School: Sruthar (C.)

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1. Stories of the Famine, Evictions, etc.

   

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   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.)

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   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