Ross Castle along the Lower Lake

Please understand I write this post entirely tongue- in- cheek. I don’t believe in Faeries (somewhere in Neverland Tinkerbell just died). But while in Ireland, the unequivocal center of all faeridom, Amanda and I did have a very strange encounter on the early morning of October 7th as we made our way to Ross Castle.

The morning mist was just winding its way back into the primordial forests from which it had come and the road ahead was becoming more clear by the moment. We were about a mile from the castle on one of those quiet country roads we were becoming so use to driving in little Mii.

As we rounded one bend, the road became straight and visible for about a quarter of a mile and I sighted something in the road  ahead. At first I thought it to be a large black dog. But as we drove closer both Amanda and I could see that it was far to large to be any dog but still too small to be a horse. It looked at first like it was carrying something in its mouth but  as we moved closer (we had slowed down to about 10 MPH at this point) we saw that whatever it was, was not in the creature’s mouth but jutting from its forehead and the “whatever it was”, was big, maybe four or five feet in length.

“A unicorn?” I asked out loud.

Amanda chuckled and punched my arm but I was seriously nonplussed by the sight.

The lakes of Killarney do add a certain magic to the air.

We were now within about 15 feet of the creature and it lifted its head from the ground. It was a six point buck. I had never seen its like. Its neck was ruffed with black fur as if it had just stepped out of winter somewhere. Its face and horns were darker than the rest of its body. Bracken was wreathed in and out of its antlers.Twisted into the natural fibers was a four-foot piece of rotting log. As the buck looked at us it supported the piece of wood like some giant spear pointing it directly at little Mii. Then it whacked the wood once more against the ground and leapt off into the bushes carrying the log with it in its antlers.

Amanda and I almost wept at the sight of this majestic creature so trapped and tortured by its burden but within a few seconds the creature had melted back into the forest mists from whence it had come.

Now I do not suppose this was some faery critter. But were I of a different persuasion and maybe a little more Irish I think I could be forgiven for thinking perhaps… just perhaps it was.

Morning Mists On an Irish country road