Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin /
Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin
Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin
Informant: Seán Ó Roithleáin
Age: 70
Address: Ros Dumhach, Iorras, Co. Mayo
Collector: Annraoi Ua Corrdubh, National Folklore Collection, UCD
Date of Recording: February 1936
Reference:
Seán Ó Roithleáin “Rowley”,1939 [National Folklore Collection, UCD]
Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin
Níor bádh aon fhear de na Riagáin riamh – Tá sé sin cantaí ag seandaoine thart anseo ar na cóstaí. D’imigh siad amach an oíche seo lena gcuid eangachaí amach ag iascaireacht, Riagáin agus a chuid fear, agus thóg glac mhór éisc i dtoiseach na hoíche agus ag meánoíche d’éirigh an ghaoth agus bhris siad a gcroí ag iarraidh talamh a dhéanamh agus ar deireadh b’éigean dóibh na maidí a tharraingt isteach agus an bád a ligean le gaoth, cébí áit a gcuirfeadh Dia iad.
Bhí coastguards an uair sin i mBéal Deirg agus bhí siad amuigh ansin ar na hailt acht níorbh fhéidir a bhfeiceáil agus ar maidin lá arna mháireach ní fhaca siad (i. na hiascairí) aon talamh agus tar éis déich lá a chaitheamh amuigh ar an bhfarraige mhór d’éirigh rón agus rug fear ar cheann de na scadáin bhí sa mbád agus chaith amach ag an rón é, agus thosaigh ag dhul amach roimh an mbád agus shín siad ina dhiaidh.
Thosaigh an fharraige ag ciúnú agus thíos i gCúige Uladh chonaic an coastguard an toirt amach san an-fharraige agus leag amach an galley agus níor stop gur thug isteach iad. Shiúil Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin suas leo agus b’éigean an triúr eile a iompar agus coinníodh ansin iad go raibh siad in ann siúl abhaile. Dhíol siad a gcuid eangachaí agus an bád agus shiúil siad abhaile go Béal Deirg.
Bhí a dtórramh déanta sa mbaile. Bhíodh curraigh amuigh ag feitheamh leis na coirp a dh’fháil tar éis iad bheith cúig lá déag sa bhfarraige agus mar sin – go bhfaca an ceathrar ag siúl isteach Cnoc Bhéal Deirg. Druideadh na dóirse orthu ag leagadh amach gurb iad a dtaise a bhí ann nó go raibh síad tugtha as agus ar éigean a ligeadh isteach chor ar bith iad.
Páidín Bán Ó Riagáin
No Ó Riagáin man has ever been drowned – that is what the old people around here on the coast say. They went out fishing this one night with their nets, Ó Riagáin and his men, and they caught a large handful of fish in the beginning of the night and at midnight the wind picked up and they had their work cut out trying to reach land and in the end they had to pull in the oars and let the wind take the boat, wherever God would take them.
There were coastguards at the time in Belderg and they were all out but they couldn’t see them and the next morning they (i.e. the fishermen) couldn’t see any land and after ten days at sea a seal came up and one man grabbed one of the herring in the boat and threw it out to the seal and the seal started to swim in front of the boat and off they went after it.
The sea started to grow calmer and down in Ulster the coastguard saw the shape out on the ocean and they sent out the galley and they didn’t stop until they managed to bring them in. Páidín Bán Ó Riagán walked up with them and the three others had to be carried and they were kept there until they were able to walk home. They sold their nets and the boat and they walked home to Belderg Hill.
They had already been waked at home. The currachs had been waiting to get the bodies after they had been fifteen days at sea, and then the four were seen walking into Belderg. The doors were closed on them, thinking that they were their ghosts or thinking that they were changelings, and they were lucky they were let in at all.