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028 - Tyeer-Na-N-Oge The Legend of O'Donoghue · Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty seven of Fairyan Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jane Muir. Fairy Folk
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  Speaker 1: Tales of the Irish Peasantry, edited and selected by W. B. Yeats.
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  Speaker 1: Section twenty seven tyr Nanogue. There is a country called
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  Speaker 1: tir Nanogue, which means the country of the young. For
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  Speaker 1: Age and death have not found it. Neither tears nor
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  Speaker 1: loud laughter have gone near it. The shadiest boskage covers
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  Speaker 1: it perpetually. One man has gone there and returned. The
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  Speaker 1: barred Oisen, who wandered away on a white horse, moving
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  Speaker 1: on the surface of the foam with his very neium,
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  Speaker 1: lived there three hundred years, and then returned looking for
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  Speaker 1: his comrades. The moment his foot touched the earth, his
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  Speaker 1: three hundred years bow on him, and he was bowed double,
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  Speaker 1: and his beard swept the ground. He described sojourn to
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  Speaker 1: the land of the Youth to Patrick before he died.
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  Speaker 1: Since then many have seen it in many places, some
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  Speaker 1: in the depths of lakes and have heard rising therefrom
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  Speaker 1: a vague sound of bells. More have seen it far
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  Speaker 1: off on the horizon, as they peered out from the
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  Speaker 1: western cliffs. Not three years ago a fisherman imagined that
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  Speaker 1: he saw it. It never appears unless to announce some
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  Speaker 1: national trouble. There are many kindred beliefs. A Dutch pilot
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  Speaker 1: settled in Dublin told m De la Boulange le Comte,
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  Speaker 1: who traveled in Ireland in sixteen fourteen, that round the
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  Speaker 1: poles or many islands, some hard to be approached because
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  Speaker 1: of the witches who inhabit them, and destroyed by storms
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  Speaker 1: those who seek to land. He had, once off the
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  Speaker 1: coast of Greenland, in sixty one degrees of latitude, seen
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  Speaker 1: and approached an island, only to vanish. Sailing in an
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  Speaker 1: opposite direction, they met with the same island, and sailing near,
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  Speaker 1: were almost destroyed by a furious tempest. According to many stories,
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  Speaker 1: Tyrnanogue is the favorite dwelling of the fairies. Some say
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  Speaker 1: it is triple the island of the living, the island
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  Speaker 1: of victories, and an underwater land. And of Tyrnanogue. The
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  Speaker 1: legend of O'donahue by T. Crofton Croker. In an age
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  Speaker 1: so distant that the precise period is unknown, a chieftain
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  Speaker 1: named o'donahue ruled over the country which surrounds the romantic Laughlin,
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  Speaker 1: now called the Lake of Killarney. Wisdom, beneficence, and justice
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  Speaker 1: distinguished his reign, and the prosperity and happiness of his
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  Speaker 1: subjects were their natural results. He is said to have
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  Speaker 1: been as renowned for his warlike exploits as for his
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  Speaker 1: pacific virtues, and as a proof that his domestic administration
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  Speaker 1: was not the less rigorous because it was mild. A
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  Speaker 1: rocky island is pointed out to strangers called O'Donoghue's prison,
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  Speaker 1: in which this prince once confined his own son for
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  Speaker 1: an act of disorder and disobedience. His end, where it
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  Speaker 1: cannot correctly be called his death, was singular and mysterious.
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  Speaker 1: At one of those splendid feasts for which his court
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  Speaker 1: was celebrated, surrounded by the most distinguished of his subjects,
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  Speaker 1: he was engaged in a prophetic relation of the events
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  Speaker 1: which were to happen in ages yet to come. His
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  Speaker 1: auditors listened, now wrapped in wonder, now fired with indignation,
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  Speaker 1: burning with shame, or melted into sorrow as he faithfully
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  Speaker 1: detailed the heroism, the injuries, the crimes, and the miseries
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  Speaker 1: of their descendants. In the midst of his predictions, he
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  Speaker 1: rose slowly from his seat, advanced with a solemn, measured
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  Speaker 1: and majestic tread, to the shore of the life, and
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  Speaker 1: walked forward composedly upon its unyielding surface. When he had
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  Speaker 1: nearly reached the center, he paused for a moment, then,
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  Speaker 1: turning slowly around, looked toward his friends, and, waving his
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  Speaker 1: arms to them with the cheerful air of one taking
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  Speaker 1: a short farewell, disappeared from their view. The memory of
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  Speaker 1: the good O'Donohue has been cherished by successive generations with
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  Speaker 1: affectionate reverence, and it is believed that at sunrise on
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  Speaker 1: every Mayday morning, the anniversary of his departure, he revisits
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  Speaker 1: his ancient domains. A favored few only are in general
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  Speaker 1: permitted to see him, and this distinction is always an
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  Speaker 1: omen of good fortune to the beholders. When it is
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  Speaker 1: granted to many, it is a sure token of an
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  Speaker 1: abundant harvest, a blessing the want of which, during this
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  Speaker 1: prince's reign was never felt by his people. Some years
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  Speaker 1: have elapsed since the last appearance of Odonahue. The April
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  Speaker 1: that year had been remarkably wild and stormy, but on
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  Speaker 1: Mayday morning, the fury of the elements had altogether subsided.
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  Speaker 1: The air was hushed and still, and the sky, which
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  Speaker 1: was reflected in the serene lake, resembled a beautiful but
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  Speaker 1: deceitful countenance, whose smiles after the most tempestuous emotions, tempt
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  Speaker 1: the stranger to believe that it belongs to a soul
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  Speaker 1: which no passion has ever ruffled. The first beams of
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  Speaker 1: the rising sun were just gilding the lofty summit of
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  Speaker 1: Glenaw when the waters near the eastern shore of the
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  Speaker 1: lake became suddenly and violently agitated, though all the rest
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  Speaker 1: of its surface lay smooth and still as a tomb
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  Speaker 1: of polished marble. The next morning, a foaming wave darted forward,
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  Speaker 1: and like a proud, high crested war horse, exulting in
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  Speaker 1: his strength, rushed across the lake towards Toomey's Mountain. Behind
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  Speaker 1: this wave appeared a stately warrior, fully armed, mounted upon
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  Speaker 1: a milk white steed. His snowy plume waved gracefully from
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  Speaker 1: a helmet of polished steel, and at his back fluttered
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  Speaker 1: a light blue scarf. The horse, apparently exulting in his
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  Speaker 1: noble burden, sprung after the wave along the water, which
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  Speaker 1: bore him up like firm earth, while showers of spray
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  Speaker 1: that glittered brightly in the morning sun were dashed up
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  Speaker 1: at every bound. The warrior was O'donahue. He was followed
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  Speaker 1: by numberless youths and maidens, who moved lightly and unconstrained
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  Speaker 1: over the watery plain as the moonlight fairies glide through
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  Speaker 1: the fields of air. They were linked together by garlands
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  Speaker 1: of delicious spring flowers, and they timed their movements to
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  Speaker 1: strains of enchanting melody. When o'donahue had nearly reached the
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  Speaker 1: western side of the lake, he suddenly turned his steed
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  Speaker 1: and directed his course along the wood fringed shore of Glenaw,
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  Speaker 1: preceded by the huge wave that curled and foamed up
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  Speaker 1: as high as the horse's neck, whose fiery nostrils snorted
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  Speaker 1: above it. The long train of descendants followed with playful
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  Speaker 1: deviations the track of their leader, and moved on with
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  Speaker 1: unabated fleetness to their celestial music, till gradually as they
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  Speaker 1: entered the narrow strait between Lenaw and Dennis. They became
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  Speaker 1: involved in the mists, which still partially floated over the
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  Speaker 1: lakes and faded from the view of the wondering beholders.
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  Speaker 1: But the sound of their music still fell upon the ear,
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  Speaker 1: and echo catching up the harmonious strains fondly repeated and
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  Speaker 1: prolonged them in soft and softer tones, till the last
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  Speaker 1: faint repetition died away, and the hearers awoke as from
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  Speaker 1: a dream of bliss. Footnote this story comes from fairy
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  Speaker 1: legends of the South of Ireland. End of the legend
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  Speaker 1: of O'Donoghue, end of section twenty seven. Recording by Jane
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  Speaker 1: Muir