Schools Integration Project No. 005g
Control Technology Empowering Minds
Schools Integration Project No. 005gControl Technology Empowering Minds |
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ST.
PATRICK AND CROM DUBH |
| Before St. Patrick came to Ireland
there lived a chieftain in the Lower Country1 in Co. Mayo,
and his name was Crom Dubh. Crom Dubh lived beside the
sea in a place which they now call Dun Patrick, or
Downpatrick, and the name which the site of his house is
called by is Dún Briste, or Broken fort. My story will
tell why it was called Dun Briste. It was well and it was
not ill, brother of my heart! Crom Dubh was one of the
worst men that could be found, but as he was a chieftain
over the people of that country he had everything his own
way; and that was the bad way, for he was an evil
intentioned, virulent, cynical2, obstinate man, with desire to be avenged on
every one who did not please him. He had two sons, Téideach
and Clonnach, and there is a big hollow going in under
the road at Gleann Lasaire, and the name of this hollow
is Poll a' Teidigh or Téideach's hole, for it got its
name from Crom Dubh's son, and the name of this hole is
on the mouth of [i.e., used by] English-speaking people,
though they do not know the meaning of it. Nobody knows
how far this hole is going back under the glen, but it is
said by the old Irish speakers that Teideach used to go
every day in his little floating curragh into this hole
under the glen, and that this is the reason it was called
Teideach's Hole. It was well, my dear. To continue the
story, Crom Dubh's two sons were worse than himself, and
that the leaves them bad enough! Crom Dubh had two hounds
of dogs and their names were Coinn Iothair3 and Saidhthe
Suaraighe4, and if ever there were [wicked] mastiffs these
two dogs were they. He had them tied to the two jaws of
the door, in order to loose them and set them to attack
people according as they might come that way; and, to go
further, he had a big fire kindled on the brink of the
cliff so that any one who might escape from the hounds he
might throw into the fire; and to make a long story short,
the fame of Crom Dubh and his two sons, and his two
mastiffs, went far and wide, for their evil-doing; and
the people were so terrified at his name, not to speak of
himself, that they used to hide their faces in their
bosoms when they used to hear it mentioned in their ears,
and the people were so much afraid of him that if they
heard the bark of a dog they would go hiding in the
dwellings that they had underground, to take refuge in,
to defend themselves from Crom Dubh and his mastiffs. It
is said that there was a linnaun shee or a fairy
sweetheart5 walking with Crom Dubh, and giving him
knowledge according as he used to require it. In place of
his inclining to what was good as he was growing in age,
the way he went on was to be growing in badness every day,
and the wind was not quicker then he, for he was a nimble
as a March hare. When he used to go out about the country
he used to send his two sons and his two mastiffs before
him, and they announcing to the people according as they
proceeded, that Crom Dubh was coming to collect his
standing rent, and bidding them to have it ready for him.
Crom Dubh used to come after them, and his trickster (?)
along with him, and he drawing after him a sort of yoke
like a wheelless sliding car, and according as he used to
get his standing-rent it used to be thrown into the car,
and every one had to pay according to his ability. Anyone
who would refuse, he used to be brought next day before
Crom Dubh, as he sat beside the fire, and Crom used to
pass judgement upon him, and after the judgement the man
used to be thrown into the fire. Many a plan and scheme
were hatched against Crom Dubh to put him out of the
world, but he overcame them all, for he had too much
wizardry from the [fairy] sweetheart. Crom Dubh was
continuing his evil deeds for many years, and according
as the story about him remains living and told from
person to person, they say that he was a native of hell
in the skin of a biped, and through the horror that the
people of the country had for him they would have given
all that ever they saw if only Crom Dubh and his company
could have been put-an-end-to; but there was no help for
them in that, since he and his company had the power, and
they had to endure bitter persecution for years, and for
many years, and every year it was getting worse; and they
without any hope of relief because they had no
knowledge of God or Mary or of anything else which
concerned heaven. For that reason they could not put
trust in any person beyond Crom Dubh, because they
thought, bad as he was, that it was he who was giving
them the light of the day, the darkness of the night, and
the change of seasons. It was well, brother of my heart.
During this time St. Patrick was going throughout Ireland,
working diligently and baptizing many people. On he went
until he came to Fo-choill or Foghill; and at that time
and for long afterwards there was nothing but woods that
grew in that place, but there is neither branch nor tree
there now. However, to pursue the story, St. Patrick
began explaining to the Pagans about the light and glory
of the heavens. Some of them gave ear to him, but the
most of them paid him no attention. After he had taken
all those who listened to him to the place which was
called the Well of the Branch to baptize them, and when
he had them baptized, the people called the well Tobar
Phadraig, or Patrick's Well, and that is there ever since.
When these Pagans got the seal of Christ on their
forehead, and knowledge of the Holy Trinity, they began
telling St. Patrick about the doings of Crom Dubh and his
evil ways, and they besought him if he had any power from
the All-mighty Father to chastise Crom Dubh, rightly or
wrongly, or to give him the Christian faith if it were
possible. It was well, brother, St. Patrick passed on
over through Tráigh Leacan, up Béal Trághadh, down
Craobhach, and down under the Logán, the name that was
on Crom Dubh's place before St. Patrick came. When St.
Patrick reached the Logán, which is near the present
Ballycastle, he was within a quarter of a mile of Crom
Dubh's house, and at the same time Crom Dubh and Téideach
his son were trying a bout of wrestling with one another,
while Saidhthe Suaraighe was stretched out on the ground
from ear to tail. With the squeezing they were giving one
another they never observed St. Patrick making for them
until Saidhthe Suaraighe put a howling bark out of
her, and with that the pair looked behind them and they
saw St. Patrick and his defensive company with him,
making for them, and in the twinkling of an eye the two
rushed forward, clapping their hands and setting Saidhthe
Suaraighe at them and encouraging her. With that Téideach
put his fore finger into his mouth and let a whistle
calling for Coinn Iotair, for she was at that same time
hunting with Clonnach on the top of Glen Lasaire, and
Glen Lasaire is nearly two miles from Dun Phadraig, but
she was not as long as while you'd be saying De'raisias [Deo
Gratias] coming from Glen Lasaire when she heard the
sound of the whistle. They urged the two bitches against
St. Patrick, and at the same time they did not know what
sort of man St. Patrick was or where he came from. The
two bitches made for him and coals of fire out of their
mouths, and a blue venomous light burning in their eyes,
with the dint of venom and wickedness, but just as they
were going to seize St. Patrick he cut [marked] a
ring round about him with the crozier which he had in his
hand, and before the dogs reached the verge of the ring
St. Patrick spoke as follows :-
A lock on thy
claws, a lock on thy tooth, Before St. Patrick began to utter
these words there was a froth of foam round their mouths,
and their hair was standing up as strong as harrow-pins
with their fury, but after this as they came nearer to St.
Patrick they began to lay down their ears and wag their
tails. And when Crom Dubh saw that, he had like to faint,
because he knew when they laid down their ears that they
would not do any hurt to him they were attacking. The
moment they reached St. Patrick they began jumping up
upon him and making friendly with him. They licked both
his feet from the top of his great toe6 to the butt
of his ankle, and that affection [thus manifesting itself]
is amongst dogs from that day to this. St. Patrick began
to stroke them with his hand and he went on making
towards Crom Dubh, with the dogs walking at his heels.
Crom Dubh ran until he came to the fire and he stood up
beside the fire, so that he might throw St. Patrick into
it when he should come as far as it. But as St. Patrick
knew the strength of the fire beforehand he lifted a
stone in his hand, signed the sign of the cross on the
stone, and flung the stone so as to throw it into the
middle of the flames, and on the moment the fire went
down to the lowest depths of the ground, in such a way
that the hole is there yet to be seen, from that day to
this, and it is called Poll na Sean-tuine, the hole of
the old fire (?), and when the tide fills, the water
comes into the bottom of the hole, and it would draw
"deaf cows out of the woods" –the noise
that comes out of the hole when the tide is coming in. It
was well, company7 "of the world ; when Crom Dubh saw that
the fire had departed out of sight, and that dogs had
failed him and given him no help (a thing they had never
done before), he himself and Téideach struck out like a
blast of March wind until they reached the house, and St.
Patrick came after them. They had not far to go, for the
fire was near the house. When St. Patrick approached it
he began to talk aloud with Crom Dubh, and he did his
best to change him to a good state of grace, but it
failed him to put the seal of Christ on his forehead, for
he would not give any ear to St. Patrick's words. No
there was no trick of deviltry, druidism, witchcraft, or
black art in his heart, which he did not work for all he
was able, trying to gain the victory over St. Patrick,
but it was all no use for him, for the words of God were
more powerful than the deviltry of the fairy]sweetheart.
With the dint of the fury that was on Crom Dubh and on Téideach
his son, they began snapping and grinding their teeth,
and so outrageous was their fury that St. Patrick gave a
blow of his crozier to the cliff under the base of the
gable of the house, and he separated that much of the
cliff from the cliffs on the mainland, and that is to be
seen there to-day just as well as the first day, and that
is the cliff that is called Dún Briste or Broken Fort.
To pursue the story. All that much of the cliff is a god
many yards out in the sea from the cliff on the mainland,
so Crom Dubh and his son had to remain there until the
midges and the scaldcrows had eaten the flesh off their
bones. And that is the death that Crom Dubh got, and that
is the second man that midges ate, and our ancient
shanachies say that the first man that midges ate was
Judas after he had hanged himself; and that is the cause
why the bite of the midges is so sharp as it is. To
pursue the story still further. When Clonnach saw what
had happened to his father he took fright, and he was
terrified of St. Patrick, and he began burning the
mountain until he had all that side of the land set on
fire. So violently did the mountains take fire on each
side of him that himself could not escape, and they say
that he himself was burned to a lump amongst them. St.
Patrick returned back to Fochoill and round through Baile
na Pairce, the Town of the Field, and Bein Buidhe, the
Yellow Ben, and back to Clochar. The people gather in
multitudes from every side doing honourable homage to St.
Patrick, and the pride of the world on them that an end
had been made of Crom Dubh. There was a well near and
handy, and he brought the grate multitude round about the
well, and he never left mother's son or man's daughter
without setting on their faces the wave of baptism and
the seal of Christ on their foreheads. They washed and
scoured the walls of the well, and all round about it,
and they got forked branches and limbs of trees and bound
white and blue ribbons on them, and set them round about
the well, and every one of them bowed down on his knees
saying their prayers of thankfulness to God, and as an
entertainment for St. Patrick on account of his having
put an end to the sway of Crom Dubh. After making an end
of offering up their prayers every man of them drank
three sups of water out of the well, and there is not a
year from that out that the people used not to make turus
or pilgrimage to the well,on the anniversary of that
day; and that day is the last Sunday of the seventh month,
and the name the Irish speakers called the month by in
that place is the month of Lughnas [August] and the name
of the Sunday is Crom Dubh's Sunday, but, the name that
the English speakers call the Sunday by, is Garland
Sunday. There is never a year from that to this that
there does not be a meeting in Cill Chuimin, for that is
the place where the well is. They come far and near to
make a pilgrimage to the well; and a number of other
people go there too, to amuse themselves a drink and
spend. And I believe that the most of that rakish lot go
there making a mock of the Christian Irish-speakers who
are offering up their prayers to their holy patron
Patrick, high head of their religion. Cuimin's well is
the name of this well, for its name was changed during
the time of Saint Cuimin on account of all the miraculous
things he did there, and he is buried within a perch of
the well in Cill Chuimin. There does be a gathering on
the same Sunday at Dún Padraig or Downpatrick at the
well which is called Tobar Brighde or Briget's Well
beside Cill Brighde, and close to Dún Briste; but, love
of my heart, since the English jargon began a short time
ago in that place the old Christian custom of the
Christians is almost utterly gone off. There now ye have
it as I got it, and if ye don't like it add to it your
complaints8.
1. Lower means "northern". It
means round the Lagan, Creevagh and Ballycastle. |