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Midir's Entreaty to Etain
Apr. 6th, 2005 04:39 pm"O fair-haired woman, will you come with me to the marvellous land, full of music, where the hair is primrose-yellow and the body white as snow?
There none speaks of 'mine' or 'thine ' - white are the teeth and black the brows; eyes flash with many-coloured lights, and the hue of the foxglove is on every cheek.
Pleasant to the eye are the plains of Erin, but they are a desert to the Great Plain.
Heady is the ale of Erin, but the ale of the Great Plain is headier.
It is one of the wonders of that land that youth does not change into age.
Smooth and sweet are the streams that flow through it; mead and wine abound of every kind; there men are all fair, without blemish; there women conceive without sin.
We see around us on every side, yet no man seeth us; the cloud of the sin of Adam hides us from their observation.
O lady, if thou wilt oome to my strong people, the purest of gold shall be on thy head - thy meat shall be swine's flesh unsalted*, new milk and mead shalt thou drink with me there; O fair-haired woman. ' "
*[unsalted : The reference is to the magic swine of Mananan, which were killed and eaten afresh every day, and whose meat preserved the eternal youth of the People of Dana.]
From: Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race by Thomas Rolleston [Chapter 4: The Early Milesian Kings]
There none speaks of 'mine' or 'thine ' - white are the teeth and black the brows; eyes flash with many-coloured lights, and the hue of the foxglove is on every cheek.
Pleasant to the eye are the plains of Erin, but they are a desert to the Great Plain.
Heady is the ale of Erin, but the ale of the Great Plain is headier.
It is one of the wonders of that land that youth does not change into age.
Smooth and sweet are the streams that flow through it; mead and wine abound of every kind; there men are all fair, without blemish; there women conceive without sin.
We see around us on every side, yet no man seeth us; the cloud of the sin of Adam hides us from their observation.
O lady, if thou wilt oome to my strong people, the purest of gold shall be on thy head - thy meat shall be swine's flesh unsalted*, new milk and mead shalt thou drink with me there; O fair-haired woman. ' "
*[unsalted : The reference is to the magic swine of Mananan, which were killed and eaten afresh every day, and whose meat preserved the eternal youth of the People of Dana.]
From: Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race by Thomas Rolleston [Chapter 4: The Early Milesian Kings]
