Share a myth III
From World Mythology by Arthur Cotterel as general editor, a Parragon Publishing Book of 2005, I bring you the third piece of the Share a Myth series. This myth I take from chapter 4; The Celts.
Oisin in the Land of the Forever Young
Oisin, the son of Finn mac Cool, was out hunting one day with his father and their elite band of warriors, the Fianna. They were joined by a beautiful fairy-like woman on a white horse. Her name was Naim of the Golden Hair and she had come, she said, to take Oisin with her to Tir na nOg, the Land of the Forever Young.
Naim told them that she had loved Oisin since she and her father had ridden through Ireland some years before. She had watched him then, running like a young deer through the meadows, looking every inch a huntsman and a warrior. For seven years and seven days she had returned, invisible, to watch him grow up and, at last, her father had given her permission to declare her love.She cast a spell over Oisin so that he loved her too, and they rode away on Naims white steed across lakes, rivers and the misty sea to Tir na nOg. There they married and lived happily for 300 years, a period which seemed like only three weeks to Oisin.
Eventually Oisin became homesick. He longed to see his father and his friends again. Naim did all she could to dissuade him from returning to Ireland. She could not change his mind, however, so she gave him her white horse to make the journey and she warned him not to dismount or he would never return.
When Oisin got back to Ireland he found that everything was different. The countryside had changed, his father and the Fianna were long dead and a new faith was being practiced. Deeply saddened, Oisin turned and began his journey back to his fair wife. He had not gone far, however, when a group of peasant struggling to lift a heavy stone into a wagon asked him for help. He agreed willingly but, as he stooped, his reins broke and Oisin fell to the ground. Immediately, the horse vanished and Oisin transformed into a very old man, blind and near to death.
He was carried to St Patrick who was walking the land and preaching of the new god. The saint received him into the new faith. He also managed to take down some of Oisins stories of the old days when the Fianna ruled the land. But soon, the warrior-poet, and the world he had known, passed away forever.
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