School: Dún-dá-radharc (roll number 15009)
- Location:
- Dún Dea-radhairc, Co. Cork
- Teacher: Siobhán, Bean Uí Shéaghdha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0337, Page 084
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- XML School: Dún-dá-radharc
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- XML “The Banshee”
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- The Banshee;s wail is believed to be heard beore the death of members of certain families in this district. The fairy woman is never seen but the warning cru comes from a distance and encircles the house of the person about to die. It is usually heard at the solemn midnight hour and other sounds are often mistaken for it. This is how Charles Forde, a local living poet writes about that "herald of death"
The Banshee's Wail.
What is hat wail, that piercing wail,
Of sorrow, loud and flowing,
Upon the wings of the night gale
Across the hills now blowing?
Oh! tis the wail, the banshee's wail.
That tells he soon shall die:
A scion of the great O'Neill-
Whence comes the warning cry."'Twas midnight the most solemn hour,
When o'er the castle spread
That phantom, like a cloud, to pour
Its cry of grief and dread
O'er that dying youth of beauteous face,
Shall it absorb his breath?(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Siobhán Bean Uí Shéaghdha
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Dún Dea-radhairc, Co. Cork
