Folklore Friday - Finvarra and Oonagh

Finvarra and Oonagh, High King and Queen of the Sidhe

 

"The king of the Sidhe will not let you go,
if you follow the music that round you flows...
...and enter the mound of the fairies."

—Coyote Run

 

Although I write Scottish inspired fantasy and paranormal romance, sometimes I borrow from Irish folklore, justified by the amount of migration and cultural interchange between Scotland and Ireland. 

The word for the fae in Scottish Gaelic is Sithichean, in Irish Gaelic, Sidhe. 

As legends are told, once upon a time the Tuatha De Danann resided in Ireland. These kings and queens and heroes of the past were thought to derive from pre-Christian deities. A magical race known as the Milesians defeated the Tuatha De Danann and drove them out of Ireland. Though some of the Tuatha stayed, and taking up residence in hollows beneath hillocks became known as the Daoine Sidhe. 

Finvarra is the High King of the Daoine Sidhe. Some also believe him the King of the Dead.

He is known as a benevolent monarch, ensuring plentiful harvests, horses of great strength, and riches to those he favors. Finvarra's fighting skills are legendary and he is a master at chess. 

I recognize him as the womanizer of his race. He is notorious for his lust of mortal females, which he often kidnaps and whisks away to his subterranean palace. Which is so wrong. His queen, Oonagh, is beautiful beyond measure. 

Oonagh is a secondary character in the Highland Gardens series. Centuries after banishing a halfling faerie princess—fearing the lass would attract Finvarra's attention—a fae prince convinces Oonagh to challenge the princess into making three unlikely matches. If the princess succeeds in joining the three couples, the queen will permit her, once again, to frolic in Tir-na-nog, land of 'hearts desire'.

 

~Dawn Marie