School: Druim Mór

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1. Johnny in Tír na nÓg (continued)

   

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   they might be of use to him. Johnny lay on the eagle's back and away they set. The eagle set off in the direction of the sea. Soon they were out over the ocean. When they were many miles out on sea the eagle told Johnny that he was tired and that he would have to jump down until he rested. Johnny said he would drown if he had to jump down. "No matter" said the eagle "I must rest". Then Johnny thought of the cherries. He took out one and let it drop into the sea. Immediately a big cherry tree sprung up and both rested on it. When they were rested they set off again. By means of the cherries they arrived safely on the eagle's land. The eagle as soon as he touched his native soil changed into a man. "Now" he said to Johnny "there are some hard tasks before you and tomorrow morning we start. My grandmother lost her wedding ring in a well in the grounds and tomorrow you must empty it and get my grandmother's ring. You can have the choice of two buckets, a new one and an old one". Next morning Johnny took the new bucket and set out to look for the ring. When he took one bucket out of the well about a hundreds tons of water poured into it. He took another bucket out of it and the same thing happened. He sat down wondering what he would do. The eagle-man told him if he did not bring home the ring he would lose his head. While he was thinking of what would happen to him in the evening, the eagle-man's daughter came to him with his dinner. She told him to sit down and rest. "What good is it when I will lose my head in the evening." "Sit down anyway and we will see about the well." said the girl. Johnny sat down to eat

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT0313: The Girl as Helper

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Seosamh Ó Catháin

   Gender

   Male

   Occupation

   Múinteoir

   Address

   Dromore West, Co. Sligo

   Informant

   John Fox

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Farranmacfarrell, Co. Sligo