An Ghaeilge ar an Choigríoch
Collected from Domhnall Ó Domhnaill, Rann na Feirste, Co. Dhún na nGall, 1938. Preserved through the National Folklore Collection, UCD.
Likely the most famous song concerning the New World, “An tOileán Úr” was composed by someone with obvious first-hand knowledge of North America. This non-contemporary story from the oral record gives some idea of the song’s composer and his reason for leaving Ireland:
Clearing in the New Ireland settlement of Grenville, Quebec, 1865
Adapted from: Alexander Henderson / Library and Archives Canada / PA-181769
“Bhí lánúin ina gcónaí i Rann na Feirste fad ó shin agus iad beo bocht, gan saibhreas de chineál ar bith acu ach giota beag de thalamh gan mhaith as a raibh siad ábalta beagán beag barr a bhaint lena gcoinneáil beo thall an bhliain, le bheith tabhachtach críonna. Ní raibh acu ach mac amháin de theaghlach agus nuair a bhí seisean cúig bliana déag d'aois rinne sé suas a mhéin go rachadh sé sa seirbhís le cuidiú a mhuintir a thógail as an anró agus an bhochtaineacht.
Maidin dheas i dtús mí na Bealtaine d'éirigh sé, d'fhág slán ag a mhuintir agus d'imigh leis. Shiúil sé leis de choisíocht, mar nach raibh athrach le déanamh aige, amach Bun an Earragail, soir cuid lúbthach Mín a Droighinn, ag tarraingt ar Leitir Ceannainn. Idir tuirse agus cumha agus buaireadh intinne bhain sé Doire amach briste brúite brónach. San am sin ní raibh trioblóid ar bith le ghabháil 'un Oileáin Úir mar atá anois. Ní raibh agat ach a ghabháil ar bhord loinge, do phasóid a dhíol agus i gcionn cúpla seachtain bhí tú ar talamh an Óileain Úir. Ghlac sé trí seachtainí an bád a ghabháil trasna agus nuair a fuair sé é féin ar an taobh eile ní raibh móran airgid ar thóin a phóca. Mar sin féin d'fhág sé é féin agus muinín Dé agus shiúil leis a chuardú oibre.
Ní dheachaidh sé i bhfad gur casadh teach beag de ar taobh an bhealaigh mhóir agus dar leis go rachadh sé isteach go bhfeicfeadh sé an bhfaigheadh sé foscadh an tí go maidin mar bhí an oíche ag teacht agus gan an dara teach ar a amharc nó ar a éisteacht. Nuair a bhuail sé ar an doras tháinig seanbhean amach agus d'iarr air teacht isteach.
Chuaigh sé isteach go lúcháireach agus shuigh sé ar chathaoir sa chlúdaigh mar hiarradh air. Chuir sí ceist air i mBéarla agus cén tír a d'fhág sé. Thug sé freagra uirthi i nGaeilg agus dúirt sé gur de Éirinn. Nuair a chuala sí seo chraith sí lámh leis agus d'fhiafraigh de cén áit i nÉirinn agus dúirt sé gur as Ceann Dubhrann na nDumhachan Bán.
"Sin an áit chéanna ar tógadh mise" ar sise. Agus ó tharla oiread airgid agamsa agus nach bhfeicim caite go deo bhéarfaidh mé oiread airgid duitse agus a thógfas tú fhéin agus do mhuintir as an bhochtaineacht a choíche agus é uilig siocair tú do theanga dílis a labhairt i bhfad ó bhaile.
Tháinig sé abhaile ar ais chuig a mhuintir agus bhí siad na trúir beo go sóúil ó sin amach.”
“There was a couple living in Rann na Feirste long ago and they were very poor, without any kind of wealth at all but a little bit of useless land out of which they were able a very little crop to harvest to keep them alive through the year, being very careful. They didn’t have but one son of the household and when he was fifteen years of age he made up his mind that he would go into service to help his family to get out of the dire distress and poverty.
One fine morning at the start of May he got up, he said farewell to his family and he departed. He walked on foot, as he had no alternative, out at the base of Mount Earragail, eastward the windy part of Mín a Droighinn, approaching Letterkenny. Between weariness and homesickness and vexation he reached Derry broken, crushed, sorrowful. In that time there was no trouble at all to go to the New World like it is now. You didn’t have to but go aboard a ship, your passage to pay for and in a few weeks you were on the ground of the New World. He spent three weeks with the boat going across and when he got himself on the other side he didn’t have much money in the bottom of his pocket. Because of that he left himself with trust in God and walked on looking for work.
He didn’t go far until he came to a little house by the side of the main street and he thought that he would go in so that he would see if he could get the shelter of the house until morning as the night was coming and there wasn’t a second house within his sight or his hearing. When he knocked on the door an old woman came out and asked him to come inside.
He went in happily and he sat on a chair in the corner as he was asked. She questioned him in English which country he left from. He gave her the answer in Irish and said that he was from Ireland. When she heard this she shook hands with him and asked of which place in Ireland and he said from Ceann Dubhrann of the white sandhills.
“That is the same place in which I was raised” she said. “And since it happens that I have an amount of money and I won’t see it spent forever I will give the amount of money to yourself that you and your family will be taken out of poverty henceforth and it all because you spoke your loyal language so far from home.”
He came back homewards to his family and the three of them living comfortably from then on out.”
Adapted from: “The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1065, Page 16-18” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
