"Conla and the Fairy"
(fairy-tale)
Introductory Educidations

A fairy-tale is a woven cloth. Emerging from the loom of a certain civilization, it portrays the way of understanding the world. Threads of it are experiences and dreams, facts and interpretations. Therefore, as portraits of this kind, we need them to get closer to the times that interest us.

"Conla and the Fairy" is an Irish fairy-tale, that ?although the first recording of it was in the beginning of the 12 th century- was rather created in the end of the 2 nd century A.D. One of the individuals mentioned, Con of the One Hundred Wars, had been a powerful ruler of Ireland from 123 to 157. Researchers claim that this fairy-tale is an important sample of an entire cycle of Celtic legends. It is typical that it mentions a paradise land (the "Land of the Young People", Tir Nanogne in Irish (Gaelic)), which was comprehended as a supernatural, but at the same time earthly, kingdom of beauty and joy, sometimes located intangibly near the sea, at another time inside gravial tombs. However, its current form, the legend must have got it in the 7 th or 8 th century, with some interventions by a Christian hand. Thus, next to characteristic Celtic beliefs (like for example, about the heavenly place), we now find Christian allusions (like for example, about the waiting of Judgment's Day and about the decadence of the Druids' religion).

Judging things superficially, one could claim that the fairy-tale corroborates the view that, with the coming of Christianity in the Celtic world, an old religious idea (the Celtic heavenly place) was simply carried on by a new one, but, more or less, relative in form (the Christian Paradise). Theologically, though, it would be worth doubting that. In the Celtic desire for a status of no grief, pain, injustice and death, Christianity possibly saw a welcome panhuman request and an important bridge between it and the native civilization. But even though to the Druidic religion both the everyday life of grief and pain and the heavenly salvation are parallel and eternal realities, the innovation that is brought by Christianity is the belief that each kind of evil is destined to end, and the whole world is to be rid of it, judged, transformed and enter a truly eternal status. Therefore, according to the Christian eschatological point of view, it's not just the human soul that is invited to be saved from the world, but the whole world to be saved from evil .

This fairy-tale comes from the book "Celtic Fairy Tales" (by Joseph Jacobs), Senate-Studio Editions Ltd., London 1994, pp. 1-4. On his set of features, look pp. 243-244, Nora Chadwick, The Celts, Penguin Books, 1974, pp. 174-178 and the "Penguin Dictionary of Religions" (by John R. Hinnells), Penguin Books, London 1984, p. 187.

Conla and the Fairy

Conla with the Fiery Hair was the son of Con of the One Hundred Wars. Some day, while Conla was standing next to his father in the heights of Usna, he saw a girl, wearing strange clothes, approaching him.

-"Where do you come from, lass?", asked Conla.

-"I come from the valleys of the immortals, where there is no death, no sin. There, life is carefree and we need nobody's help to be happy. In this happiness we have no quarrels. And because we have our houses on the round green hills, men call us the People of the Hill", she answered.

The king and all his followers were surprised when they heard the woman's voice without being able to see where it came from, because except for Conla nobody else could see the fairy.

-"Who are you talking to, my son?" , asked Con the king.

And the fairy answered to the king:

-"Conla is talking to a fair haired fairy who is not subjected to death, or old age. I love Conla and invite him away, to Mawy Mel, the Valley of Joy, the place where Bowadag is the eternal ruler and where never has been any complaint or sorrow since he became the king. Oh, come with me Conla with the Fiery Hair, rose red like the dawn with your sun burnt skin. A fairy wreath awaits you, to adorn your fine face and royal form. Should you come, your beauty and youth will not fade until the final, horrible Judgment Day."

Terrified the king by the fairy's words, who he was able to listen to but could not see, turned with a mighty voice to his druid, Coran.

-"Oh, Coran, you who can cast many spells", he said to the druid, "and who has excellent skills in magic, come and help me. A heavy burden I have on my shoulders, too great for my skills and mind, and it is the greatest I have to lift since I have become a king. An invisible fairy has encountered us and wishes, with her powers, to take away my handsome and beloved son. If you do not help us, a woman's cunning and charm will take him away from your king."

It was then that Coran the druid appeared and casted his spells towards the place that the fairy's voice had been heard. From then on, nobody heard her voice again and not even Conla was able to see her anymore. But as the fairy was vanishing, driven away by the druid's powerful spells, she managed to throw an apple to Conla.

From that day on, and for an entire month, Conla was neither drinking nor eating other than that apple. For although he was eating it, that remained intact. Thus, in time, a string longing and desire grew inside him for the fairy he had met.

After a month of waiting, as Conla was standing at the side of his father in the valley of Arkomine, he saw the fairy moving towards him and he heard her talking to him again.

-"It is truly a wonderful place, the one Conla is ruling, among short-living mortals waiting for the days of their death. But now the immortals, who have got to know you by watching you in your own house, among your loved ones, beg and implore you to come to Mawy Mel, the Valley of Joy".

When Con the king heard the voice of the fairy, he ordered his men:

-"Summon Coran, my druid, quickly, for I see that today she has found her voice back".

Then, the fairy said:

-"Oh, mighty Con, Warrior of the One Hundred Wars, barely is the power of the druid loved and honored in the powerful land of the just. When the Law is fulfilled, the magic spells of the druid that come out of the lips of the false black demons will be abolished".

Then Con the king noticed that from the time the fairy had arrived, his son, Conla, remained indifferent when the others addressed to him. So, Con of the one Hundred Wars, asked him:

-"Do the words of this woman trouble you?"

-"I am in a dreadful position", said Conla. I love my people more than anything else, but still I am possessed by a fierce desire for this fairy".

When the fairy heard these words she answered:

-"The waves of your passion are more powerful than an ocean. Come with me to my bright crystal canoe. We will soon reach the kingdom of Bowadag. I can see the bright sun set, but still we have the time to get there before nightfall. There is also another place worth going to, a place full of pleasure for those who seek it out. Only married women and fairies dwell there. If you wish, we can find it and we can both live there happily ever after".

When the fairy ceased talking, with a sudden leap, Conla with the Fiery Hair, was away from the king and his followers and jumped into the bright canoe. Then everybody saw him moving far away on the bright sea and head towards the setting sun. They went too far, until they were lot from everybody's eyes. Conla and the fairy continued their voyage at sea and nobody saw them ever again, nor ever learnt of what they had become.

[1] See also: "In the Resurrection of Jesus...there is the revelation of the meaning of creation...The new creation, the new time, the new life, that are proclaimed with the resurrection of Jesus is the original purpose of God...The incarnated Son of God is not just the savior of each one's soul separately; he does not just reveal a perfect moral or true philosophy; he is the Savior and the meaning of the whole of Creation. The extensions of this fact to Christian mission in the world are, of course, extraordinary. The Christian Church is summoned to save not just every human existence from the world, but to save the very world.", father John Mayendorff, "Jesus Christ as a savior today", ed. Synaxis, Athens 1985, pp. 11-12.