Finvarra and Onagh
Finvarra and Onagh were the king and queen of the Sídhe in Irish folklore.
Onagh (or Oonagh), is said to be more lovely than any human woman, with golden hair that falls to the ground and glittering robes of silver gossamer.
Finvarra is famed for his benevolence toward humans, ensuring good harvests, strong horses, and riches for those who help him.
Titania and Oberon
Oberon is probably best known from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is described as the handsome king of the faeries – but also as more than happy to create mischief for humans and faeries alike.
Titania, too, is well-known from Shakespeare, but she also appears prior to this in Ovid, as an alternative name for the goddess of the moon. She is a true queen of the fae, dressed beautifully and surrounded by her flower faery attendants.
These faeries are typically depicted as living in the woods and forests with their faerie companions. Any human traveling through the forest should be wary, for Oberon and Titania are known to detain travellers and detain them in faerie time…
Mab
Again, this royal faerie is described very vividly in Shakespeare, in a speech by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet:
“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men’s noses as they lies asleep…”
Although in Shakespeare, Mab is described as a faerie midwife, after these first references to her in Shakespeare, Mab is later often described as the queen of the faeries.
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