Feet of white bronze under it, Unknown is wailing or treachery 1 Without grief, without sorrow, without death, Without any sickness or debility; That is the sign of Emain, Uncommon, an equal marvel. Wealth, treasures of every hue, Are in the gentle land, a beauty of freshness, Listening to sweet music, Drinking the best wines. Golden chariots on the sea plain Rising with the tide to the sun, Chariots of silver in the plain of sports A beautiful game, most delightful, Years glided by unnoticed in these care-free Ossian was in Tirnanoge for three cen haunts. turies and the time seemed to be only three years. Bran's ship glided in and out of the fairy islands for long ages and it only seemed the length of a pleasant voyage. Yet, strange to tell, mortals who reached the Land of the Ever Young cloyed of its sweetness, longed for earth with its strife, its hunger, old age and death. Dion, one of the knights of the Fianna, who had been made a fairy prince, told Cailte that, though there was food and raiment in abundance, he would rather be the most abject churl among the Fianna than reign in Tirnanoge. Dr. Joyce calls attention to the close resemblance between this utterance of the Gaelic chieftain and the words of the dead Achilles to Ulysses, met in the Elysian Fields: "Rather would I live on ground as the hireling of another, with the landless man who had no great livelihood, than bear sway among the dead that be departed." Thus, even for the pagan heroes, Tirnanoge had a sinister side, in spite of its charms of strong prevailment over mortal sense. With the coming of Christianity the objects on which the arts of fascination are practiced are no longer princes and heroes-their race indeed is nearly run-but young women, comely youths, and children. Above all things else the fairies love to carry off a young bride. Their power is great, at the time of the druidic festivals-May Eve, when summer is on tiptoe to come in; Midsummer Eve; and November Eve, which is the beginning of winter. On May Eve fires blaze on the hilltops in celebra Bel fires they tion of the great feast of the sun. are called and the weight of evidence is in favor of their having been originally kindled in honor of Baal, the god of the sun. Even to-day cattle are driven through the flames, though the old Baal feast has given place to the Christian festival of Easter. The purpose of this custom is to protect the stock from disease during the coming year. Antiquarians see in it a memorial of more sinister observances. On Midsummer Eve and at Samhain (Summer ending) fires are also lighted. At these seasons the fairy hills are wide open, and the sprites come and go at will to tempt mortals. Why this should be so, or what were the relations of the fairies to the old sun worship, has not been determined. It may be that it means no more than the coming together, for more effective opposition, of all the forces inimical to Christianity. For the peasants these were times of mingled terror and fascination. To protect their houses from harm, they scattered primroses before the door, for the gentle blossoms were regarded as a most efficacious shield against the Good People. They also put a lighted turf under the cradle and another one under the churn, for between the fairies and fire there is the antipathy of warring principles. All night long the sound of the fairy pipes was heard on the hills. It is music of a perilous fascination for mortals. Sometimes it would throw the hearer generally a woman; for women are more sensitive to fairy music than men-into a trance, and, when she awoke, her whole being would be pos sessed by inextinguishable longing. That the reader may know that the term fairy music means something more than mere sweet melody and that it does indicate music of a determinate character, "The Song of Oonagh" is subjoined. This air was regarded by Petrie as very ancient. Taken along with "The Song of the Pretty Girl Milking her Cow," it will give a better idea of what fairy music really is its delicate aroma-than could be conveyed in many words. There is about this "Song of Oonagh" something dreamy and hallucinatory, as though the notes were of ivory or mother-of-pearl. It is the spirit of Tirnanoge expressed in music and has fitly been set by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford to a version of the already quoted Song of Midir, in the absence of the words originally sung to the air, which are lost. Ex. 31. The Song of Oonagh. tr tr..... It is a popular belief among the peasantry that, if anyone falls asleep on a fairy hill, he will hear the music played by the Good People and it will sink into his soul. Thus it was that Turlogh O'Carolan came into his heritage of song and many another son of Erin owes his eloquence and his gift of melody to the same cause. Though there seems to be something definite, something peculiarly its own, about the true fairy music -whatever the nature of that music may be the tendency of the people to apply the name to any lovely tune as a way of expressing admiration must be borne in mind. Used in this way the words parallel the praise so often applied to a graceful dancer: "She has danced to the fairy music on the hill." But tradition speaks of particular tunes overheard by mortals and preserved by them. Lady Wilde tells the story of how a piper learned the tune. "Moraleana" and of the tragic sequel to which his knowledge led. It was on May Eve and the piper was walking over the hills, when he heard beautiful |