'The Druid's Apprentice' Irish Story - Eddie Lenihan, 1986
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- The story of how the Chief Druid of the High King Cormac of Tara took on an apprentice and the consequences that ensued.
Overworked by the tasks assigned to him, Thascáin Mac Liadh was advised by Fionn mac Cumhaill to take on an apprentice to do the horse work freeing the druid up to spend time on performing magic and spells.
You’ll still meet people that’ll tell you that the druids of ancient Ireland has an easy time of it.
Along with Fionn, the druid travelled to the Cliffs of Moher in search of an apprentice. After finding Micilín, deemed to be a suitable candidate for the job, they took him back to Tara. It was battle season and many of those injured in battle were sent to An Taiscain. When the battle season ended, Thascáin was exhausted, packed his things and headed for the curing waters of Lisdoonvarna and leaving his apprentice in charge.
As soon as the druid had left, Dara Óg decided to invade Ireland. Many were injured in battle and one man came looking for the Druid to help cure his injuries. He was holding his leg in his arm. The apprentice sent him off saying that he was not qualified to deal with it and told him that the druid was in Lisdoonvarna. Pleading with Micilín, the man said he was bleeding to death. The apprentice agreed to help and examined the druid’s books where he kept his spells. The young apprentice took a needle and thread to his leg and sewed it back on. When the man went stand up, he fell over as the apprentice had sewn the leg on backwards.
More and more injured men arrived to be seen by the druid. The apprentice continued to assist the injured sewing one man’s hand back on backwards. The queue of injured men continued throughout the night and the apprentice continued to tend to their injuries growing more and more tired. All the while, his work was not improving.
Hands, legs and ears sticking out where there should be no hands, legs and ears.
The mutated men returned to battle and upon seeing them the enemy retreated and surrendered fearing what they were witnessing. News soon spread to King Cormac that the young apprentice had saved Ireland.
Upon hearing the news, Thascáin returned from Lisdoonvarna to Tara and explained to the king that his books had been used incorrectly. However, the king advised the druid to keep the apprentice who he believed had done great work and went on to replace the druid when he died.
‘Storyteller - The Druid’s Apprentice’ was broadcast on 14 July 1986. The storyteller is Eddie Lenihan.
This is part four in the twelve-part series and the programme was produced by Jeremy Johnston with design by Fidelma De Paor.
Jeremy Johnston told the RTÉ Guide (20 June 1986),
Eddie’s stories are not for the faint-hearted but then good stories never are. Think of the brothers Grimm, Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast...
Eddie Lenihan explains that he came across most of the stories in the programme while studying for a thesis in linguistics at University College Galway (UCG). He became interested in folklore and continued to collect stories from across the West of Ireland.
I once attended a lecture with Eddie as guest speaker and it was rich colourful and fascinating with lots of wonderful stories and tales, many I had never heard of. He’s a brilliant storyteller, and thanks to him, many stories and legends have been kept alive and documented
the man is incredible ... to be able to tell a story like that with such detail only from memory is a very special talent ..
Eddie’s the fuckin man! I love the fact we nurture people like this in our beautiful land.
Anything with Eddie is worth listening to first time ever seeing him this young
The Seanchaí , ( storyteller ) is one of Irelands best traditions, if only there were more of them
I remember Eddie presenting some of the stories on Ten Minute Tales on RTE back in 1988 he is a brilliant story teller who has traveled all over Ireland collecting stories and writing them down for future generations to enjoy i had the pleasure to meet Eddie on a few occasions he is a nice down to earth man
Reminds me so much of my Great Aunt Ra a diminutive Welsh lady who was a First World War generation. As a kid captivated by the tales she would convey to us in her miners terrace house .
Thank you for uploading, some blast from the past...I remember watching these on RTE after getting home from school back in the day.
I recall as a very young boy working on the remains of the world-famous Gubbon Seer, wife and their son Jack battered old home with my father and brothers, it was a bitter cold winters day working with frozen stones, at first we did not know anything about this old building which existed on part of Henry Gordon old estate until our Father told us about this famous builder and his son, after this the bitterly cold weather got milder, our work became much more interesting, I am sure that Mr Gubbon Seer and his family were happy when we finished our works rebuilding their old home. some months later as we were driving home late one and dark night we could see lights coming from, the windows of Gubbon Seer's family home. They mush have returned back home from their long travels
Eddie is a national treasure.
What an amazing story teller! He had me enthralled!
this reminds me of my grandfather telling me stories as a child
He has a podcast that’s worth a listen ….
What a ride!
Thanks for posting.
Slán
Wow ! Fantastic Not seen this early episode before
Fantastic 👍 thanks for the upload. Please find more 👍 🍀
Intro song is Julia Delaney reel by paddy moloney and Sean Potts
Legend, and rte and never wanted to have anything to do with him , says everything!!!
Rte are Too busy glorifying Dublin drug gangs sadly shower of plonkers
This is excellent. What a legend.
Eddie, what a legend :)
He was in our college once, the story was brilliant something about 3 boxes
Saw this video in some random meme. Come to find out a few weeks later, he shares the surname of my grandmas father. Im sure were too removed to be close family, most of my kin are fennoscandian (mostly finns, but a bit of swede too), but im gonna look at this guy like the favorite uncle i never had lol. Love his spirit and his enthusiasm.
I was engrossed from the start ❤
^
1 dislike ?
How can you dislike that ffs ????
the boy just stitched the hand on backwards....
Brilliant.. I was glued listening to this story 👍
What a great story
This is from a time when Ireland was Ireland not the watered down version we have to eek out a living in today .
Its a tough time for mice trying to eek out a living.
Well remember the highlight of our local book week in the week before Halloween was the visit by Eddie to the library for story telling. Good memories.
more of this please
Loved it.
Feckin brilliant!
what a legend
Lenihan some kerryman 💪
" a wink if shhhleep" 😂
Powerful. Anyone know who's playing the whistles at the start ?
Question, I've been looking for the old TV series called Island of the Great Yellow Ox, it was on Rte during the early 80's and BBC and rte we're involved I think. It's based on a book by Walter Macken. Great TV series.
I've no other way of contacting ye, sorry for hijacking Eddie's clip 🤣👍
So entertaining
There's a grand young lad
Thought this was a Gene Shalit movie review for a second
What happened to the druids of Ireland? Are there any written records about them from the time?
taken over by priests and they wrote the history
The Druids only passed down their teachings in spoken word, verses or stories. That's why the only surviving records from the time are rather biased accounts of the Romans, and later edited versions by Christian monks in the Medieval period.
I wonder where the apprentice sewed Eddie's chin beard?!
Bard of bards
I nearly died laughing
You must never laugh at a Bard for their story's are along the lines of asabs fables and are a life lesson told in a story format so that both young and old can comprehend . You clearly don't
Sr. Interrompido.
Eddie probably knows more about our proper mythology, than the Christianised version
+++++++
😂