This week Junior & Senior Infants learned about Oisín in Tír na nÓg.
Long, long ago in the green hills of CountyKerry lived a great giant called Fionn Mac Cool. He had a son called Oisin. He was a great warrior and poet. One sunny morning when the Fianna were hunting they saw a beautiful elegant horse galloping closer to them. On the horse’s back rode the most beautiful girl. Her name was Niamh. She had long fair hair as golden as the summer sun. Her dress was a lovely pale blue colour, studded with stars. Immediately the Fianna couldn’t help but stare at this beautiful girl. “Who are you and where have you come from?” asked Fionn. “I am Niamh from Tir Na Nog, my father is the King. I have heard as lot about the great poet and warrior Oisin,” answered Niamh.
Niamh, the princess of Tir na Nog, wanted Oisin to go with her in the peaceful land. “Tell me” Oisin said in an amazed voice, “What sort of land is Tir na Nog?” “Tir na Nog is the land of youth” replied Niamh. “It is a happy place with no pain or sorrow” she said. “Any wish you make will come true and no one grows old there. If you come with me you will find that all this is true about the great land of Tir na Nog” Niamh said in a desperate voice. She really wanted Oisin to go and live with her in Tir na Nog. Oisin mounted the beautiful white horse and cried his goodbyes to his great father and friends. He promised that he would return to Ireland soon. The horse galloped off over the water moving as swiftly as a shadow. The Fianna were upset to see their hero go, but Fionn Mac Cool the great warrior reminded them of Oisin’s promise to return back to Ireland soon.
Oisin decide he would go with Niamh. After a while he missed his father deeply. Oisin did not know how long he had been away. Oisin thought he had only been away for a few years but he had actually been away three hundred years. At first Niamh did not want him to go back to Ireland but he pleaded with her and she let him.
“Take my white horse” offered Niamh. “Whatever you do, do not touch the soil of Ireland” said Niamh. “If you do you will never return to me or Tir na Nog again” whispered Niamh. Oisin set off over the deep, clear sea. After a while he reached Ireland.
When Oisin went home he saw some men trying to life a very big rock. He leaned over to help them, and with that he fell off the beautiful white horse. It ran way into the trees and Oisin hit the soil of Ireland. Suddenly, he was an old man. He asked a man if he knew where Fionn Mac Cool lived. The man explained to him that Fionn had died many years ago.
Oisin was heart broken. Oisin went on telling his story of Tir na Nog and his father Fionn and the Fianna.