An Rón agus an Leanbh /
The Seal and the Baby
The Seal and the Baby
Informant: Pádruig Glostur
Age: 55
Address: Baile na nGall, Corca Dhuibhne, Co. Kerry
Collector: Seósamh Ó Dálaigh, National Folklore Collection, UCD
Date of Recording: 10/07/1937
Reference:
Naomhóga on the strand at Baile na nGall, 1940. [Tomás Ó Muircheartaigh, National Folklore Collection, UCD]
An Rón agus an Leanbh
Tá timpeall le céad éigineach bliain ó shin mar a tháinig an chéad waterguard riamh i mBaile na nGall agus bhí dhá bhád acu agus théidís ag bhálcaereacht na haon tráthnóna leis na báid. Ach ceann dos na tráthnóintí chuadar suas go dtí taobh Árd na Caithne ag féachaint ar leaba Dhiarmada atá thuas in áirde ar bharr an chnoic agus bheiridís leothu na rudaí beaga.
Ach tráthnóna is iad ag teacht abhaile, d’fhág ceann dos na mná an leanbh ar an gcloith [cloch]. Ní chuímhníodar ar an leanbh nuair a thángadar isteach go dtí Cé Bhaile na nGall agus sin é an uair a chuímhnigh an bhean ar an leanbh go gceapa’ sí go raibh a leanbh ar a baclainn age na fear agus ní dheineadar aon ní ach iompú thar n-ais agus dul siar ar thaobh Árd na Caithne, paiste do nglaoann siad an Cuas Dubh air agus nuair a chuadar siar bhí an tráigh ina barra-taoide agus an chloch clúdaithe agus ní bhfuaireadar an leanbh ach bhí liútar léatar acu i rith na hoíche agus i gcionn naoi lá ansan chloisidís á mbeadh an leanbh caillte in aice leis an gcloith [cloch] go n-éireodh sé.
I gcionn naoi lá chuadar siar agus an tráigh síos, lagtrá rabharta a chuadar siar agus bhíodar ag cuardach agus ag cuardach na haon phruais agus dheineadar suas ag déanamh ar an gCrúib [Aill i gCeann Sibéal] agus chonaiceadar pruais mhór thiar agus bhí iúntas orthu cad é an scréachaigh a chualadar thiar. Chuadar siar agus ’s amhla’ bhí stúmpa do rón thiar agus an leanbh thiar aige chomh beo chomh beathaíoch agus bheadh sé thíos age baile acu agus bhíodar dhá uair a chloig d’iarraidh an leanbh a thabhairt anuas ná ligfeadh an rón suas ag triail ar a leanbh iad ach chuadar suas ag triail ar an rón agus thugadar leothu an leanbh abhaile agus lean an rón iad ó thaobh Árd na Caithne as san go dtí Slip Bhaile na nGall go dtugadar an leanbh abhaile ’s bhí an leanbh chomh beo agus chomh beathaíoch agus dá mbeadh sé acu fhéinig age baile agus thóg an rón an leanbh ar feadh naoi lá thuas insa chuas. Chuala é sin á rá age máthair a bhí i mBaile na nGall mar bhí sé in aon line amháin leothu. Timpeall an t-aos céanna bhíodar.
The Seal and the Baby
It’s around a hundred or so years ago since the first water guard came to Ballydavid and they had two boats and they’d go out in the boats every afternoon but one afternoon they went up to Smerwick looking at Diarmuid’s Bed that is up on a height at the top of the hill and they’d take the small ones with them. But one afternoon when they were coming home, one of the mothers left the baby on the stone. They didn’t remember the baby when they came into the quay in Ballydavid and that’s when the woman remembered the baby, she thought her husband was carrying the baby in his arms.
They only turned around and went back by Smerwick, a place they call an Cuas Dubh and when they went back to the beach was at high tide and the stone was covered and they couldn’t find the baby, but there was a hullabaloo in the middle of the night and at the end of nine days then they said if the baby was lost next to the stone then it would rise again in nine days. They went down to the beach, it was a spring tide at its lowest ebb, and they went down and they were searching and searching in every cave and they made for the Crúib [a cliff in Sybil Head] and they saw a large cave and they wondered at the screeching they heard back there.
They went down and in fact there was a stump of a seal there and it had the baby with it, as alive and active as he would have been if they had him at home with them. They were two hours trying to take the baby back up, as the seal wouldn’t let them down to get the baby but they went up to get the seal and they took the baby home and the seal followed them from Smerwick to the slip in Ballydavid until they took the baby home. The child was alive and well, as if they had had him at home with them, and the seal took the baby for nine days in the cove. I heard that said by a mother in Ballydavid, as she was in the same line as them. They were around the same age.