Welcome to day four of Legendary Love Week at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s post is about Elen of the Ways and her husband, Emperor Maxen! This story is one that begins with a Dream.
In fact, the title of this story in The Mabinogion is The Dream of the Emperor Maxen. Maxen is a fair and wise Emperor of Rome who has a Dream where he encounters the most lovely and beguiling Faery Queen in a Castle that he does not know. The image of this beautiful woman haunts him, so much so that he can think of nothing else and begins to whither away from longing. Given how much he is struggling and how deeply it is affecting his ability to govern, his advisors send out people to search for this woman of his Dreams!
For a full year, they can find nothing, and Maxen left feeling hopeless, decides to go hunting to distract himself. It was during this hunting trip that he found himself in the same place where he originally had the Dream. That is how he is able to give his messengers specific instructions to locate his beloved!
They easily find the Castle in Wales this time and address the woman as Empress of Rome, to her great confusion, but they explain that the Emperor wishes to marry her. Maxen conquered the island in order to get to his beloved, who was named Elen. She is remembered today as Elen of the Ways because she built Castles and Roads in Britain and Wales after their marriage! After seven years in Britain with Elen, Maxen does have to go back to Rome to reclaim his seat as Emperor and goes on to conquer more lands.
This is truly a story of a power couple, as one is an Emperor and the other is a powerful Faery Queen who built many Roads, Trackways, and Castles. The Dream element makes it a very sweet story and is possibly my favorite part. I hope you have enjoyed this short post exploring the love of Elen and Maxen. What is your favorite part of their story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Lovers card from The Llewellyn Tarot, which features this tale. I found the artwork on https://in.pinterest.com/pin/1040613057645736957/.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
- The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson
- https://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/mab28.htm (This is a link to read the Lady Charlotte Guest translation of the story for free online.)
- https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Mabinogion/the-dream-of-the-emperor-maxen-summary/