Nicholas Kinney

Here is a myth from China featuring a beautiful woman who lives in the moon and her husband, an exceptionally skilled archer. The story made a colourful subject for me to illustrate. Long ago when the world was young, there were ten suns which took turns to shine in the sky. However one day all the suns rose together  at the same time threatening to burn up the earth. The gods called upon Hou Yi, an excellent archer for help. He shot down nine of the suns, leaving one to give the world the light and warmth it needed. Hou Yi was rewarded for this achievement with the elixir of immortality which he took home in a bottle, saying “ I will share this with my wife Chang’e and we shall choose a suitably romantic moment to take it.” The couple didn’t consume the elixir immediately but stored it away in their house. The archer’s apprentice Fengmeng heard about the elixir and sneaked into the house when his master was out hunting. Chang’e observed Fengmeng furtively moving about, ...

Long ago in Ireland there lived a young man called Oisin. He was the son of mighty warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill and he was a gifted poet. He loved hunting and one day while chasing deer he came upon a beautiful woman on a fabulous white horse. She spoke to him, saying “I am Niamh, the daughter of the sea god and I have come a long way to see the most handsome young poet in Ireland.” Oisin was bedazzled by the young woman and easily persuaded to go with her, without even asking where that might be. He climbed up on the horse which then flew over fields & forests and over the sea to the distant land of Tir n’a nOg. This was a paradise situated beyond the sea in the west and inhabited by supernatural beings. Here there was no passing of time in any human sense, the flowers and trees were forever in bloom, the wine and mead always flowing and there was no sickness or sorrow. Oisin loved being with Niamh in this dreamlike place and time indeed seemed to stop for the young poet.  ...