Two Irelands

Ireland was populated by the Fir Bolgs, a race of rather large uncouth beings who were known for their dullness. From a cloud of glory, the Tuatha De Danaan descended and claimed the land. Considered gods who themselves were 'sons of Danu', a goddess who was consort to the great Creator, the Danaan were said to have brought crafts and sciences to the island of Ireland. The Mils, from up North, swept down led by their poet Amergin and took over the land from the Tuatha de Danaan. Amergin decided to divide Ireland between the Mils and the Danaan. He said the Mils would inhabit the upper portion, the Danaan the lower portion. There then are two Irelands. One seen, one unseen, the 'otherworld' of the Danaan, who live coincidentally with the seen. The Danaan are the origins of Faeries. This type of faerie though was of regular human build, perhaps a little taller, and was composed of men, women and children. It is said during certain times, the veil between the upper Ireland and the otherworld is particularly thin and the two worlds coalesce.
During the Christian era, Ireland was found by the Catholics to be pagan but not barbaric. St. Patrick, it is said, was visited in his dreams by the people of Ireland who wished him to come to their land and give them the new revelation. Unlike many other pagan territories of the time, there was not one martyr slain when the Christians arrived. Monasteries were founded on sites with ancient pagan standing stones, which were built around by the Church, rather than toppled. St. Patrick, who helped write down much of the history of Ireland, as to that point, the whole was only transmitted orally through Bards, was said to have been informed by a pagan Tuatha de Danaan, who had lived in Ireland as a bird, a stag, a boar, and so forth.
So through history, Ireland, an insular island in western Europe, the land itself, has called out to it's inhabitants. The land itself is said to have chosen it's own peoples.
Following is the Song of Amergin, the words he used to claim Ireland for the Mils:

I am a Stag: of seven tines
I am a Flood: across a plain
I am a Wind: upon the waves
I am a Tear: the sun lets fall
I am a Hawk: above the cliff
I am a Thorn: beneath the nail
I am a Wonder: among flowers
I am a Wizard: who but Isets the cool head aflame?
I am a Spear: that roars for blood
I am a Salmon: in a pool
I am a Lure: from Paradise
I am a Hill: where poets walk
I am a Boar: ruthless and red
I am a Breaker: threatening doom
I am a Tide: that drags to death
I am an Infant: who but I peeps from the unhewn dolman arch?
I am the Womb: of every holt
I am the Blaze: on every hill
I am the Queen: of every hive
I am the Shield: for every head
I am the tomb: of every hope


Who, even gods, could argue with such Poetry??