School: Bun Machan

Teacher:
Íde, Bean Uí Chobhthaigh
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0648, Page 317

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0648, Page 317

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: Bun Machan
  2. XML Page 317
  3. XML “The Fulfilment of a Promise”

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. (continued from previous page)
    house too. They said good-bye to John and they all left that house very sad. John and Paddy on their way home that night shed many a bitter tear. Paddy asked John when would he come home again. John said "This night five years Paddy the two of us will be coming down this boreen again". The following day John and his uncle left home and set sail for America. Paddy spent many a lonely day after John.
    The time drew near and the five years were coming to a close. Paddy received a letter from John saying that he would see him soon. But John got a cold and was very ill. The night that John was to see Paddy he did not come and Paddy paid his usual visit to the farmer's house. That night when he was coming down the boreen he felt very lonely. Then he heard the footsteps coming after him. He stood and the noise stopped just by his side. The night was very dark and so he could not see anything. Cold sweat began to run down his forehead. He began to walk again and again he heard the footsteps. They passed along down the boreen and Paddy went home. He was no sooner inside the door than Annie, John's sister, came in and asked if he saw John and said that she was in the kitchen and he came in and went out again.Paddy took off his cap and blessed himself saying "May God rest John's soul this night". A few days after, they received a letter saying that John was dead. At eleven o'clock the night he died he seemed to be in great agony. Then a smile lit his face and he said "I have kept my promise to Paddy". He closed his eyes then and
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Eileen Begley
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Ballydowane West, Co. Waterford
    Informant
    John Begley
    Relation
    Parent
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    62
    Occupation
    Farmer
    Address
    Ballydowane West, Co. Waterford