THE
SIDHE RACE
The
Sidhe dwell in the Sifra, or fairy palace of gold
and crystal, in the heart of the hill and they
have been given youth, beauty, joy, and the power
over music, yet they are often sad; for they
remember that they were once angels in heaven
though now cast down to earth, and though they
have power over all the mysteries of Nature, yet
they must die without hope of regaining heaven,
while mortals are certain of immortality.
Therefore this one sorrow darkens their life, a
mournful envy of humanity; because, while man is
created immortal, the beautiful fairy race is
doomed to annihilation.
One
day a great fairy chief asked Columb-Kille if
there were any hope left to the Sidhe that one
day they would regain heaven and be restored to
their ancient place among the angels. But the
saint answered that hope there was none; their
doom was fixed, and at judgment-day they would
pass through death into annihilation; for so had
it been decreed by the justice of God.
On
hearing this the fairy chief fell into a profound
melancholy, and he and all his court sailed away
from Ireland, and went back to their native
country of Armenia, there to await the coming of
the terrible judgment-day, which is fated to
bring the fairy race certain death on earth,
without any hope of regaining heaven.
The
West of Ireland is peculiarly sacred to ancient
superstitions of the Sidhe race. There is a
poetry in the scenery that touches the heart of
the people; they love the beautiful glens, the
mountains rising like towers from the sea, the
islands sanctified by the memory of a saint, and
the green hills where Finvarra holds his court.
Every lake and mountain has its legend of the
spirit-land, some holy traditions of a saint, or
some historic memory of a national hero who
flourished in the old great days when Ireland had
native chiefs and native swords to guard her; and
amongst the Western Irish, especially, the old
superstitions of their forefathers are reverenced
with a solemn faith and fervour that is almost a
religion. Finvarra the king is still believed to
rule over all the fairies of the west, and Onagh
is the fairy queen. Her golden hair sweeps the
ground, and she is robed in silver gossamer all
glittering as if with diamonds, but they are
dew-drops that sparkle over it.
The
queen is more beautiful than any woman of earth,
yet Finvarra loves the mortal woman best, and
wiles them down to his fairy palace by the subtle
charm of the fairy music, for no one who has yet
heard it can resist its power, and they are fated
to belong to the fairies ever after. Their
friends mourn for them as dead with much
lamentation, but in reality they are leading a
joyous life down in the heart of the hill, in the
fairy palace with the silver columns and the
crystal walls.
Yet sometimes they are not drawn down beneath the
earth, but remain as usual in the daily life,
though the fairy spell is still on them; and the
young men who have once heard the fairy harp
become possessed by the spirit of music which
haunts them to their death, and gives them
strange power over the souls of men. This was the
case with Carolan, the celebrated bard. He
acquired all the magic melody of his notes by
sleeping out on a fairy rath at night, when he
fairy music came to him in his dreams; and on
awaking he played the airs from memory. Thus it
was that he had power to madden men to mirth, or
to set them weeping as if for the dead, and no
one ever before or since played the enchanting
fairy music like Carolan, the sweet musician of
Ireland.
There
was another man also who heard the fairy music
when sleeping on a rath, and ever after he was
haunted by the melody day and night, till he grew
mad and had no pleasure in life, for he longed to
be with the fairies again that he might hear them
sing. So one day, driven to despair by the
madness of longing, he threw himself from the
cliff into the mountain lake near the fairy rath,
and so died and was seen no more.
In
the Western Islands they believe that the magic
of fairy music is so strong that whoever hears it
cannot choose but follow the sound, and the young
girls are drawn away by the enchantment, and
dance all night with Finvarra the king, though in
the morning they are found fast asleep in bed,
yet with a memory of all they heard and seen; and
some say that, while with the fairies, the young
women learn strange secrets of love potions, by
which they can work spells and dangerous charms
over those whose love they desire, or upon any
one who has offended and spoken ill of them.
It
is a beautiful idea that the Irish airs, so
plaintive, mournful, and tear-compelling, are but
the remembered echoes of that spirit music which
had power to draw souls away to the fairy
mansions, and hold them captive by the sweet
magic of the melody.
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