named Fuamnach[FN#7] who was filled with jealousy against Etain, and
sought to drive her from her husband's house. And Fuamnach sought out
Bressal Etarlam the Druid and besought his aid; and by the spells of
the Druid, and the sorcery of Fuamnach, Etain was changed into the
shape of a butterfly that finds its delight among flowers. And when
Etain was in this shape she was seized by a great wind that was raised
by Fuamnach's spells; and she was borne from her husband's house by
that wind for seven years till she came to the palace of Angus Mac O'c
who was son to the Dagda, the chief god of the men of ancient Erin.
Mac O'c had been fostered by Mider, but he was at enmity with his
foster-father, and he recognised Etain, although in her transformed
shape, as she was borne towards him by the force] of the wind. And he
made a bower for Etain with clear windows for it through which she
might pass, and a veil of purple was laid upon her; and that bower was
carried about by Mac O'c wherever he went. And there each night she
slept beside him by a means that he devised, so that she became
well-nourished and fair of form; for that bower was filled with
marvellously sweet-scented shrubs, and it was upon these that she
thrived, upon the odour and blossom of the best of precious herbs.


[FN#6] Pronounced Bree Lay.

[FN#7] Pronounced Foom-na.


Now to Fuamnach came tidings of the love and the worship that Etain had
from Mac O'c, and she came to Mider, and "Let thy foster-son," said
she, "be summoned to visit thee, that I may make peace between you two,
and may then go to seek for news of Etain." And the messenger from