New Cross
Irish Mythology
Connla and the Land of Youth
pre-12th century—present. Old Irish | Modern Irish, folklore.
Connla took no nourishment except for a mysterious apple, and when a month had passed, the Otherworldly woman appeared again.
Connla one day saw a woman wearing beautiful clothes coming towards him. He asked who she was and she replied that, we are called the people of the Sidhe.
She invited him to come with her to the Land of the Ever-Living Ones, where no death comes
– a magical land in the Celtic Otherworld. Connla’s father instructed a druid to combat her charms and she vanished; but not before throwing an apple at Connla.
For a month, Connla took no nourishment except for this apple, and at the end of that month, the woman appeared again. Connla’s father called for his druid once more, but this time he was not to hand. The woman wooed Connla. Come now into my shining ship,
she whispered. 'Death is before Connla. There is another land that will do you no harm to sail towards, and although the sun is now low in the western sky, we will be there before nightfall. There is no living race in it but women and girls only.
Connla leapt into the boat, and they sailed across the sea together. And they have never been seen since.