{"id":691,"date":"2015-10-06T14:06:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T13:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T12:51:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T12:51:32","slug":"mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahons, The: How the Mahons Became Expert Bonesetters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Mahons, The: How the Mahons Became Expert Bonesetters<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-691-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/mahons-the-how-the-mahons-became-expert-bonesetters.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> Mahons, The: How the Mahons Became Expert Bonesetters.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chatal\u00f3ige Ollscoil Washington <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(University of Washington Catalogue Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 840111.<\/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> story.<\/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> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 15\/11\/1983.<\/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> evening 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> unavailable.<\/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>A man and his sons, out fishing, are caught in a fog; when the fog clears they find themselves next to a beautiful island. But when they are about to step ashore, an old man approaches and begs them not to come ashore, saying the island is Hy-Brasail &#8211; an enchanted island &#8211; and if they set foot on it the enchantment will be broken. To compensate them for not coming ashore, the old man gives them a book and tells them not to open it for a year and a day. The fog lifts and they go home. A week or so later, one of the sons tells the father, &#8216;Go on, open the book!&#8217; There were 365 pages, but only the first seven had writing on them &#8211; full of cures for bone-setting. The family was known for bone-setting for generations afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>On another tape (UW 850117), Joe tells Jim Cowdery about cures that this man effected, as well as additional cures; see here. Material relating to Hy-Brasail includes the song Hy-Brasail, the Isle of the Blest as well as an anecdote in which Joe relates the time he himself saw the enchanted island.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p>In his biography of Seosamh \u00d3 h\u00c9anai, N\u00e1r Fh\u00e1gha M\u00e9 B\u00e1s Cho\u00edche, Liam Mac Con Iomaire gives the following account (p. 29&ndash;30):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Bh\u00ed seanchas cliste ag Seosamh ina \u00f3ige freisin faoi mhuintir Laidhe, a bh\u00edodh ina ndocht\u00fair\u00ed&hellip; ag na Flathartaigh, an fhad is fh\u00edodar sin i gceannas thiar&hellip; Nuair a chaill na Flathartaigh a gcumhacht, agus muintir Laidhe a ngairm, fuada\u00edodh Murcha \u00d3 Laidhe (m\u00e1s f\u00edor) go Beag-\u00c1rainn i 1668 agus fuair s\u00e9 bua na docht\u00faireachta ar ais ansin nuair a bronnadh &#8216;Leabhar Mhuintir Laidhe&#8217; air, ina raibh leigheas ar chuile ghalar beo, scr\u00edofa i nGaeilge agus i Laidin&hellip; De r\u00e9ir leagan eile den sc\u00e9al c\u00e9anna is san Aird Thoir, baile d\u00fachais Sheosaimh, a bh\u00ed c\u00f3na\u00ed ar Mhurcha \u00d3 Laidhe. Is \u00e9 f\u00edrinne an sc\u00e9il go bhfuil a leith\u00e9id de leabhar ann&hellip;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Joe heard lore in his youth regarding the Lees, who were doctors to the Flahertys at the time that the latter were chieftains in the west. When the Flahertys lost their power &#8211; and the Lees their calling &#8211; Murchadh O&#8217;Lee was chased (if it&#8217;s true) to Hy-Brasail in 1668, and his healing powers were restored to him when &#8216;The Book of the O&#8217;Lees&#8217; was bestowed upon him, which contained a cure for every disease, written in Irish and in Latin&hellip; According to another version of the story, Murchadh O&#8217;Lee lived in Ardeast, Joe&#8217;s village. The truth of the matter is that there actually is such a book&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>The book in question &#8211; &#8216;The Book of the O&#8217;Lees&#8217; or &#8216;The Book of O&#8217;Brazil&#8217; &#8211; is lodged in the Royal Irish Academy (23 P 10 ii; no. 453), and used to be linked to the one mentioned in the traditional accounts: Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 Concheanainn, &#8216;Seanchas ar Mhuintir Laidhe,&#8217; \u00c9igse 33 (2002), 211. For a story in Irish similar to the one Joe tells here, see Hartmann, Hans, Tom\u00e1s de Bhaldraithe and Ruair\u00ed \u00d3 hUiginn (eds.), Airne\u00e1n: Ein Sammlung von Texten aus Carna, Co. na Gaillimhe, Max Niemeyer Verlag T\u00fcbingen (1996), vol 1, lines 3031-3102. This story relates how Mac Bhriain U\u00ed Laoidhe obtained a cure for smallpox.<\/p>\n<p>I have been unable to discover &#8211; and would be pleased to learn &#8211; why Joe calls the central figure of this story &#8216;Mahon&#8217; rather than &#8216;Lee&#8217;. It could be that similar stories were connected with two different families; or that the two families were connected in some way, and that the lore associated with the Lees transferred to the Mahons through that connection; or that the Mahons were specifically bonesetters, whilst the Lees were able to cure a wider variety of ailments.<\/p>\n<p>For more about Hy-Brasail (in Irish, &#8216;Beag-\u00c1rainn&#8217; or &#8216;Lesser Aran&#8217;), see Daith\u00ed \u00d3 h\u00d3g\u00e1in, &#8216;The Mystical Island in Irish Folklore,&#8217; in P. Lysaght, S. \u00d3 Cath\u00e1in and D. \u00d3 h\u00d3g\u00e1in (eds.), Islanders and Water-Dwellers: Proceedings of the Celtic-Nordic-Baltic Folklore Symposium held at University College Dublin 16-19 June 1996, DBA Publications Ltd. for the Department of Irish Folklore, UCD (1999), 247-60.<\/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":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scealaiocht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691","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=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1538,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}