Dermot of the Love-spot (Dermot O'Dyna)

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Dermot of the Love-spot (Dermot O'Dyna)

A typical lover in Irish legend and the hero of the myth of Dermot and Grania. One night Dermot and three companions entered a hut for a night's shelter. In the hut lived an old man, a young girl (Youth), a wether (the World), and a cat (Death). During the night, the girl put the love-spot on Dermot's fore-head, and thenceforth, it was said, no woman could see him without loving him. He came to be loved by Grania, the betrothed of Finn Mac Cummal, and she forced him to run away with her.

The couple was pursued all over Ireland, but after 16 years of outlawry, Dermot was allowed to return to his patrimony. He was killed by his stepbrother, who through an enchantment had taken the form of Bulben, the Boar of Ben. His body was borne away on a gilded bier by the people of Dana, and it was given a soul by Angus Og, the Irish god of love, so that he might return each day and talk with the god. Dermot may represent the sun in this legend, and the bearing away of his body may symbolize the sunset.