Lovespots

• lovespots: in the story of Diarmuid and Gráinne, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, or Diarmuid "of the Love Spot" was the foster-son of the Irish love god Aonghus. His mortal father gave him to the god as a child, a gift that was returned when Diarmuid received the famous love spot as a young Fenian warrior. One night, when out hunting, Diarmuid and three companions took shelter in a small hut in a wood. There a beautiful young woman received them but chose to sleep only with Diarmuid. She told him that she was Youth, and that the love spot she put on his forehead would make him irresistible to women. As a consequence, Diarmuid's life was almost continuously troubled by desperate women, the worst being Grainne, the passionate daughter of High King Cormac Mac Art.