Laeghaire mac Crimthann�s visit to the fairy realm of
Magh meall or �the Plains of Pleasure.�
or, Fiachna's S�dhe
Book of Lismore
Translated by Standish O'Grady, Silva Gaedelica V.II

Once upon a time, Crimthann Cas being their king then, Connacht were in convention by �nloch or �bird-loch� in magh nAei or �the plain of Aei.� On the night in question they remained assembled and, when on the morrow they were risen betimes, saw a man that came through the mist and towards them: a mantle of five folds he wore, and in his hand were two five-barbed darts; a gold-rimmed shield was slung on him, at his belt was a gold-hilted sword, and golden-yellow hair streamed behind him.

�Give welcome to him that comes to you!� cried Laeghaire l�bh�n son of Crimthann, the noblest young man that was of Connacht namely, and: �a welcome to the warrior whom we know not!� he said to the stranger, who made answer: �I thank you all.� �Wherefore comest thou?� Laeghaire enquired, and the other said: �to crave a force of men.� �Whence art thou?" He replied: �of the men of the s�dhe I am; Fiachna mac Retach is my name, and the matter is that my wife is taken from my head [i.e. pillow], S�l�s son Eochaid having carried her away. He then in a pitched battle being slain by me, she is gone to a brother�s son of his: to Dalbh�s son Goll, that rules the fort of magh meall. Seven battles I have given him, but all are gone against me; for this very day yet another one is declared by us, and to solicit help it is that I am come. To every man moreover that shall desire it I will in lieu of his coming with me give a fair sum of gold, and of silver the same.� With that he turned and went from them.

�Not to aid yonder man were a shameful thing,� Laeghaire said, and together with fifty fighting men stepped out after him who, still preceding them, dived down into the loch, and they followed him. There they saw before them a strong place, and a company embattled that stood face to face with them. He, Fiachna mac Retach, went on yet in front of them and to his own hold, where they saw two companies. �Verily it is well,� said Laeghaire: �I to the number of fifty warriors will engage with the chief on the other side.� �I will answer thee,� said Goll son of Dolbh.

In their two fifties therefore they laid on each other, and [in the end], after the fall of Goll and of all his fifty, Laeghaire with his escaped alive. Then �the battle broke before them,� and they made general slaughter of their enemies. �Where is the woman?� Laeghaire asked; and Fiachna said: �within in the d�n of Magh meall, surrounded by a force.� � Bide ye here while I and my fifty go,� Laeghaire said, and proceeded to the fort. They set about taking it, and he called [to the defenders]: �but little �twill profit you [to hold out]: your king is fallen, your nobles are slain; suffer then this woman to come forth, and in return your safety shall be accorded you.� So it was done and, as she came out, she pronounced [that which is known as] �the lament of Eochaid amlabar�s daughter.�

Laeghaire returned with her and laid her hand in Fiachna�s; that night Fiachna�s daughter Der gr�ine or �maid of the sun� was coupled with Laeghaire, and with his fifty laechs fifty other women, and to a year�s end they abode with them. Laeghaire said then: �let us go seek tidings of our land.� �If ye would come back,� Fiachna enjoined, �take with you horses, but by no means dismount from off them.�

So it was done: they went their way and came upon a general assembly in which Connacht, as at the year expired, mourned for the aforesaid warrior band, whom now all at once they perceived above them [i.e. on higher ground]. Connacht sprang to meet them, but Laeghaire cried: �approach us not [to touch us]: �tis to bid you farewell that we are here!� �Leave me not!� Crimthann, his father, said: �Connacht�s royal power be thine; their silver and their gold, their horses with their bridles, and their noble women be at thy discretion, only leave me not!�

But Laeghaire turned from them and so entered again into the s�dhe, where with Fiachna he exercises joint kingly rule; nor is he as yet come out of it.

Finis.

SOURCE

Silva Gadelica. ed. and trans. Standish Hayes O'Grady. 1892. reprint: NY: C. Lemma Publishing Corporation, 1970.