The Dream of Aengus

The Vision in Sleep

Aengus Og, the Young Son, god of love and poetry, lord of Brugh na Boinne, fell asleep one night and saw a woman approaching his bed. She was the most beautiful he had ever seen, and he reached out to take her hand, but at that moment he woke and found himself alone.

The next night she came again, and this time she carried a timpan, a small harp, and played music of such sweetness that Aengus wept. Again he reached for her, and again he woke alone. For a full year she came to him every night, always vanishing at his touch, and Aengus fell into a wasting sickness from which the physicians of the Tuatha De Danann could find no cure.

"I am sick for a woman I have seen in dreams," Aengus confessed to his mother Boann. "Without her I will die, yet I do not know her name or where she dwells."

The Search Begins

Boann, goddess of the river that bears her name, searched all Ireland for a year but could not find the woman from Aengus's dreams. Then the Dagda, Aengus's father, took up the search for another year, but he too failed.

At last they called upon Bodb Dearg, king of the sidhe of Munster and the wisest of the Tuatha De Danann in matters of finding lost things. For a year Bodb searched until he found her at Loch Bel Dracon, the Lake of the Dragon's Mouth.

"Her name is Caer Ibormeith," Bodb reported. "She is the daughter of Ethal Anbual, a lord of the sidhe of Connacht. Go and see if she is the woman from your dreams."

The Lake of the Dragon's Mouth

Aengus traveled to the lake and saw one hundred fifty maidens walking in pairs, each pair linked by a silver chain. One maiden stood apart, taller than the rest, with a golden chain about her neck. At the sight of her, Aengus felt his heart would burst.

"That is she," he said. "That is the woman of my dreams."

But when he tried to approach her, she vanished into the lake with all her companions.

The Father's Refusal

Aengus appealed to Ethal Anbual for his daughter's hand, but the fairy lord refused. "I cannot give her to you," he said, "for her power is greater than mine."

The Dagda and Ailill and Medb, the mortal king and queen of Connacht who held sovereignty over Ethal's territory, made war upon him and took him prisoner. Still he refused.

"I cannot give you what I do not control," Ethal insisted. "Each year my daughter takes the form of a swan. At Samhain she will be at Loch Bel Dracon with one hundred fifty other swans. If Aengus can identify her among them and call her by name, she may choose whether to go with him."

The gods themselves are bound by laws deeper than their power. Even love must win the beloved's consent.

The Swan Maiden

At Samhain, when the veil between worlds grows thin, Aengus went to the Lake of the Dragon's Mouth. There he saw one hundred fifty swans, each more beautiful than mortal birds, their feathers gleaming like fresh snow.

But one swan outshone all the others, larger and more radiant, with a chain of gold about her neck where the others wore silver. Aengus called out to her: "Caer Ibormeith! Come and speak with me!"

The swan approached and spoke: "Who calls my name?"

"Aengus Og, who has loved you for three years though we have never met waking. Come with me to Brugh na Boinne."

"I will go with you," Caer replied, "if you promise that I may return to the lake whenever I wish."

Aengus gave his promise and transformed himself into a swan. Together they flew three times around the lake, singing a song of such beauty that all who heard it fell into a sleep that lasted three days and three nights.

The Union of Gods

Aengus and Caer flew together to Brugh na Boinne, where they lived as husband and wife. Some say they spent half their time as swans and half as gods in human form. Their singing could heal the sick and ease the dying, and their love became a byword for devotion throughout Ireland.

And ever after, the sight of two swans flying together reminded the Irish of Aengus and his hard-won bride, proof that even the god of love himself must search and suffer before finding his heart's desire.