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In a typical hero's journey,

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the protagonist sets out on an adventure,

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undergoes great change,

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and returns in triumph [br]to their point of origin.

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But in the Irish genre of myth[br]known as Eachtrai,

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the journey to the other world[br]ends in a point of no return.

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While there are many different versions[br]of the otherworld in Irish mythology,

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the most well-known example occurs[br]in the story of Oisin.

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Oisin was the son of Fionn mac Cumhall,[br]the leader of a group of pagan warriors

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known as the Fianna.

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As Oisin rode with his companions one day,

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he was visited by [br]the immortal princess Niamh.

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The two fell instantly in love

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and Niamh put Oisin onto her white horse

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and rode with him [br]to the edge of the Irish sea.

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As they made for the horizon,[br]the riders sunk into a golden haze.

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They came to the shores of[br]the gleaming kingdom called Tír na nÓg.

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This was the home of the Tuatha Dé Danann,[br]the people who ruled Ancient Ireland

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long before Oisin's time.

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From the point of his arrival,[br]Oisin's every need was met.

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He married Niamh in a grand ceremony[br]and was welcomed into her family.

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When he wished to hear music,[br]his ears filled with bewitching tones.

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When he hungered, golden plates[br]appeared laden with fragrant food.

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He admired scenes of great beauty,[br]and colors that he had no name for.

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All around him, the land and the people[br]existed in a state of unmoving perfection.

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But what Oisin didn't know was that[br]Tír na nÓg was the land of youth,

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in which time stood still[br]and the people never aged.

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In his new home, Oisin continued[br]to hunt and explore as he had in Ireland.

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But in the land of youth, he possessed[br]a strange, new invincibility.

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At the end of each day of adventuring,

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Oisin's wounds magically healed themselves[br]as he slept in Niamh's arms.

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Although glory and pleasure[br]came easily to Oisin in the land of youth,

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he missed the Fianna[br]and the adventures they had in Ireland.

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After three years in Tír na nÓg, he[br]was struck by a deep yearning for home.

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Before he embarked on his journey back,[br]Niamh warned him

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that he must not alight from his horse[br]to touch the earth with his own feet.

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When Oisin reached the shores of Ireland,

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it felt as if a shadow [br]had fallen over the world.

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On the hill where his father's palace lay,[br]he saw only a ruin strewn with weeds.

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His calls for his friends and family[br]echoed from derelict walls.

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Horrified, Oisin rode until he came upon[br]a group of peasants working in the fields.

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They were struggling to remove [br]a boulder from their land,

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and forgetting Niamh's warning,

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Oisin leapt from his horse and rolled it[br]away with his superhuman strength.

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The crowd's cheers soon[br]turned into shrieks.

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In place of the youth was an old man[br]whose beard swept the ground

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and whose legs buckled under him.

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He cried out for Finn and the Fianna,

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but the people only recognized these names[br]from the distant past of 300 years before.

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Time had betrayed Oisin

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and his return to mortal lands[br]had aged him irreversibly.

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Throughout Irish folklore,

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sightings of the land of youth[br]have been reported in the depths of wells,

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on the brink of the horizon,

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or in the gloom of caves.

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But those who know the tale of Oisin[br]tell of another vision,

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that of a shining princess carried upon[br]the distant waves by a white horse,

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still hoping for the return [br]of her doomed love.