Irish Mythology
Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill: Oisin's Mother
pre-12th century - present. Old Irish | Modern Irish, folklore.
The deer followed them back home and in the night, Fionn woke to find a beautiful young woman standing beside his bed. She had been cast into the shape of a deer by a druid.
Very often, in the ancient Ireland of Fionn mac Cumhaill, a deer chased by huntsmen and hounds would weary a pack so much that only a single man would remain in pursuit as the animal finally went to ground in a thicket; only to re-emerge soon afterwards from a hill of the Faery Folk, the Sidhe, in human form. It was a way they had of engaging with particular members of the human world.
However, a slightly different thing once happened to Fionn. He was chasing a young hind with only himself and his two dogs Bran and Sceolan left in pursuit, when he came upon his two dogs licking the deer that they had been chasing and rolling about playfully with it. The deer followed them back home as the day drew to a close and in the night, Fionn woke to find a beautiful young woman standing beside his bed.
Her name, she told him, was Sadbh. She had been cast into the shape of a deer by a druid. Fionn fell immediately in love with her and she became his wife.
But after many happy weeks together, upon returning from battle one time, Fionn was told that someone assuming his likeness had arrived at the fortress some days before, that Sadbh had gone out to greet this man, believing him to be Fionn himself, and that she had been turned back into a deer and driven away by the intruder’s dogs.
