School: Sruthar (C.)

Location:
Shrule, Co. Mayo
Teacher:
Bríd, Bean Uí Éanacháin
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0102, Page 225

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0102, Page 225

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  3. XML “Stories of the Famine, Evictions, etc.”

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  1. Stories of the Famine, Evictions, etc.
    There is scarcely anybody living at the present day, who can remember the famine years, but there are many old legends and stories handed down to us from our ancestors connected with those terrible years. My father told me an old story about Rafftery, an old blind travelling poet. who used to go around the country looking for alms. One day during the famine, he went into a house near Headford, and asked for an alm and he got no answer, he asked a few times; and getting no answer, he went on his knees cursing the inhabitants of the house. But before he got off his knees, his sight was restored to him, and he never forgot the sight that met his eyes. On the floor were the corpses of three persons, and on a bed, were two more people dying with the hunger. Rafftery went on his knees, and prayed to God to take away his sight from him again lest he might ever see another sight of that kind, his sight was taken from him again, and it was then Rafftery composed the well known "Repentance" called "[?] Rafftery". My father has a copy of this, and it was written by my grand-father long ago.
    Nora Ni Dubdha.
    (From Father, James Dowd,
    Cahernabrook. Shrule, 65yrs.)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
        1. the great famine (~4,013)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Nóra Ní Dubhdha
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Cahernabrock, Co. Mayo
    Informant
    James Dowd
    Relation
    Parent
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    65
    Address
    Cahernabrock, Co. Mayo