At a time when the Fianna of Ireland* were coming to their end, a woman called Niamh Chinn Óir* came from Tír na nÓg* to ask Fionn mac Cumhaill’s* son Oisín* to come away with her. Oisín went with Niamh without fully understanding that Tír na nÓg was a place where all sense of time is lost. Three hundred blissful years passed in what seemed like three to Oisín, who after that time wanted to go back to hear the stories of how the Fianna had fared since he left. Niamh told him to remain mounted upon his horse, because if he touched the soil, his age would be realised, and he would turn into a withered old man.
When Oisín went looking for his comrades he realised the amount of time that had passed. He went about returning to Tír na nÓg, to Niamh and their children. On his way he met some men who were trying to move a large rock. He leaned down to help, but as he did, the girth of his saddle broke and he fell to the ground, and as predicted became a withered old man.
It is said that Oisín who was regarded as the greatest poet in Ireland met with Saint Patrick before he died. They had a great dialogue where Patrick tried to convert Oisín to christianity. However Oisín was never convinced that Patrick’s heaven could be better than the days he spent running with the Fianna. .
For Niamh’s telling of this and other stories from the Fenian Cycle for example, The birth of Oisín and other cycles see my book SÍDH : Stories from the Women in Irish Mythology
* The Fianna of Ireland : a band of accomplished hunters, warriors and poets that lived in the wild and were also welcome in the halls of kings.
* Niamh Chinn Óir : Niamh of the Golden Hair
* Tír na nÓg : Land of the Ever Young
* Fionn mac Cumhaill : leader of the Fianna
*Oisín : means little deer
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