School: Curratavy
- Location:
- Corratawy, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: E. Ó Gallchobhair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0964, Page 148
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Curratavy
- XML Page 148
- XML “Mermaids”
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
- Mermaids
The following song was made about a man named John Joe. He was returning from Lough Derg and he waited for a few hours in Bundoran. As he was walking along the beach, he saw a beautiful girl in distress in the water. This girl was really a mermaid and by assisting her he lost his own life.
I
Ye tenderhearted Christians, around the Western shore. Come join my lamentations while I do here deplore. The loss of that most worthy man , the generous John Joe, who finished in the raging waves of the wild Atlantic sea. II.
On the 19th of July on the year of sixty one’
He was for recreation upon Bundoran strand.
He saw a female in distress a floating on the waves.
By assisting whom he met his doom and found a watery grave III.
His generous heart expanded with true heroic zeal.
He felt for human nature as manly hearts do feel.
And without further hesitation his garments he flung aside.
His soul intent on mercy bent he plunged into the tide 4.
But been unskilled in sea affairs, his efforts were in vain.
Sometimes he baffled with the waves his object for to gain
A treachourous current near a rock producing a ground sea
Did drag him to the bottom and proved his destiny(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Ailís Ní Mhaghnuis
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- John Maguire
- Relation
- Grandparent
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Legnagrow, Co. Cavan
