The Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty: A Mini-Essay

     The search for everlasting youth has consumed the thoughts and actions of numerous individuals throughout the annals of human history. From the bloody baths of Elizabeth Báthory to the tireless escapades of Juan Ponce de León, mankind has repeatedly sought the means to thwart age and prolong mortality. While some of these means, such as Báthory’s macabre soaks, involve the practice of bizarre rituals, others, like Ponce de León’s intangible fountain, entail the discovery of a hidden location which holds the coveted secret to immortality. One such mythical realm is the legendary island Tír-na-n-Og. Although its spelling, as Dáithí Ó hÓgáin explains, has varied over time, the mythology encompassing the fabled land has remained rather consistent. Masked by shady boscage, Tír-na-n-Og – reportedly the dwelling of fairies – has proven an elusive destination for all of mankind, with the exception of one individual. According to legend, the great Irish poet Oisen stumbled upon the mythical realm and lived there for three years (the equivalent of three-hundred years for humans). After returning to the world of man, Oisen was immediately ravished by old age and, before succumbing to the brutal passage of time, the poet related the wonders of Tír-na-n-Og: an untouched region of youth and beauty which does not know sorrow, violence, or death. Since then, the island has remained an obscure location, tantalizing passing ships with fleeting glimpses before vanishing into the horizon or wrecking vessels which have travelled too close with sudden and inexplicable storms. In fact, William Butler Yeats recounts a tale told to M. De La Boullage Le Cong by a Dutch pilot in 1614 about a mysterious island – believed to be Tír-na-n-Og – off the coast of Greenland which haunted their voyage, lingering just out of reach and summoning a wild tempest which nearly destroyed the ship when it sailed closer to its mysterious shore.

Works Referenced

Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. Irish Superstitions: Irish Spells, Old Wives’ Tales and Folk Beliefs. Park West, Ireland: Gill and Macmillan, Ltd., 2002.

Yeats, William Butler, ed. A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2015.