in claiming that Echu has 'sold' Etain, he is clearly arguing that 'My arms round Etain and a kiss from her' entitle him to permanent possession of her, that it is in embraces and kisses that love is spent. (Actually, since the last fidchell game is played for an open stake, Mider could simply have asked for Etain outright; but perhaps then Echu would not have kept the bargain). Since Echu does not accept this argument - he claims that he has not sold Etain - Mider is forced to trick him a second time; thinking that he has picked out Etain from among the fifty women, Echu pledges himself content, but actually he has chosen his own (and Etain's) daughter. Mider's name appropriately, seems to derive from a Celtic root meaning 'to judge'.
# 769: Etain is closely associated with the super-natural: she is linked to two gods, Midhir and Oenghus. She is reborn with the same identity as her original self. Most important of all, it is clear that in her marriage to Eochiadh, she is fulfilling the role of goddess and sovereignty, legitimizing his rule by her union with the king.
# 100 - 166 - 236 - 267 - 562 - 769
Daughter of Etain; King Conary Môr (Mor) descended from Etain Oig married Cormac, King of Ulster; put away owing to barrenness; cowherd of Eterskel cares for her one daughter.
# 562
'The Wooing of Etain', composed in its oldest form as early as the eight century, is one of the most charming pieces of romantic fiction preserved from the vernacular literature of medieval Europe. Though, unfortunately, the story exists only in a series of disconnected and mutilated fragments, enough remains to illustrate admirably the highly developed style and delicate treatment of sentiment which characterize ancient Irish literature. In her earlier career, Etain is associated not only with Mider but also with Angus Oc, a well-known supernatural personage who figures in the Mythological cycle. According to the annals, her mortal husband, Eochaid Airem, became high king of Ireland about 134 BC. 'The Wooing of Etain' is connected with 'The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel' by the fact that Etain's grandson, King Conaire Mor, meets his death as the result of Eochaid's having destroyed the fairy-mound of Bri Leith, whither Etain had been abducted by Mider.
# 166
Mother of Etain.
# 562
(ed'er scyal) King of Ireland (Tara), and foster-father of Conaire Mor husband of Mess Buachalla, daughter of the second Etain; his cowherd cares for Mess Buachalla; on his death he is succeeded by Conaire (Conary) Mor.
# 166 - 562
Prince of Danaans of Connacht, father of Caer.
# 562
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