Diarmuid and the Love Spot : A Celtic Riddle

Описание: The Story of how Diarmaid Au Duibhne got his Love Spot.

A lesser know tale from the Fenian Cycle of Irish Mythology, about the exploits of the Fianna - those warrior poets and defenders of Erin and Alba led by Fionn mac Cumhaill.

In this strange folk tale, four of the Fianna, Diarmaid included follow a white deer to a strange hut in the forest.

In the hut are a black ram of supernatural strength, a fair maid of unearthly beauty, and an old man with far more to him than meets the eye.

Who are they?

This is a riddle for you...

A note on pronunciation.

A you may guess I'm not a native Irish speaker, so my pronunciation is a little off in places. I always welcome correction from native speakers.

It's worth noting though that pronunciation does change according region and time period. Modern Irish is not like Old Irish.

Caoìlte for example is "KYLE tuh" in Old Irish, but "QUAIL tuh" in modern Irish...

Irish Gaelic is also not Scottish Gaelic although the languages are closely related. There's also Anglicised versions of most of these names, so Diarmaid turns from "DEER mad" to.... "Derrmot"

Don't get too hung up on pronunciation and don't let it stop you from retelling the tales.


This is such a strange and dreamlike story....In other versions of this tale, the Ram represents Life, not what I say in the video, and the old man is, in fact, a cat.

Make of that what you will.....