Connla, the son of the Irish king Conn of the Hundred Fights, encounters a mysterious maiden who promises him a life beyond death and old age. His father calls upon a powerful Druid to drive her away, but the maiden leaves Connla with a magical gift that deepens his longing for her. When she returns, Connla must decide whether to remain with his family or follow her towards an unknown world.
The Maiden on the Hill of Usna
Connla of the Fiery Hair was the son of Conn of the Hundred Fights, a mighty king. One day, Connla stood beside his father on the height of Usna when a strange maiden approached him.
Her clothing was unlike anything familiar to those around the king. Connla alone could see her clearly, although everyone heard her voice.
“Whence comest thou, maiden?” he asked.
She explained that she came from the Plains of the Ever Living, a place without death or sin. Its inhabitants lived in continual joy and needed no help from anyone to enjoy their existence. They knew no quarrels, and because they made their homes in the round green hills, mortals called them the Hill Folk.
The maiden then declared her love for Connla. She invited him to leave the mortal world and accompany her to Moy Mell, the Plain of Pleasure, where Boadag ruled. She promised that he would remain youthful and handsome, untouched by age until the final day of judgement.
The offer astonished the king’s company. Connla’s father could hear the maiden speaking, yet he could not see the mysterious visitor who had captured his son’s attention.
The King Calls for the Druid
King Conn feared that the maiden would take his beloved son away. He immediately summoned Coran, his Druid, a figure associated with spells and supernatural knowledge.
The king explained that an unseen maiden had appeared before Connla and was attempting to draw him away through mysterious powers. He begged Coran to use his skill to protect the royal family.
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Coran stepped forward and chanted his spells towards the place where the maiden’s voice had been heard.
His magic worked. The maiden’s voice fell silent, and Connla could no longer see her.
Before disappearing, however, she threw an apple to the young prince.
The apple became Connla’s only food for the following month. Whenever he ate from it, the fruit grew whole again, so it never diminished. He needed neither other food nor drink.
Yet the magical fruit brought no peace to his heart. Throughout the month, Connla felt an ever-growing longing for the maiden and the distant land she had described.
The Maiden Returns
When the month had passed, Connla stood beside his father once more, this time on the Plain of Arcomin. The maiden appeared again, and her voice reached him as clearly as before.
She spoke of the limitations of mortal life. Connla, she said, occupied a place among people who lived only briefly before facing death. The immortal inhabitants of Moy Mell had learned about him through the maiden’s visits, and they now called upon him to join them.
King Conn heard her voice and immediately called for Coran. He hoped the Druid could repeat the spell that had silenced her before.
The maiden answered the king directly. She declared that the Druid’s magic held little honour in the land of the upright and foretold that a coming law would put an end to such spells, which she associated with evil.
Conn then turned to his son. He had noticed that Connla had not answered the people speaking to him since the maiden returned.
“Is it to thy mind what the woman says, my son?” the king asked.
Connla struggled with his feelings. He loved his own people above all else, but he could not deny the powerful longing that drew him towards the maiden.
His conflict was real. He was the king’s son, surrounded by family and familiar responsibilities, yet he had been offered a life free from death and old age.
The Crystal Canoe
The maiden recognised the strength of Connla’s desire. She told him that the waves of his longing were more powerful than the ocean itself.
She then revealed how they could leave. Waiting for them was a gleaming crystal canoe, swift enough to carry them towards the realm of Boadag before nightfall.
The maiden also described another distant land, a joyful place inhabited only by women. They could travel there together if Connla preferred it.
Her words offered him more than an escape from the mortal world. They promised companionship, happiness and a life beyond the familiar boundaries of his kingdom.
As the sun sank towards the horizon, Connla made his choice.
He rushed away from his father and the assembled company and sprang into the crystal canoe. The vessel glided over the bright sea towards the setting sun.
For a while, the king and his court watched it travel across the water. Gradually, it became too distant to see.
Connla and the Fairy Maiden disappeared beyond the horizon, and no one knew where they had gone.
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Moral Lesson
The tale explores the pull between familiar attachments and the desire for something beyond ordinary life. Connla loves his family and people, yet the maiden’s promise of eternal youth and happiness awakens a longing he cannot overcome. His departure leaves the reader with the mystery of whether the unknown can ever outweigh the bonds of home.
Knowledge Check
1. Who was Connla?
Connla was the son of Conn of the Hundred Fights, the king in the tale.
2. Where did the maiden claim to come from?
She said she came from the Plains of the Ever Living, a realm without death or sin.
3. Why did King Conn summon Coran?
He feared the maiden would take Connla away and asked the Druid to use his spells to drive her off.
4. What happened to the apple the maiden gave Connla?
It remained whole as Connla ate from it, providing him with food for a month.
5. Why did Connla struggle to decide whether to leave?
He loved his own people, but he felt an increasingly powerful longing for the maiden and the world she offered.
6. How does the tale end?
Connla enters a crystal canoe with the maiden, and they sail towards the setting sun until they disappear from sight.
Source
“Connla and the Fairy Maiden” appears as the opening tale in Joseph Jacobs’s Celtic Fairy Tales (1892), a collection selected and edited by Jacobs.
