School: Cloonty

Location:
Cloonty, Co. Leitrim
Teacher:
Michael Mac Gowan
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0190, Page 229

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0190, Page 229

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Cloonty
  2. XML Page 229
  3. XML “The Dobharchú”

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

  1. In Conwell graveyard in Glenade there is a picture of a Dobarcu carved on a tombstone. The story of this strange animal is handed down to the present day.
    A girl who was living near a small lake in Glenade went to wash clothes in it one day, as it was the custom at the time. When she did not return her brother went to see what had happened to her. When he reached the lake-shore he saw a strange animal having his sister killed and sucking her blood.
    He went back to the house for some sharp instrument and when he returned to the lake he killed the Dobarcu with it. When he hit the animal with the weapon he (the Dobarcu) let a loud call and his comrade came out of the lake to help him. The second Dobarcu did his best to kill the man. He followed him to his own house.
    When the man reached the house he got his horse and mounting him galloped away, but the strange animal followed him.
    The Dobarcu was overtaking him and he got off is horse and went into an old house. He put the horse across in the door and when the strange animal came he put his head
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Annie M. Gallagher
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Coolagraffy, Co. Sligo