"You shall go with me, newly married bride,
And gaze upon a merrier multitude;
White-armed Nuala and AEngus of the birds,
And Feacra of the hurtling foam, and him
Who is the ruler of the western host,
Finvarra, and the Land of Heart's Desire,
Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,
But joy is wisdom, time an endless song."

YEATS: _Land of Heart's Desire._

In the first century B. C. lived Ailill and his queen Medb. As they
were celebrating their Samhain feast in the palace,

"Three days before Samhain at all times,
And three days after, by ancient custom
Did the hosts of high aspiration
Continue to feast for the whole week."

O'CIARAIN: _Loch Garman._

they offered a reward to the man who should tie a bundle of twigs
about the feet of a criminal who had been hanged by the gate. It
was dangerous to go near dead bodies on November Eve, but a bold
young man named Nera dared it, and tied the twigs successfully. As
he turned to go he saw

"the whole of the palace as if on fire before him, and the heads
of the people of it lying on the ground, and then he thought he
saw an army going into the hill of Cruachan, and he followed
after the army."

GREGORY: _Cuchulain of Muirthemne._

The door was shut. Nera was married to a fairy woman, who betrayed
her kindred by sending Nera to warn King Ailill of the intended
attack upon his palace the next November Eve. Nera bore summer
fruits with him to prove that he had been in the fairy _sid_. The
next November Eve, when the doors were opened Ailill entered and
discovered the crown, emblem of power, took it away, and plundered
the treasury. Nera never returned again to the homes of men.

Another story of about the same time was that of Angus, the son of
a Tuatha god, to whom in a dream a beautiful maiden appeared. He
wasted away with love for her, and searched the country for a girl
who should look like her. At last he saw in a meadow among a
hundred and fifty maidens, each with a chain of silver about her
neck, one who was like the beauty of his dream. She wore a golden
chain about her throat, and was the daughter of King Ethal Anbual.
King Ethal's palace was stormed by Ailill, and he was forced to
give up his daughter. He gave as a reason for withholding his
consent so long, that on Samhain Princess Caer changed from a
maiden to a swan, an