The Wooing of Étaín
Also known as: Tochmarc Étaíne, Tochmarc Etaine, The Wooing of Etain
A tale of the otherworldly woman Étaín, loved by Midir and later wife of the High King Eochaid Airem. Through jealousy, transformation, loss, wagers at fidchell, and a perilous raid on a síd, the story entwines sovereignty, desire, and the porous boundary between Ireland’s royal center and the Otherworld.
Description
The Wooing of Étaín recounts how Midir of the síd loves Étaín, whose beauty provokes the sorcery of Midir’s jealous wife Fuamnach. Transformed and cast on the winds, Étaín endures long exile—even living as a fly—before rebirth among mortals as the daughter of Étar of Ulster. She later marries the High King Eochaid Airem. When Midir challenges Eochaid to successive games of fidchell, the king wagers tasks and finally grants Midir an embrace with Étaín at Tara; Midir seizes her and carries her through the roof into the Otherworld. Eochaid answers with a siege upon Brí Léith, demanding her return. In a famed scene of deception and recognition among fifty lookalikes, variants diverge: some end with Étaín restored to Midir, others with a tragic misrecognition implicating royal lineage. The tale blends courtship, sovereignty ritual, and Otherworld incursion, standing as a keystone of the Mythological and Kings’ Cycles.
Historiography
Surviving chiefly in two recensions: Version A, fragmentary, in Lebor na hUidre (early 12th century), and Version B, fuller, in the Yellow Book of Lecan (14th century). The text is prose interlaced with verse, reflecting an earlier oral matrix; scribal redactors adapted genealogies and place-lore to contemporary interests. Later saga materials link its outcomes to royal legitimacy at Tara and to the birth legends of Conaire Mór; medieval commentators treat its motifs within the Mythological and Kings’ Cycles. Modern editions rely on diplomatic transcripts and normalized Old/Middle Irish, with notable English translations from the CELT project and in anthologies of early Irish literature.
Date Notes
Two principal recensions: an earlier, fragmentary version in Lebor na hUidre (early 12th c.) and a fuller version in the Yellow Book of Lecan (14th c.); tale likely older in oral form.
Themes
Major Characters
- Étaín
- Midir
- Eochaid Airem
- Fuamnach
- Ailill Airem
Myths
- Étaín’s Rebirths and Transformations
- Midir’s Game of Fidchell and the Forfeit
- The Abduction of Étaín and Her Recognition
- The Choice between Étaín and the False Bride
Facts
- Belongs to the Mythological and Kings’ Cycles, linking Otherworld themes with royal ideology at Tara.
- Two principal medieval recensions survive, indicating active redaction across centuries.
- The narrative mixes prose with metrically distinct verse insertions typical of early Irish saga.
- Fidchell gaming and honor-wagers structure the conflict between Midir and the High King.
- Fuamnach’s sorcery drives the tale’s central transformation and exile motifs.
- Brí Léith (Ardagh, Co. Longford) functions as Midir’s síd and a key geographic anchor.
- A variant tradition makes Étaín the ancestress of Conaire Mór through Mess Búachalla.
- The abduction through the roof at Tara is a classic liminal crossing into the Otherworld.
- Engineering labors (causeways over bogs) appear as fulfillment of wagered tasks.
- The tale’s manuscript witnesses are central to reconstructing early Irish narrative practice.