This book contains the following stories:
Oisin in Tir Na Nog
Oisin fell in love with the flame-haired maiden Niamh, whose father was the king of Tir na nOg. They crossed the sea on Niamh’s white mare together to reach the magical land of Tir na nOg where they lived happily. After three hundred years had passed Oisin succumbed to homesickness and returned on the magical white mare to his tribe, the Fianna, in Ireland. But all his family and friends had long passed away, and Oisin with heavy heart turned back to the west. On the way back his mare’s hoof caught a stone, and Oisin thought to himself that if he carried the rock back with him to Tir na nOg, it would be like taking a bit of Ireland back with him. But when he leant down to retrieve the rock he stumbled and fell. As soon as his foot hit the ground he aged three hundered years. The mare panicked and ran into the sea, heading back to Tir na nOg without him. However, some fishermen had seen Oisin’s rapid ageing and assumed magic was involved. They took him to see Saint Patrick, where Oisin told his story before passing into the afterlife.
The Children of Lir
In the North Sea a jealous queen transforms King Lir's three children into swans, doomed to spend nine hundred years tossed by the icy waves.
