Aislinge Oenguso

Aislinge Oenguso (Vision of Oengus), an Old Irish saga which survives in a manuscript of the early 16th-cent. Oengus, son of the god Dagda and the goddess Boann [see Irish mythology], falls in love with a beautiful woman whom he has seen in a dream.

Old Irish narrative found in the Book of Leinster (c.1150), usually known in English as The Vision of Angus, which tells of the love of the god Angus Óg and a swan maiden. Angus Óg was a lover wasted by longing for a young woman he had seen only in a dream. When she disappeared from the dream, Angus searched for her for one year; later Bodb Derg discovered that she was Cáer, daughter of Ethal Anbúail. She spent alternate years in human and in swan form. Angus approached her during her swan year and was himself transformed into a swan with her. Together they flew off to Angus's palace at Brug na Bóinne. On their way they chanted such wondrous music that none who heard it could sleep for three days and three nights.

A modern edition is by Francis Shaw (Dublin, 1934). The same narrative in oral tradition is usually titled Angus Óg agus Caer.