When the Fair Folk lived in relation to humankind long ago, we initially
traveled by the power of mind. This upset people with whom we had
relationships, and they called it witchcraft and dark magic. It was
neither. It was just travel but because it upset them, we decided to find
another means of travel.
The island people had dark and blotched horses, which were stubborn and
ill-tempered but could pull plows and chariots and sometimes ran wild. We
decided to create horses worthy of our people. Our Lord Manannan made a
world of dream and shadow between earth and sea, and there he decided to
create a new species of horse. The earthly wild horses of the hills ran
through this intermediate land, and they left their shadows or visual
patterns in this world. As time passed, there was shadow upon shadow, all slightly
out of alignment, which made a whole set of glowing shadows. The light of
fire and spirit left by the horses in their reflections came to coalesce,
and the glowing outlines of the horses against the mists and clouds became
brighter.
Manannan made valleys and mountains for them to gallop through, and then a
seashore with shining waves. The horses could run beneath the waters,
shining in the vast and mysterious underwater world. As they ran through
cloud and land and sea, their light condensed into rainbows, and then into
spiritual bodies. Their bodies became white like the clouds, and their
manes and tails green like the deep waters and the forests. Their hooves
became golden like the treasure buried beneath land and sea for the gods.
They became more solid as they ran, and strong and healthy, though they
were spiritual rather than material.
These horses ran back from the world of clouds, and into the world of the
Fair Folk, on land, sea, and sometimes in the human world, when the two
worlds were superimposed, and the faeries would ride in processions.
Horses were understood by all as a legitimate means of transportation.
Humans were no longer suspicious of our mode of transport.
The horses were even more attractive with bright clothes and golden
bridles, and when ridden by beautiful women and handsome warriors.
