Dermot of the Love-spot (Dermot ODyna)
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 nights 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 Dermots forehead,
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.
