Niamh

In Celtic mythology, Niamh (pronounced or ) was the daughter of Manannan mac Lir and Queen of Tir na n?g. She fell in love with Ois?n, poet and son of Fionn mac Cumhail, and went to Ireland on her horse, Embarr, to get him.

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Ois?n was a member of the Fianna and, though he fell in love with Niamh and returned with her to Tir na n?g, he became homesick after what he thought was three years. Niamh let him borrow Embarr, who could run above ground, and made him promise not to touch Irish soil.

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The three years he spent in Tir na n?g turned out to be 300 Irish years. Whilst travelling through Ireland, Ois?n was asked by some men to help them move a boulder. He tried to help them from his horse, but he fell, and upon touching the ground he instantly became an old man. Meanwhile, Niamh had given birth to his daughter, Plor na mBan. Niamh returned to Ireland to search for him, but he had died.

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The L? Niamh (P52), a ship in the Irish Naval Service, is named after her.

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Celtic mythology: Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the apparent religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. Among Celtic peoples in close contact with Rome, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, their ...

Manannan mac Lir: In Irish mythology, Manannan mac Lir was a sea and weather god. He is usually counted as one of the Tuatha D? Danann, although he was sometimes considered as older than them....

Fionn mac Cumhail: Fionn mac Cumhail (earlier Finn or Find mac Cumail or mac Umaill, pronounced roughly "Finn mac Cool") was a legendary hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, also known in Scotland and the Isle of Man. The stories of Fionn and his followers, the Fianna, form the Fenian cycle, much of it supposedly narrat...