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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(4/8/01 3:26:34 pm)
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searching for a tale
In one of my favorite movies, Into the West, the tinker grandfather tells a tale to his grandchildren. It has been a while since I saw the movie, so I'm hoping I get the details right. A man, perhaps a hero, is taken to the land of the fairies - I remember it as Tir Na Nog, but I'm not sure if it was named. He stays there, but pines for home. He is allowed to visit home, but is told to stay on the horse he is given and never let his feet touch the ground. Of course his foot slips, or he starts to get down, and as soon as his foot touches the ground, he turns to dust. The setting for the movie, Into the West, was Ireland, so I assume the tale is Irish, though perhaps there are other varients in England, Wales, etc. Anyone know where the tale comes from and what its titles might be so I can try to locate it? (Of course, if you know a book or website where I can locate it, I would love that too.)
Thanks in advance, Laura Mc
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JenStClair
Registered User
(4/8/01 6:29:26 pm)
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Re: searching for a tale
Oisin didn't die when his foot touched the ground, but he's in my book. And there was another one, Bran son of Febal, whose companion Nechtan crumbled to dust when his foot touched the ground.
I got that info from Katharine Briggs' An Encyclopedia of Fairies, etc.
Clannad (I think) recorded a song based on this legend, but I can't seem to find it offhand.
Jen
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Billiam
Registered User
(4/8/01 6:38:28 pm)
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Re: searching for a tale
Try a look here:
indigo.ie/~legends/tirnanog.html
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Eirenical
Registered User
(4/9/01 9:18:39 am)
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Oisin in the Land of Youth
Thank you for that link!
I had never heard this particular tale before, and find it fascinating.
Incidentally, I was just browsing on Amazon and came across a book that appears to contain the same tale:
_The Names upon the Harp : Irish Myth and Legend_ by Marie Heaney and illustrated by P. J. Lynch
It looks like a beautiful book; is anyone familiar with it or it's writer or illustrator?
Eirenical
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cianalouise
Registered User
(4/9/01 9:55:10 am)
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Re: Oisin in the Land of Youth
Eirenical,
I'm not familiar with the author or the book, but I do know that P.J. Lynch is a wonderful illustrator working in watercolors. He's done a number of illustrated fairy tales for Candlewick Press - among them, "The King of Ireland's Son" which is quite fun and a lovely Scandinavian setting of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon". I will have to check out the Marie Heany book sometime - it looks interesting.
Luciana
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(4/9/01 4:04:56 pm)
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Re: searching for a tale
Thanks all.
I had forgotten that Oisin was the character in the story and now I see I also have a version of the tale in Lady Gregory's Irish Myths and Legends.
Again, thanks! Laura Mc
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tlchang
Registered User
(4/10/01 8:21:44 pm)
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Re: searching for a tale
The song based on this tale is calle "Land of Youth (Tir na nOg)" by Maire Brennan (lead singer of Clannad - sister to Enya) on her first solo release CD, "Maire".
There are many variants on the Oisin tale - in some his foot touches the ground and he immediately ages the 300 years that he's been gone in Tir na nog. In a few more romanticized versions, the fairy queen who seduced him in the first place returns to rescue him before he actually dies. There are even some later re-tellings that have St. Patrick being the one who causes him to age and die by touching him with a cross - symbolizing the victory of Christianity over Pagandom (these, of course, are bastardized propapanda :-)
Oisin is one of the leading characters in the Fianna Cycle and was the son of Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn Mac Cool), if that helps place him any more for you.
Tara
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tlchang
Registered User
(4/10/01 8:24:03 pm)
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Re: Oisin in the Land of Youth
I'm not familiar with P.J. Lynch - I will have to look him (her?) up! I am also interested in other WELL illustrated versions of Irish/Celtic mythology. Most of the ones I own or are familiar with leave something to be desired. So if anyone has other recommendations....?
It would be greatly appreciated!
Tara
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