The Deer-Woman, Mother of Oisín
Sadhbh had been transformed into a deer by Fear Doirche — the Dark Druid — as punishment for refusing his love. Fionn mac Cumhaill found her while hunting on the slopes of Ben Bulben. His hounds, who could sense the supernatural, would not harm her. He brought her back to Almhuin — the Hill of Allen — and within its walls she became human.
They lived together. While Fionn was away fighting, Fear Doirche came in Fionn’s form — or with a disguise good enough to fool her. She left the safety of Almhuin’s walls. The moment she crossed the threshold she was transformed back into a deer and taken.
Fionn returned to find her gone. He spent years searching the hills of Ireland for a white deer. He never found her.
What he found instead, years later on the slopes of Ben Bulben, was a wild boy — a child who had grown up among deer, who moved on all fours, who had a bald patch on his forehead where a deer would have a tuft of hair. Fionn recognised his son immediately. He brought him home, taught him language and human ways, and named him Oisín — little fawn.
Sadhbh was never found. The son she left behind became the Fianna’s greatest poet.
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