delvcaem

Delvcaem of the Fair Shape

In the age of chivalry, people liked to tell tales of the winning of fair
women, and when they sang of valiant lovers, they sang of Art of Ireland. He was the son of a High King named Conn of the Hundred battles and a warrior like his father. All alone, he made a quest to win a woman of Faerie. She was called Delvcaem of the Fair Shape and she was the unhappy prisoner of her parents.

Her mother, it was said, was a sorceress who would die when Delvcaem wed, and therefore she kept the maiden shut away. With her husband Morgan, she murdered every suitor bold enough to venture near her fortress. To gain Delvcaem, Art set sail on forbidden seas where mortals never went, he let the currents take him into the lands of Faerie. As he neared her territory, the sorceress knew it. By her magic she threw obstacles into his path - witches, giants and poisonous toads. Art slew them all and won his way to the fortress of the sorceress. It was ringed with bronze stakes, on each of which was impaled the head of a warrior who had tried to win Delvcaem.

There was an empty stake, too, awaiting Art's own head. But Art was a man without fear, and when the sorceress emerged in armor to challenge him to battle, he fought her willingly. It was her head that ended up crowning the empty bronze stake. Then Art beheaded Delvcaem's father, Morgan. When he had triumphed, Art took the waiting Delvcaem in his arms. In his valor he braved the sea once more. The storytellers said, magic helped the lovers. The waves caressed them as gently as a summer wind, to carry the pair safe home to Ireland.