Etain

Also known as: Etain of the Horses / Etain the daughter of Etar / Etain, the daughter of Etar · Role: maiden; Eochaid Airemm's wife · First appears: The Courtship of Etain · Prologue in Fairyland · Part 1

In the Prologue in Fairyland, Etain of the Horses, daughter of Ailill, was married to Mider at Bri Leith. Jealous of her, Fuamnach enlisted Bressal Etarlam’s druidic spells to transform her into a butterfly; a spell-driven wind carried her from Mider’s house for seven years. At last Etar’s wife swallowed her with the milk in her cup, and Etain was born again as Etar’s daughter. Etar nurtured and clothed her at Inver Cichmany, among fifty maidens.

In the Egerton version, Eochaid’s searchers found Etain near the Bay of Cichmany, and Eochaid Airemm paid her bride-price and brought her to Tara as his wife. At the Tara Feast, Ailill Anglonnach fell in love with her. When Eochaid left on a royal progress, Etain tended the sick Ailill; Mider later told her that he had been her husband before, and that Fuamnach’s sorcery had parted them. After Ailill recovered, Mider carried Etain and her handmaid Crochen the Ruddy away to Bri Leith. Eochaid searched Ireland for a year; after Dalan’s ogham revealed where she was, Eochaid destroyed the fairy dwelling and brought Etain out. She returned to Fremain, resumed married life with Eochaid, and bore one daughter, also named Etain.

The Leabhar na h-Uidhri version gives a separate telling of her marriage to Eochaid and Ailill’s love for her. Etain helped Ailill recover from his sickness, and he declared that their tryst had left her honour unstained. When Mider asked her to go with him, she refused to leave Eochaid, but said she would go if Eochaid asked her. Eochaid later promised Mider that Etain could be held and kissed; on the appointed night Mider carried her away through the palace skylight. Etain proved her identity to Eochaid, who took her back to Tara.