Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/131

Rh the goddess sang that once on the waves Connla's grief at leaving his friends would be forgotten, and the land of joy would soon be reached, where there were none but women. Connla sprang into the boat, which sped across the sea into the unknown, whence he has never returned.$10$ In this tale the land of women is obviously but a part of the divine land, since that is ruled by a king; and there is also confusion between the idea of an overseas region of the immortals—Mag Mell— and that of the subterranean síd. Connla's adventure is mentioned in the Cóir Anmann, or Fitness of Names, where another account is given, viz. that he was slain by enemies.$11$ A parallel myth, perhaps of Celtic origin, is found in one of the Lais of Marie de France concerning the knight Lanval, with whom a fairy fell in love. When she declared herself, he sprang on horseback behind her and went away to Avalon, a beautiful island, the Elysium of the Brythonic Celts.$12$

The Land of Ever-Living Women recurs in some tales of the imm-rama, or romantic voyage, type, e. g. in The Voyage of Maelduin, an old pagan story reconstructed in Christian times. Maelduin and his companions went on a quest for his father's murderers and met with the strangest adventures, one of which describes their arrival at an island where they saw seventeen girls preparing a bath. A warrior appeared who, on bathing, proved to be a woman and sent one of the girls to bid the men enter her house. There a splendid repast was given them, and the woman. Queen of the isle, desired each to take the girl who best pleased him, reserving herself for Maelduin. In the morning she begged all to remain. Their age would not increase; they would be immortal; and perpetual feasting and excessive love without toil would be theirs. She had been wife of the King of the island, the girls were her daughters, and now she reigned alone, so that she must leave them each day to judge cases for the people of the isle. The voyagers remained three months, when all but Maelduin grew home-sick; yet he consented to go with them, and all entered