The very first tune I learned to play properly on the fiddle, though I had it from a recording by Kevin Burke, with a lot of decoration.  As Alison says, it's a setdance, best taken at a reasonably measured pace.  A lot of people nowadays seem to play it as a fast reel, which to my mind is ridiculous (unless done as part of a set -the Horslips example); a waste of a fine melody.  Incidentally, there is a (quite unrelated) King of the Faeries on the DT: filename KINGFAER,  here.  It's described as "Irish traditional", but it's actually three verses of William Allingham's poem, "The Fairies" (publ. 1850).

Malcolm