Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

250 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[291]The boar was no common beast. The story of its origin wasas follows: Dermot's father, Donn, gave the child to be nurturedby Angus Ōg in his palace on the Boyne. His mother, who wasunfaithful to Donn, bore another child to Roc, the steward ofAngus. Donn, one day, when the steward's child ran betweenhis knees to escape from some hounds that were fighting on thefloor of the hall, gave him a squeeze with his two knees thatkilled him on the spot, and he then flung the body among thehounds on the floor. When the steward found his son dead, anddiscovered (with Finn's aid) the cause of it, he brought a Druidrod and smote the body with it, whereupon, in place of the deadchild, there arose a huge boar, without ears or tail; and to it hespake: “I charge you to bring Dermot O'Dyna to his death”; andthe boar rushed out from the hall and roamed in the forests ofBen Bulben in Co. Sligo till the time when his destiny should befulfilled.But Dermot grew up into a splendid youth, tireless in thechase, undaunted in war, beloved by all his comrades of theFianna, whom he joined as soon as he was of age to do so.How Dermot Got the Love SpotHe was called Dermot of the Love Spot, and a curious andbeautiful folk-tale recorded by Dr. Douglas Hyde 187 tells howhe got this appellation. With three comrades, Goll, Conan, andOscar, he was hunting one day, and late at night they sought aresting-place. They soon found a hut, in which were an old man,a young girl, a wether sheep, and a cat. Here they asked forhospitality, and it was granted to them. But, as usual in thesetales, it was a house of mystery.When they sat down to dinner the wether got up and mountedon the table. One after another the Fianna strove to throw it off,but it shook them down on the floor. At last Goll succeeded inflinging it off the table, but him too it vanquished in the end,187 Taken down from the recital of a peasant in Co. Galway and published atRennes in Dr. Hyde's “An Sgeuluidhe Gaodhalach,” vol. ii. (no translation).