Ethna the Bride (Ireland)

The fairies, as we know, are greatly attracted by the beauty of mortal women. Finvarra, the king of fairies employs his numerous sprites to find out and carry off when possible the prettiest girls and brides in the country. These brides and girls are then enslaved 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. Her husband was so proud of her that day after day he had festivals in her honor; 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 growing wilder, Ethna floated through the dance in her silver gown 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. In 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. The doctors and nurses 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. Nothing could rouse her.

Then her old nurse was set to watch her. At the midnight the woman felt very weak and fell asleep. When she woke up, it was already morning and the sun was shining. She looked towards the bed, she saw to her horror that the young bride had disappeared, but the door was still closed from inside! 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 . No sign of her could be found, living or dead.

Then the young lord mounted his swiftest horse and climbed up onto Knockma, to meet Finvarra, the fairy king, to help him find Ethna. He and Finvarra were friends, and many a good bottles of Spanish wine had been left outside the window of the castle at night for Finvarra's fairies to carry away, by order of the young lord. But he Finvarra did not show up. Knowing Finvarra's history, he was now sure that it was Finvarra who kidnapped his wife.

And as he stopped to rest his horse by the fairy path, 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 laborers of the country round with their spade and pickaxes, to dig through the hill till they came to the fairy palace.

Hundreds of thousands of the workmen came 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 ! Finvarra was powerful over the earth, air and sea. He ordered the earth to remain same as it was before.

But the young lord had a brave heart. 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! 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.

The young lord was ready to die for rage and grief. He ran over to the top cliff of the hill to jump to death. But he heard a voice out of the blue near him like a whisper in the air, and the words it said were: "Sprinkle the earth you have dug up with salt, and your work will be safe."

On this new life came into his heart! He discovered that Finvarra had power over earth which is why every time they dug it up, it remained the same. If the clay was mixed with salt, it would not be exactly the earth and thus would not listen to Finvarra's order! He 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. With great joy they found that 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 asked the men to 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 tunnel 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.

"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 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 told them to stop the work, and lay down their spades till the sun went down. And at sunset he rode his speedy horse to the head of the tunnel, and watched and waited; and just as the red light flushed all the sky, he saw his wife coming along the path in her red gown with jewels , more beautiful than ever! He 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 spoke no word. So day after day passed, and still she never spoke 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 broken. So her husband was very miserable. He went up to the hill again where he heard the voice. He fell asleep after waiting for long. At late night he heard some mysterious sound and woke up. Again it was the same voice! "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 belt from her waist that is fastened with an enchanted pin, and burn the belt with fire, and throw the ashes before the door, and bury the enchanted pin deep into 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 rushed up to the room where Ethna lay on her bed silent and beautiful like a waxen figure. Then, being determined to test the truth of the spirit voices, he untied the belt, and after much difficulty extracted the enchanted pin from the folds. But still Ethna spoke no word; then he took the belt and burned it with fire, and threw the ashes before the door, and he buried the enchanted pin in a deep hole deep into 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, and held forth her hand. Great was his joy to see the soul coming back to the beautiful form! 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. The year that her spirit had passed in Fairyland seemed to her 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:http://www.pitt.edu/%7Edash/abduct.html#recovered