Roscommon Folk Tales E-Book

Pat Watson

• Herausgeber: THP Ireland
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Legend has it that the magical Tuatha Dé Danann came on the wind from Tír na nÓg (The Land of Youth) and landed in Roscommon, on the Curlew Mountains. It was from here that they spread throughout Ireland and some say that it is they who created the soul of the Irish and who imbued all who came after with the Irish Spirit. They were hot-tempered, strong, brave, daring and often rash and many of their deeds are captured in this collection of tales from across the country. Also featured here are intriguing stories of a vanishing lake, Oileán na Sioga (The Fairy Island), and the miracles of St Kieran, along with darker tales of the battles of Queen Méabh, the Monster of Lough Rea, and the story of Betty of Roscommon, Ireland's first (and only) hang woman – not to mention the fantastical accounts of encounters with leprechauns, pookas, giants and banshees. Roscommon has as many stories as there are people travelling its roads, passed down from generation to generation, and a wealth of them are gathered together here in this unique volume.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title Page

Acknowledgements

1 The Visionary

2 Wars, Weddings and Predictions

3 The Last Bit of the Realm

4 Lough Cé

5 The Battle Above Lough Cé

6 Una Bhan

7 Lough Funcheon, the Vanishing Lake and the Fairies

8 The Morrigan, Pooka, Banshee, Leprechaun and the Little People

9 The Monster of Lough Ree

10 Two Rocks

11 Snamh Dhá Ean – Swim Two Birds

12 Oileán na Sióga – The Fairy Island

13 Queen Meabh of Connaught

14 One Christian Account

15 St Ciaran of Clonmacnoise & Fr Pat Whitney of Drumboylan

16 A Story About Rathra Fort

17 Stories of Differing O’Kellys

18 The Legend

19 The Story of Roscommon’s Hang Woman

20 Landlords

21 The Price of a Priest

22 Roscommon and Ireland’s First President

23 The Ghostly Fielding (Little Field)

24 The Suitors

25 Willie’s First Girlfriend

26 The Little Ghost

27 The Engagement Ring

Copyright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following for their help with this book: Evelyn Watson; Mattie Ward; Gearoid O’Brien; Richard Finan; Tom Tighe; Maura Quigley; Tim O’Connell; Fred Carney; Patrica Watson; Anthony Tuohy; Don Feeley; Michael Martin; Aidan Kelleher; Fr Michael Kelly; Fr Ciaran Whitney; Frank Tivnan; John Kerrigan; and Sean Byrne.

1

THE VISIONARY

Even before her birth Ashling was different. She kicked so hard at night that she woke both her parents. The strange thing was that whenever she woke them it was always for some reason – the cow was calving, Granny had fainted, the hens were being attacked by the fox or the neighbour’s house was on fire – and in all these cases disasters were averted. So, when Ashling finally arrived in this world with a peculiar birthmark the shape of an Irish wolfhound on her shoulder it was taken as a sign that she was destined for greatness or disaster. Indeed, the wise old woman who brought her into the world said she was privileged to birth such a treasure before she died.

‘I have been waiting for this for all of fifty years and isn’t it wonderful that I lived to see it. Our Earth God has been kind to me. Indeed, this may be the child who will one day, in the very distant future, inspire a descendant to capture the mystery, magic, lore and history of this era and area’ she said. ‘Her mother, Ina, was one of the tree people who were descended from the magical Tuatha Dé Danann.’

Various early peoples are said to have come to Ireland by sea but the magical Tuatha Dé Danann came on the wind from Tír na nÓg (The Land of Youth). They it was who created the soul of the Irish and who imbued all who came before or after with the Irish Spirit. This included a natural ability in music, speech, poetry, sport, laughter and merriment and a little portion of magic that is known as ‘craic’. They were also hot-tempered, strong, brave, daring and often rash. However, even if they lost in battle to strangers, which they usually did, within a few generations the spirit of the Tuatha Dé Danann would have seeped into the blood and mind of the strangers. Thereafter the magic never left them no matter how far they wandered or how great their number. Tír na nÓg was not a real place but a state of mind.

She grew up in the shadow of the great Fort of Cruachán and was a very bright child. By the time she was six she could milk a goat or catch and kill a hare or even grab passing crows or seagulls. Needless to say this made her family well fed with meat and milk.

There were no schools then and children learned from their mothers, fathers, siblings and neighbours. From an early age, however, Ashling saw things that others could not see. She would say she saw men in red coats riding horses on the road. Of course there were no roads there at that time and certainly no men in red coats. Some said she was a little queer, others said she was magically gifted with seeing the past or the future. She was always seeing people but she never knew any of them. Eventually word of her visions travelled to Rickpat, the king of the fort.

King Rickpat decided that she might be very useful to him so he sent his best man riding a horse, to collect her. She did not like the man on the horse and said she would not go with him. Her mother and father did not want her to go but they depended on the king to protect them against the raiders that sometimes came from the north. But when they ordered her to go she refused point blank. As she was only a little girl the horseman just picked her up under his arm and galloped away. She did not cry out but only said, ‘When he dies I will have to walk home.’

Her mother and the neighbours listened well but the horseman just laughed as he trotted away. Just as they came in sight of the fort a fox jumped out in front of them and though the rider nearly kept control, the horse veered under a low-hanging branch. The rider hit his head and fell dead on the ground. The child dropped safely to the ground, the horse galloped away, and Ashling walked all the way home.

When King Rickpat heard what happened he became even more determined to have this unique child in his fort, where he could use her visions and magic to his advantage. However, he could not afford to lose any more men, and anyhow he had no men brave enough to tackle this magic child. He asked his wife for ideas to capture this treasure but she was not enthusiastic, as she believed that magic was dangerous and would bring no good.

‘Beware,’ she said, ‘she may come to control you and yours.’ Rickpat was sure that the gods sent this child for his benefit. Finally, he formed a plan in his own mind. He would offer the parents, Num and Ina, a house and position within the fort and then he would be near the little one and he could hear her himself.

Shortly before this, the king had skirted the great bog of Trim and captured extensive lands stretching all the way to the great river, Shannon. He had forced the people there to pay tribute of cattle, sheep and poultry, but it was a long way around the bog and it took nearly all his men coming and going to keep the people there subdued. What he needed was a short way across the soft shivering bog. It was so soft and marshy that only hares could traverse it on their own well-used paths. A wise druid had told him that in other parts, kings had found a way of making roads on the bogs with wattles but when he and his men tried it, all they achieved was getting very wet and dirty.

He could kill two birds with just one stone.

Next time he called to the house of Ashling himself. Her parents were too much in awe of the king to say anything, so he said to Ashling, ‘And how is my little girl today?’

‘I’m fine thank you,’ she said, ‘but I am not your little girl; I belong to my Mammy and Daddy.’

‘But I am the king,’ he said.

‘I know who you are and I know who I am,’ she replied.

‘Are you not afraid of me?’ he asked.

‘Why? Are you a bad man?’

‘No! No! No! I am not a bad man. Actually I’ve come to offer your father a great opportunity, in fact the opportunity of a lifetime. I want all of you to come to live within the fort. Then I want your father, Num, to take twenty men and try to make a road across the bog of Trim.’ The parents both knew that others had failed at this task and they suspected that it was only a ruse to get the child into the fort. The king noticed the hesitation and immediately said, ‘You will have your own house and the use of a few acres outside the fort, within the enclosure, and you can come and go as you please. Ina and the child will have ladies and their children for company. Sure, we’ll all be one big happy family. Think about it for a bit while I go see your goats,’ he said.

‘What do you think?’ said Num, after the king left.

‘Do we have much choice?’ asked Ina who was a bit afraid but was also anxious to get into the fort and be upwardly mobile.

‘How am I going to do any better at road making than the others who tried?’ said Num.

‘I will help,’ said Ashling.

‘And how will a little fairy like you help?’ asked Num as he picked her up so they could rub noses.

‘You will see.’

When the king came back they agreed to his terms and within a few days they were in comfortable quarters in the fort, while their goats, hens, ducks, geese, were safely in the little farmyard that came with the few acres. Num would get time off from overseeing road building to sow the corn.

On arrival at the fort, Ashling was immediately surrounded by six giant Irish wolfhounds that were used for hunting deer. They towered over her and licked her face. When she waved a tiny warning finger at them and ordered them to have manners they obeyed immediately. Their names were Mussy, Blackie, Nick, Butch, Hendrix and Spot. The king’s seven-year-old son Hau was most impressed as he was afraid of the dogs, and thenceforth all eight of them were dedicated playmates.

Work started on the road the next day. It was springtime and there was great excitement on the edge of the bog. Skylarks, pilibins, storks, curlews, hen harriers, snipes, water hens and others were busy with boisterous mating and nesting, with the occasional hungry eagle watching from far above. From the edge of the great oak forest the natural hazel covered the ground down to the marsh where they were joined by the sallies, birch, sedge grass and finally heather. A gravel road could be made through the first hundred yards as the upland slowly slanted downward beneath the marsh.

The king decreed that the road over the bog should be the width of one big man lying crosswise with his hands stretched above his head, about seven feet. First they extracted the gravel and stones from Cairn Hill. This took six weeks as the further they went the higher the road had to be to compensate for the falling ground. In the end, the road was five feet high but was only level with the adjoining bog. Now was the moment of truth. What would happen when they went on to the bog? The last failure stood as a reminder just a few yards away.

During those weeks, Ashling, Hau and the wolfhounds were gathering little sally rods to make their own road. The rods that they broke off were only as thick as her little finger. Even so the first break was never complete and they had to twist them for a complete break. When they had a lot of sticks – an unknown number, as they could not count – she put half of them lengthwise and the other half crosswise. All eight now walked across the sticks but they rolled apart. Then she had a great idea: she would weave them together.

When this was done, the sticks supported the eight, even across very soft ground where the muck had been up to their ankles. Some muck came up and through, but the rods held together. When her father saw this he knew his problems were solved.

‘You never let me down,’ he said as he picked her up to rub noses.

‘Hau helped too,’ she said. Hau’s face reddened, as he knew he had only looked on but he was very pleased by the compliment bestowed by the little vision.

Num and his men pulled a great lot of heather first and placed it on the bog. Then they put wattles thicker than a man’s wrist crosswise and lengthwise enmeshed together and put them on top of the heather. Then they brought scraws from the upland and put them on the top. When they walked on to the road it shivered a little but held firm. When one of the cows was led on to the contraption it shivered and dipped a little more but did not break and held fast even as several cows were walked and circled about on it. The king and everybody were delighted. The problem was solved; they could make their road. Better still, the king had the little magician within his reach!

The king and his men went hunting deer every few days with the six wolfhounds in the forest Futch that was called after the stammering Fut, the king of the underworld. The Tuatha Dé Danann had locked Fut under a great boulder and by a magic web in Oweynagat, the Cave of Cats, which was deep in the woods.

One day, Ashling said to Hau, ‘Why don’t you and I go hunting with the hounds, we might catch hares or even deer?’

‘What if we meet wolves?’

‘The barking of the hounds will keep the wolves away till darkness.’

‘No, we cannot go into the woods because we might meet a bear, what would we do then?’

Ashling said no more, but a few days later she asked again, ‘Why can’t we go?’

‘I told you,’ Hau said, ‘we might meet a bear.’

‘And we might not.’

‘But if we did?’

‘The hounds will mind us,’ she replied.

‘What if we get lost?’

‘We won’t; we can watch the sunlight through the trees.’

Hau thought about this. She had been right about a lot of things, was she right now?’ Should he take the chance? He did not want to look weak.

‘Please,’ she said, with a wistful smile and a sparkle in her deep blue eyes, pushing back her mop of auburn hair. That did it. They would go but nobody must know.

They set off, and after a little while they would look back, carry on for a bit, look back, then another little bit before they got to the woods and could no longer be seen. Very soon the dogs picked up a scent and away they went at great speed. The children followed as best they could, shouting at the dogs to slow down, but soon enough the dogs were in the ever-increasing distance. Their barking grew faint and faded away altogether. The children stopped for they could no longer tell which way the dogs had gone. They looked at each other and each little worried face scared the other.

‘Are we lost?’ said Ashling, with a trembling lip. Hau remembered what she had said about seeing the sun through the trees. He looked up but it seemed the day had darkened and there was no sign of the sun. The Sun God had gone to sleep. They had forgotten to pray to him this morning. He must be angry. Hau decided he would not blame Ashling, for she was too beautiful. He would act like a man even if he did not feel like one. So he put his arm round her shoulder and said it will be all right, the dogs would come back and even if they didn’t, they would still find their way home.

They walked and walked for a long time but did not reach the edge of the woods nor could they hear any but woodland sounds. Whenever they disturbed a woodcock and it fluttered up before them, they were frightened. They saw a huge tree with a mighty hole at ground level, and inside the hole was a sort of lair as if for a mighty hare.

They took no further notice but continued on their way home. They were growing tired and thirsty but it was not far now. Then they came to the tree with the mighty hole again. They were lost and just walking in circles. Each little face looked at each other. Tears were very near, and just then the first clatter of thunder rolled up the sky far above and the clouds burst, the rain hammering on the canopy above. Within seconds huge blobs of water would roll off the leaves and drench them. Shaking with fright, they shrieked loudly before they took shelter in the comfy tree.

When the queen and Ina heard the thunder, both ran out to get the children. They were gone! The dogs were gone! Consternation broke out. They must have gone to the woods. Would the dogs protect them and bring them home safely? Little did they know that the children were sheltering alone in the bear’s den a mile west of the fort.

When the bear heard the thunder he was in a clearing in the wood raiding bees’ nests a mile north of his den. He decided to head for home.

When the hounds heard the thunder they had just slain a deer and were waiting for their masters to catch up and carry home the prey. They were two miles west of the children. Then Butch, the biggest and fiercest, heard the distant shriek. He eyed Mussy and Spot to stay while he and the other four bounded away.

When Num and his men heard the thunder they immediately headed home, as flat ground was dangerous in lightning and besides, they were not dressed for heavy rain.

When the king heard the thunder he was outside repairing the palisade that surrounded the little fields around the fort, and he too headed home.

Meanwhile, the mothers of the children had raised such a wail that several men with spears, slings, arrows, sticks and stones had gathered. The king led them to the forest but they were not sure which way to go.

The bear was making slow, steady progress, as he did not like getting wet.

Butch and the other three dogs were barking loudly as they headed in the direction of the children. Luckily, the men coming in the opposite direction heard them and headed to meet them. The bear arrived at the tree first, but he was distracted by the lightning-fast howling dogs. When he turned to face them they quickly spread out all around him with Butch and Blackie keeping between him and the den. Wolfhounds are brave, fierce and fast but are no match for a bear. Only for the cries of the children they would have given him a wide berth. The bear, however, was not prepared to give up and headed straight for the tree. With a great bound Butch sprung up on his back and bit deep into the thick skin on the back of his neck. The bear stopped, reached back with his two paws and pulled the dog out over his head and began to tear poor Butch apart. The dog managed a dying lunge and bit a huge lump off the top of the bear’s nose. He died with the bear’s nose in his teeth.

Just then, the men arrived and began to pelt the bear with all the force of their weaponry and voices. Being mesmerised by the ferocity and huge numbers of his attackers the bear headed west and was chased for many miles into new territory, and he was never seen again.

Meanwhile, the women and the boys arrived and, after much hugging, took home the children. The men recovered the deer on their way back and a great feast was had by all.

Hau was struck dumb, but Ashling was inconsolable at the ferocity of the fight and, above all, at the loss of her beloved Butch. Ina held her close for a long time but finally gave her a little mead, lulling her into a fitful sleep.

As she slept, Ina watched over her and was surprised when a smile appeared on her pale little face.

Ashling heard the two Leprechauns at the same time as she saw them. They were talking to each other. She never knew before that Leprechauns spoke in Limericks only.

The first one said:

There was a great wolfhound called Butch,

Who loved his young mistress too much.

For Ashling and Crown,

He laid his life down.

Now he’ll be the great Legend of Futch.

The second one said:

Great Butch was the bravest hound ever,

Would he flee from the big bear? No, never,

Though he pulled him apart,

And tore out his heart,

He managed the bear’s nose to sever.

That was when her mother saw her smile, and little Ashling never mourned Butch again.

2

WARS, WEDDINGS AND PREDICTIONS

Over the following years, Ashling and Hau became inseparable. The wolfhound Nick had three pups; the biggest was called Butch, the other two were Bailey and Sparkey. The children and the dogs became so good at hunting that soon everybody was eating deer at least once a week.

When Ashling was just thirteen years old, word reached the King Rickpat and all the Connaught men, that the King of Leigin had developed bows and arrows and that his men could kill with the new contraption at twenty paces. The Connaught men were fierce spear fighters and they had arrows but they could only fire at ten paces and were not very accurate, while spears are only good at two paces unless they were thrown and when the enemy collected them, they could throw them back.

Connaught had a big problem as the men of Leigin were marching to cross the Shannon at Athlone. The kingdoms of Monksland, Kiltoom and Cam called on King Rickpat for help: ‘If you save us from this enemy, we will be subject to you thereafter and we will pay you tribute every harvest.’

King Rickpat sent for Ashling.

‘Have you any idea how we can defend ourselves against those new weapons that the Leigin men have?’

Ashling closed her eyes and after a while she said, ‘Give me a little while to think.’

When she closed her eyes a thought occurred to her. She felt that what was happening should be recorded for posterity and she was obliged to do it. She opened her eyes and looked about. The landscape was totally different – the forests were gone, and the timber fence that surrounded the fort and the little fields was gone without trace. The bog and lake had dried out and was green and luscious; there was no sign of the Forest of Futch. She saw the extent of a realm much larger than Cruachán. It covered an area that would one day be called Roscommon. It will be called after the Christian St Coman, who will build a monastery beside a wood. It will be the first county in Ireland when a future king, Phelim O’Conor, changed the name to County Roscommon. It will be divided into areas called parishes. She drew out their shapes in the dust with her finger. They extended from the Shannon to the Suck for a very long way. She instinctively knew the names of those parishes. Then it hit her. She was seeing things Melina hence. If she was going to inspire somebody from that time she would need to use the place names that she saw or heard in her mind.

The visions had a narrow focus on one place only. Sometimes they moved sideways to giver a wider view but other times they stayed in the same place but moved through time. This made them hard to understand and a vision is always hard to turn into words especially if times are very different.

The king returned. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘any ideas about defending Connaught?’

‘Can you not hold them at the river at Athlone?’ Ashling asked.

‘No, because they come in boats and they will be able to shoot down our men from the boats at twenty paces while we will only be able to defend at two feet. We have only a limited number of spears.’

Ashling closed her eyes again and concentrated. ‘All of the land west of Athlone is swampy bog except the narrow Esker that runs down to and through the Shannon. Build a timber palisade of strong uprights, one and a half man high across the esker, with half man high earth walkway on our side. Our men can duck the arrows and spear the enemy when they come close. Then build a bog roadway just two paces wide, going south in the soft ground for a thousand paces. Build two other roads ten paces longer just a half a pace from the middle road. Cover all three roads with heather but have the heather much deeper and standing erect on the outer roads. Divide your men into four ways. Put one lot looking over the palisade, two larger numbers hiding in the heather on the two outer roads. The last lot, who will have to be the bravest and will face the enemy on the riverbank, they will duck the first lot of arrows as best they can and then turn and run down the middle road. When the Leigin men see the cowards run they will not bother to reload the bows but will rush ashore and follow our men along the bog road. When they are spread out along the middle road our men will rise out of the heather on either side and stab them. When any that are not killed in the first surprise attack try to fight back, they will sink in the half paces between the roads. If any try to run back our men from the palisades will cut off their retreat.’

This was done over the next few days and the men of Monksland, Kiltoom and Cam marvelled at being able to traverse the swamp. When the Leigin men saw the apparently cowardly Connaught men retreat, they quickly paddled their boats ashore and bounded after the fleeing sissies just as Ashling had foretold. Just as the last of them started on the bog road the hidden Connaught men rose up and slew them.

The following year, just after the harvest, a plea came from the kingdom of Boyle for help defending against a mighty army from Ulla that was marching south and would come east of the mountains. At that time, the kingdom of Boyle stretched around the mountains to Keadue, Arigna and Ballyfarnon. The Boyle king promised total allegiance to Cruachán and Rickpat if they saved him and his people. All the Connaught kingdoms knew that they could not match the mighty men of Ulla.

Rickpat went to Ashling.

‘What can we do?’ he asked.

Ashling once again closed her eyes and thought for a while, then she said, ‘Send emissaries to talk terms with the Ulla king. Keep them talking on the high barren ground until the full moon twenty days hence. Then agree to whatever terms demanded with the proviso that the emissaries return a day ahead of the army to tell the Connaught to lay down arms.’

At first the king was not convinced but when he remembered Athlone he slowly nodded agreement. The Boyle people were very doubtful but they too had heard of Athlone and anyhow sooner or later they would have to settle for complete surrender. They did as they were told.