Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER IV: THE EARLY MILESIAN KINGS 135of silver with pieces of gold studded with jewels. To be askilful chess-player was a necessary accomplishment of kingsand nobles in Ireland, and Eochy enters into the game with zest. [162]Midir allows him to win game after game, and in payment forhis losses he performs by magic all kinds of tasks for Eochy,reclaiming land, clearing forests, and building causeways acrossbogs—here we have a touch of the popular conception of theDanaans as earth deities associated with agriculture and fertility.At last, having excited Eochy's cupidity and made him believehimself the better player, he proposes a final game, the stakes tobe at the pleasure of the victor after the game is over. Eochy isnow defeated.“My stake is forfeit to thee,” said Eochy.“Had I wished it, it had been forfeit long ago,” said Midir.“What is it that thou desirest me to grant?” said Eochy.“That I may hold Etain in my arms and obtain a kiss fromher,” said Midir.The king was silent for a while; then he said: “One monthfrom to-day thou shalt come, and the thing thou desirest shall begranted thee.”Midir and EtainEochy's mind foreboded evil, and when the appointed daycame he caused the palace of Tara to be surrounded by a greathost of armed men to keep Midir out. All was in vain, however;as the king sat at the feast, while Etain handed round the wine,Midir, more glorious than ever, suddenly stood in their midst.Holding his spears in his left hand, he threw his right aroundEtain, and the couple rose lightly in the air and disappearedthrough a roof-window in the palace. Angry and bewildered, theking and his warriors rushed out of doors, but all they could seewas two white swans that circled in the air above the palace, andthen departed in long, steady flight towards the fairy mountain [163]of Slievenamon. And thus Queen Etain rejoined her kindred.War with Fairyland