The king would not, however, yield to the god. He sent to every part of Ireland for news of Etain, but his messengers all came back without having been able to find her. At last, a druid named Dalân learned, by means of ogams carved upon wands of yew, that she was hidden under Mider’s _sídh_ of Bri Leith. So Eochaid marched there with an army, and began to dig deep into the abode of the gods of which the “fairy hill” was the portal. Mider, as terrified as was the Greek god Hades when it seemed likely that the earth would be rent open,[184] and his domains laid bare to the sight, sent out fifty fairy maidens to Eochaid, every one of them having the appearance of Etain. But the king would only be content with the real Etain, so that Mider, to save his _sídh_, was at last obliged to give her up. And she lived with the King of Ireland after that until the death of both of them. But Mider never forgave the insult. He bided his time for three generations, until Eochaid and Etain had a male descendant. For they had no son, but only a daughter called Etain, like her mother, and this second Etain had a daughter called Messbuachallo, who had a son called Conairé, surnamed “the Great”. Mider and the gods wove the web of fate round Conairé, so that he and all his men died violent deaths.[185] ----- Footnote 152: De Jubainville: _Cycle Mythologique Irlandais_, p. 269. Footnote 153: See chap. IV—“The Religion of the Ancient Britons and Druidism”. Footnote 154: Tennyson: _Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur_. Footnote 155: See Wood-Martin: _Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland_, Vol I, pp. 213-215. Footnote 156: The following verses are taken from Dr. Kuno Meyer’s translation of the romance entitled _The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal_, published in Mr. Nutt’s Grimm Library, Vol. IV. Footnote 157: The Plain of Sports. Footnote 158: The Happy Plain. Footnote 159: Pronounced _Shee Finneha_. Footnote 160: Pronounced _Shee Bove_. Footnote 161: Pronounced _Shee Assaroe_. Footnote 162: Pronounced _Finnvar_. Footnote 163: Pronounced _Far-shee_. Footnote 164: O’Curry: _Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_, Appendix, p. 505. Footnote 165: See Fergusson: _Rude Stone Monuments_, pp. 200-213. Footnote 166: O’Curry: _MS. Materials_, p. 505. Footnote 167: Fergusson: _Rude Stone Monuments_, p. 209. Footnote 168: This story is contained in the Book of Leinster. Footnote 169: Pronounced _Ilbrec_. Footnote 170: This story, called the _Dream of Angus_, will be found translated into English by Dr. Edward Müller in Vol. III. of the _Revue Celtique_, from an eighteenth-century MS. in the British Museum. Footnote 171: Pronounced _Aive_. Footnote 172: Pronounced _Aiva_. Footnote 173: Pronounced _Alva_. Footnote 174: Now called “North Channel”. Footnote 175: The Peninsula of Erris, in Mayo. Footnote 176: A small island off Benmullet.