efore always a store of food of faery, charged
with magical spells, by eating of which one could never grow old or
die. It came to be noticed that after Ethne had grown up she never ate
or drank of the fairy food, or of any other, yet she continued to seem
healthy and well-nourished. This was reported to Angus, and by him to
Mananan, and Mananan by his wisdom discovered the cause of it. One of
the lords of the Danaans, happening to be on a visit with Angus, was
rendered distraught by the maiden's beauty, and one day he laid hands
upon her and strove to carry her away to his own dwelling. Ethne
escaped from him, but the blaze of resentment at the insult that lit
up in her soul consumed in her the fairy nature, that knows not of
good or evil, and the nature of the children of Adam took its place.
Thenceforth she ate not of the fairy food, which is prohibited to man,
and she was nourished miraculously by the will of the One God. But
after a time it chanced that Mananan and Angus brought from the Holy
Land two cows whose milk could never run dry. In this milk there was
nothing of the fairy spell, and Ethne lived upon it many long years,
milking the cows herself, nor did her youth and beauty suffer any
change.

Now it happened that on one very hot day the daughter of Mananan went
down to bathe in the waters of the Boyne, and Ethne and her other
maidens along with her. After they had refreshed themselves in the
cool, amber-coloured water, they arrayed themselves in their silken
robes and trooped back to the Brugh again; but ere they entered it,
they discovered that Ethne was not among them.

So they went back, scattering themselves along the bank and searching
in every quiet pool of the river and in every dark recess among the
great trees that bordered it, for Ethne was dearly loved by all of
them; but neither trace nor tidings of her could they find, and they
went sorrowfully home without her, to tell the tale to Angus and to
her father.

What had befallen Ethne was this. In taking off her garments by the
riverside she had mislaid her fairy charm, and was become as a mortal
maid. Nothing could she now see of her companions, and all around was
strange to her. The fairy track that had led to the riverside was
overgrown with briars, the palace of Angus was but a wooded hill. She
knew not where she was, and pierced with sudden terror she fled wildly
away, seeking for the familiar places that she had known in the fairy
life,