I've enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts about this, and as I suspected, a lot depends on context. ALice is absolutely right that the author probably saw no contradiction between fairies and angels, because his culture was full of both. I, however, am an American, a recovering ex-Catholic, and tentative pagan, so for me the relms of Christianity and fairies are very separate. If I ever manage to integrate the various pieces of my life, I may feel more comfortable with the third verse. Then again, I may still agree with sophocleese, that it feels like an afterthought.

In the meantime, I want to sing the two verses I do like in both English and gaelic. Can anyone point me to a recording of it in gaelic? I have gaelic lyrics from a pennywhistle book, and if I don't see them elsewhere in the forum or on ALice's page, I'll post them.