{"id":1149,"date":"2016-01-17T08:32:17","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T08:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2016-01-17T17:30:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T17:30:57","slug":"children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Stolen by Fairies and Th\u00e1inig Bean Cois Leasa"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Children Stolen by Fairies and Th\u00e1inig Bean Cois Leasa<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1149-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/children-stolen-by-fairies-and-thainig-bean-cois-leasa.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<div class=\"dmeite\">\n<p><span id=\"neasc-nocht-ceilth\" class=\"nmeite\">view \/ hide recording details [+\/-]<\/span><\/p>\n<ul id=\"clarMeiteashonrai\" class=\"meiteashonrai\">\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teideal <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Title)<\/span>:<\/span> Children Stolen by Fairies and Th\u00e1inig Bean Cois Leasa.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chatal\u00f3ige Ollscoil Washington <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(University of Washington Catalogue Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 781516.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chnuasach Bh\u00e9aloideas \u00c9ireann <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(National Folklore of Ireland Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Roud <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Roud Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Laws <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Laws Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Child <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Child Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Cnuasach <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Collection)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teanga na Cro\u00edmh\u00edre <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Core-Item Language)<\/span>:<\/span> English.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Catag\u00f3ir <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Category)<\/span>:<\/span> lore; song.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a thug <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Informant)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a th\u00f3g <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Collector)<\/span>:<\/span> Cynthia Thiessen.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 07\/03\/1978.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Su\u00edomh an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Location)<\/span>:<\/span> University of Washington, United States of America.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Oc\u00e1id an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Occasion)<\/span>:<\/span> class.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Daoine eile a bh\u00ed i l\u00e1thair <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Others present)<\/span>:<\/span> Fredric Lieberman.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">St\u00e1das ch\u00f3ipcheart an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording copyright status)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now, I want to get onto the fairies again. Well, the fairies, now &mdash; I&#8217;m not talking about fairies, I&#8217;m talking about &#8216;good people&#8217; they call them, who live in a big &mdash; inside the big rocks, called a <i class=\"cor-cainte-teangan-eile\">lios.<\/i> There&#8217;s a myth that, if somebody gets drowned in a spring well, the fairies &mdash; especially if that person is very young, which always happens to young little boys &mdash; that the fairies wants to take the form of a young person, and live again; and put their own form, which could be a hundred years old, into the little boy they take away.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there&#8217;s a Gaelic one and there&#8217;s an English one<sup class=\"tagairt-n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">1<\/sup>. The Gaelic one is about the woman, she was out washing clothes by the river. And the week before, her little boy was killed, and dead and buried. And there was a woman standing at the other end of the river, and the woman was a <i class=\"cor-cainte-teangan-eile\">taibhse&hellip;<\/i> you know, a sort of a spirit. And the woman said, &#8216;Your child is inside that <i class=\"cor-cainte-teangan-eile\">rath,<\/i> and the man who stole your child will be passing this way tonight.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And now, when you&#8217;re going to kill an evil spirit, you&#8217;re supposed &mdash; the knife you use is supposed to have a black handle. No other handle will do. And she said, &#8216;When&hellip; you see two leaves dropping off the tree on top of the stile&#8217; &mdash; a stile is a step, and it steps over a fence, on both sides &mdash; &#8216;stick your knife in that leaf; and when you go home, your little boy will be sitting beside the fire.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>So the story goes on to say that that actually happened &mdash; in the Gaelic one; in the English one it doesn&#8217;t. They are not related, but&hellip; almost the same. And the Gaelic one goes like this. <i class=\"cor-cainte-teangan-eile\">Lios<\/i> is the Gaelic for rath &mdash; that&#8217;s where the fairies supposed to have their headquarters. That&#8217;s where all the meetings and seminars take place.<\/p>\n<p>Th\u00e1inig bean anuas cois leasa, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nTh\u00e1inig bean go moch cois leasa, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nA bhean \u00fad thall ar chois an tsruth\u00e1in, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nT\u00e1 do leanbh istigh sa gcarraig, h\u00f3, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nTeara anocht chuig bun na staighre, h\u00f3-\u00edn, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nScian cois-duibhe a thabhairt i do l\u00e1imh leat, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn<br \/>\nFan go socair, fan go mac\u00e1n[ta]<br \/>\nFan go socair ag an gc\u00fa [?]<br \/>\nTeirigh abhaile, beidh do mhaic\u00edn<br \/>\nIna shu\u00ed ag tine, a&#8217; failli\u00fa-le\u00f3<br \/>\nSeoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn, seoith\u00edn-se\u00f3.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"t:aistriuchan\">Translation<\/h2>\n<p>A woman came down early to the foot of the lios.<br \/>\n&#8216;Oh woman over there at the end of the stream,<br \/>\nyour child is inside the rock.<br \/>\nCome tonight to the bottom of the stile,<br \/>\nwith a black-handled knife in your hand.<br \/>\nWait patiently and politely, wait patiently at the [meaning unclear];<br \/>\ngo home, your child will be sitting at the fireside.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p class=\"n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">1. The &#8216;English one&#8217; Joe is referring to is <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">The Fairy Boy<\/cite>.<\/p>\n<p>A number of Joe&#8217;s songs and stories relate to the belief in changelings.<\/p>\n<p>This song appears to be related to a Scottish song, <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">A Bhean ud Thall<\/cite>, which it resembles in terms of both structure and &mdash; superficially, at least &mdash; content. In many Scottish Gaelic waulking-songs, a refrain element consisting of meaningless vocable syllables occurs at the ends of the lines, as here. In terms of content, the line beginning <i class=\"cor-cainte-teangan-eile\">A bhean \u00fad thall ar chois an tsruth\u00e1in<\/i>, as well as the overall setting (by a body of water) and narrative situation (a conversation between two women, one of whom needs the other&#8217;s help) suggest a relationship with the international ballad The Twa Sisters (Child 10). Here are some lines from a Scottish version (K. C. Craig,Orain Luaidh M\u00e0iri Nighean Alasdair (Glasgow, 1924), 1.):<\/p>\n<p>A bhean ud thall, h\u00f9 g\u00f3<br \/>\nan cois na tr\u00e0ghad, h\u00f9 g\u00f3<br \/>\nS\u00ecn do chas dhomh,hao ri ho r\u00f3<br \/>\nS\u00ecn do l\u00e0mh dhomh, h\u00f9 g\u00f3.<\/p>\n<p>A version of this song migrated to Donegal (L. \u00d3 Muireadhaigh, Amhr\u00e1in Ch\u00faige Uladh. Revised, C. \u00d3 Baoill (Cl\u00f3 Iar-Chonnachta, 2009), 81.)&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>A bhean udaidh thall, a th\u00edogadh,<br \/>\nAt\u00e1 ag siubhal &#8216;na tr\u00e1gha, a th\u00f3gadh,<br \/>\nNach truaigh leat bean ag cealgadh ceoigh?<br \/>\n&#8216;S\u00ed dul d&#8217;a b\u00e1thadh, maille leo!<\/p>\n<p>&hellip;where it ultimately became a hit for Altan.<\/p>\n<p>Oh woman yonder at the edge of the strand,<br \/>\nExtend your foot to me, extend your hand to me.<\/p>\n<p>Oh woman yonder walking the strand,<br \/>\nHave you no pity for a woman about to be drowned?<\/p>\n<p>Still another version, <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">The Fairy Lullaby<\/cite>, was recorded in West Cork by M\u00e1ire N\u00ed&nbsp;Sh\u00failleabh\u00e1in for Alan Lomax in 1951; see Columbia Records&#8217; LP The World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: Vol. 2 &mdash; Ireland (Columbia AKL 4941; Rounder 1742).<\/p>\n<p>Unlike these versions, however, the song Joe sings draws not upon the story of two sisters contesting over the same man, but rather upon the traditions surrounding the abduction of mortals &mdash; especially young children &mdash; into the fairy otherworld. D\u00f3nal O&#8217;Sullivan gives a version in Songs of the Irish in which a husband is given instructions &mdash; including the use of a black-handled knife &mdash; in order to rescue his young wife from captivity in a lios, where she is being held as a foster-mother for fairy children (Songs of the Irish, Dublin, 1960, pp. 18&ndash;20).<\/p>\n<p>For a discussion of the connection between the Irish and Scottish versions, see Alan Bruford, &#8216;The Sea-Divided Gael&#8217; in Irish Folk Music Studies (1972&ndash;3), Vol. 1, pp. 13&ndash;18. The structural similarities are discussed in V. S. Blankenhorn, Irish Song-Craft and Metrical Practice Since 1600 (Lampeter, 2003), 293&ndash;4. Other songs in Joe&#8217;s repertoire that illustrate this atypical refrain structure are Eilean\u00f3ir na R\u00fan (probably related to the Scottish song Robin Adair) and An Tiarna Randal (Child 12).<\/p>\n<p>This song was recorded while Joe was Artist in Residence at University of Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amhrain","category-amhrain-i-ngaeilge","category-seanchas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1272,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}