Morgan le Fay (bright, great fairy) In Arthurian legend, a witch, the sister or half sister of King Arthur, who continually plots his downfall. In Malory’s Morte d’Arthur she steals the sword Excalibur and gives it to her lover so that he can kill Arthur. Though the rest of Arthur’s enemies are defeated at the end of the work, Morgan le Fay is not. She appears in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato. She is also called Fata Morgana, which is the name Longfellow uses in his poem about her.
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Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante