Early Irish Myths and Sagas - Jeffrey Gantz [20]
in the vessel of the wife of Étar.
Because of her the king will chase
the birds of Tethbae;
because of her he will drown his two horses
in the waters of Loch Dá Airbrech.
Over her there will be much fighting
against Echu of Mide;
Síde mounds will be destroyed,
and many thousands will do battle.
It is she who will be celebrated everywhere;
it is she the king is seeking.
Once she was called Bé Find.
Now she is our Étain.
The young warrior rode away, then, and they knew neither whence he had come nor where he had gone.
The Mace Óc went to speak with Mider, but he did not find Fúamnach there. Mider said to him ‘Fúamnach has lied to us, and if she hears that Étain is in Ériu, she will go to do her harm.’ ‘Étaín has been at my house in the Bruig for a while now,’ said the Mace Óc, ‘in the form in which she was blown away from you, and it may be that Fúamnach has gone there.’ The Mace Óc returned to his house and found the crystal bower without Étaín in it. He followed Fuamnach’s trail until he overtook her at Óenach Bodbgnai, at the house of the druid Bresal Etarlám, and there he attacked her and struck off her head and took it back with him to Bruig na Bóinde.
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Echu Airem became king of Ériu, and the five provinces of the country submitted to him, and the king of each province: Conchubur son of Ness, Mess Gegra, Tigernach Tétbandach, Cú Ruí and Ailill son of Mata Murisc. Echu’s forts were Dún Frémaind in Mide and Dún Frémaind in Tethbae; of all the forts in Ériu, Dún Frémaind in Tethbae was the one he loved most.
The year after he became king, Echu ordered the men of Ériu to hold the feis of Temuir, so that their taxes and assessments for the next five years might be reckoned.6 The men of Ériu replied that they would not hold the feis of Temuir for a king with no queen, for indeed Echu had had no queen when he became king. Echu then sent messengers to every province of Ériu to seek the fairest woman in the land; and he said that he would have no wife but a woman whom none of the men of Ériu had known before him. Such a woman was found at Indber Cíchmane – Étaín daughter of Étar – and Echu took her, for she was his equal in beauty and form and race, in magnificence and youth and high repute.
The three sons of Find son of Findlug were queen’s sons: Echu Feidlech, Echu Airem and Ailill Angubae. Ailill Angubae fell in love with Étaín at the feis of Temuir, after she had slept with Echu Airem – he would gaze upon her constantly, and such gazing is a sign of love. Ailill reproached himself for what he was doing, but he could not desist: his desire was stronger than his will. He fell ill, then, for he would not dishonour himself by speaking with Étaín. When he sensed that he was dying, he had Echu’s doctor Fachtna brought to him, and Fachtna said ‘You have one of two deadly pangs that no doctor can cure: the pang of love and the pang of jealousy.’ Ailill said nothing, for he was ashamed.
Ailill was left at Dún Frémaind in Tethbae to die, then, while Echu made a circuit of Ériu; and Étaín was left with him to perform the funeral rites: digging his grave, weeping over his body, slaying his cattle. Every day, she went to the house where he lay sick to talk to him, and he grew better, for when she was in the house he could look at her. Étaín observed this and meditated on it, and the next day, when they were together, she asked Ailill what had made him ill. ‘My love for you,’ he answered. ‘A shame you did not tell me sooner,’ she said, ‘for had I known, you would long since have been well.’ ‘I can be well at once if you so desire,’ said Ailill. ‘Indeed, I do,’ Étaín answered.
Every day, then, Étaín went to wash Ailill’s head and cut his meat and pour water over his hands, and after thrice nine days he was well. He said to her, then, ‘My healing yet wants one thing – when will I have that?’ ‘You will have it tomorrow,’ she replied, ‘but the sovereign must not be shamed in his own dwelling. Meet me tomorrow on the hill above the house.’ Ailill remained awake all night, but at