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| (pron. GAY-leesh) Name of several early Irish princesses. The oldest evocation of the Swan Maidens is by the filid of ancient Ireland when they sang at wakes in the Green Castle during the reign of Danann. They take the form of white swans with white-silver or red-gold chains, necklaces or crowns. They are divinely beautiful women with skin as white and as fragrant as lilies. They have large eyes. They live at Mimir fountain beneath the roots of Yggdrasil, a palace suspended in the clouds by four golden chains, the Blessed Isles, the Rhine, the Danube, Lettermore, Glashancally and Cashla Bay. The man who can steal her swan-skin will have her in his power. They are goddesses of the moon. They invented water-lilies, elder flowers, the silver reflection of the white birch, white marsh butterflies, white graphite for whitening the veils of the night washerwomen, snow and clouds. (197) |
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