Home › D › Dermot of the Love-spot

Dermot of the Love-spot

The typical lover of Irish legend, and the hero of the myth of Dermot and Grania. It was in this wise that he got the love-spot. One night he and three companions entered a hut for a night's shelter, in which dwelt 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 forehead, and henceforth, it is said, no woman could see him without loving him. He came to be loved by Grania, the betrothed of Finn, who forced him to run away with her. They were pursued all over Ireland, but after sixteen years of outlawry, Dermot was allowed to return to his patrimony. He was killed by the Boar of Ben, Bulben, (q.v.) an enchanted animal, who had been his step-brother. His body was borne away on a gilded bier by the People of Dana, and was given a soul by Angus Og, the Irish God of Love, that he might return each day and talk with him. Dermot was of the type of solar hero; and the bier on which his body was borne away is, of course, the sunset.