School: Scoil Dhalláin Forgaill (roll number 16963)
- Location:
- Kilclooney Beg, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: S. Ó Baoighill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1048, Page 229
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- There once lived in Maghera a woman of the O'Boyle clan, it is said, who had a very cruel heart. She killed everyone who came her way whether through hatred, or that she looked upon them as intruders in the plains of Maghera which the Clann Ui Bhoighill were reserving for themselves. Her victims she invariably buried in the sand-banks until it could truly have been said of that 'she encloses her fair plains by ramparts of sand and bone.'
One day she saw a ship approaching land fighting its way through stormy seas, and it a-wrecking. She went down to the strand and watched its approach. The ship was dashed to pieces against the rocks and the sea-men, exhausted, struck out for the shore.
When the first man had reached the land she killed him, and when his companions saw his fate they returned into the depths preferring to meet death at the jaws of an angry sea than at the hands of a cruel woman. Her cruel selfishness drew upon her a curse to the effect that the day would come when there not be an O'Boyle in Maghera, a prophecy which has been almost literally fulfilled.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Nora Mc Hale
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Loughfad, Co. Donegal
- Informant
- W Mc Hale
- Relation
- Parent
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 72
- Address
- Loughfad, Co. Donegal
