Oisín

Oisín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈɔʃiːnʲ, ɔˈʃiːnʲ]), Osian, Ossian (/ˈɒʃən/ OSH-ən), or anglicized as Osheen (/oʊˈʃiːn/ UH-sheen) was regarded in legend as the greatest poet of Ireland, a warrior of the Fianna in the Ossianic or Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. He is the demigod son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and of Sadhbh (daughter of Bodb Dearg), and is the narrator of much of the cycle and composition of the poems are attributed to him.
His name literally means "young deer" or fawn, and the story is told that his mother, Sadhbh, was turned into a deer by a druid, Fear Doirche (or Fer Doirich). A young hunter named Fionn caught Sadhbh, but did not kill her, and she returned to human form. Fionn gave up hunting and fighting to settle down with Sadhbh, and she was soon pregnant, but Fer Doirich turned her back into a deer and she returned to the wild. Seven years later Fionn found his child, naked, on Benbulbin. Other stories have Oisín meet Fionn for the first time as an adult and contend over a roasting pig before they recognise each other.
In Oisín in Tir na nÓg, his most famous echtra or adventure tale, he is visited by a fairy woman called Niamh Chinn Óir (Niamh of the Golden Hair or Head, one of the daughters of Manannán mac Lir, a god of the sea). Niamh's father turned her head into a pig's head because of a prophecy. She tells this to Oisín and informs him she would return to her original form if he marries her. He agrees and they return to Tir na nÓg ("the land of the young", also referred to as Tir Tairngire, "the land of promise") where Oisín becomes king. Their union produces Oisín's famous son, Oscar, and a daughter, Plor na mBan ("Flower of Women"), as well as a second son, Finn. After what seems to him to be three years but in fact, was 300 years, Oisín decides to return to Ireland to see his old comrades the Fianna. One tale describes him coming to Ballinskelligs Bay, not far from Ballaghisheen, where he fell off his horse while trying to help move a large stone. Niamh had given him her white horse Embarr and warned him not to dismount because if his feet touched the ground, those 300 years would catch up with him and he would become old and withered. Another legend has Oisín returning to the hill of Almu, Fionn's home, abandoned and in disrepair. Later, while trying to help some men who were building a road in Gleann na Smól lift a stone out of the way onto a wagon, his girth breaks and he falls to the ground, becoming an old man just as Niamh had forewarned. The horse returns to Tir na nÓg. In some versions of the story, just before he dies Oisín is visited by Saint Patrick. Oisín tells Saint Patrick the stories of the Fianna and shortly after he dies.
The interaction between St. Patrick and Oisín has also been said to be more complicated. It is said that they were both angered by their differences. St. Patrick attempted to convert Oisín, but Oisín hated St. Patrick's teachings. One of the stories of the two involves Oisín fighting a bull for St. Patrick. Oisín kills the bull and when St. Patrick comes to see how the results of the fight, Oisín is asleep in the bull's hide. In return for killing the bull, Oisín asks to be buried facing the east on Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh. It is said that he was buried in the bull's hide on Curran Mountain near Manorhamiltion.
In the tale Acallam na Senórach (Tales of the Elders), Oisín and his comrade Caílte mac Rónáin survived to the time of Saint Patrick and told the saint the stories of the Fianna. This is the source of William Butler Yeats's poem The Wanderings of Oisin. In different versions of the story Oisín either defends the Druid faith or converts to Christianity.
The location of the grave site of Oisín is disputed. It is rumoured to be in Glenalmond in Perth, Scotland. Wordsworth wrote a poem on the subject entitled "Glen-Almain, the Narrow Glen". Others say it is located in the Nine Glens of Antrim at a site that has been known for generations as "Oisín's Grave". The megalithic court cairn is located on a hillside in Lubitavish, near the Glenann River, outside the village of Cushendall on the North Antrim Coast, and is believed to be the ancient burial place of Oísín.
Ossian, the narrator and purported author of a series of poems published by James Macpherson in the 1760s, is based on Oisín. Macpherson claimed to have translated his poems from ancient sources in the Scottish Gaelic language. Macpherson's poems had widespread influence on many writers including Goethe and the young Walter Scott, although their authenticity was widely disputed. Modern scholars have demonstrated that Macpherson based his poems on authentic Gaelic ballads, but had adapted them to contemporary sensibilities by altering the original characters and ideas and introducing a great deal of his own.
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