Irish Mythology
Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill: Diarmuid and Manannan
pre-12th century—present. Old Irish | Modern Irish, folklore.
Diarmuid tries to stop him with a rugby tackle and is dragged down through its depths. At the bottom of the pool he finds himself in another land.
Some say that it was Manannan went to Finn and the Fianna in the form of the Gilla Decair...
He arrived in a clearing one day on a dreadful horse while Fionn was out hunting and offered him his services for wages. The giant man's horse had soon killed many of Fionn’s finest steeds.
The story quickly descends into high farce. The Gilla Decair's visit to Ireland ends with fourteen of Fionn’s men being carried away by this huge, terrible, unruly steed, one man being dragged along holding it’s tail. The horse is chasing after its master, who has retreated back over the waves, and soon the horse and the fourteen men clinging to it are racing away from Ireland across the sea after him.
Fionn organises a search party and with the help of a magic ship and an Otherworldly tracker, and having spent three days at sea looking for his lost men, he arrives at an island of sheer cliffs which none of his men can climb, except for Diarmuid. Diarmuid does so, comes upon a spring and drinks from it to quench his thirst. A Man of Enchantments
appears, angry at the theft of his water. The Enchanter fights with Diarmuid until night falls, when he plunges into the pool and disappears beneath its surface. The same thing happens on the second evening and when the Enchanter leaps again into the pool after fighting for a third day, Diarmuid tries to stop him with a rugby tackle and is dragged down through its depths. At the bottom of the pool he finds himself in another land. And when he was at the bottom of the well the Enchanter left him. Diarmuid went then following after the Enchanter, and he found before him a beautiful wide flowery plain...