Dave White's Field

Instead, she gets up, pours herself another cup of tea, returns to her chair, and spends an age thoughtfully stirring in her two spoonfuls of sugar. Auntie Mary is mistress of the pregnant silence.

A deep breath, and she starts again:
“It is about this time of the year, so they say in Ireland, that the living may chance upon the Duineshee, the spirits or fairies, of the Otherworld.

“In a few days time, at the end of October, it is the feast of Samhain --- the eve of the Celtic New Year. Samhain is the time for telling stories, and remembering the dead. It is a time when you might just bump into the `lanashee'.

“There is only one `lanashee' and she seeks the love of mortal men. She entrances them with her beauty and her hypnotic eyes.”

lenanshee with hypnotic eyes

“She is also to be seen combing her hair not, mind you, as a sign of anguish in mourning, but to attract a mortal man to look directly at her.

“Her eyes promise each one fulfilment: the chance of being with her forever in Tír na nÓg: `The Land of the Forever Young'.

“ The more you want her, so the story goes, the more she slips away. Most men, once they lay eyes on her and look into her eyes, can't resist her.”