Could you be tempted to climb a hill to follow a calf? You might be, especially if that calf was on Knocksheegowna peak, part of Knockanaffrin ridge. Local lore tells us a "fairy calf" rises out of the waters of Loch Mohra and sits on top of Knocksheegowna, the calf has a way to lure you up to the peak, it looks like a quite, well bred animal it would compliment your herd, all you have to do is climb to the top and take it. Only problem is it will take you before you take it, for the fairies will take you to their world. You were warned, after all Knocksheegowna means "fairy calf hill".
This is not the only magical bovine to be found in the Nire or the Comeragh Mountains. The Glas
Gaiibhneach is said to have visited Glenanore. The story of the Glas
Gaibhneach, as collected in the Ordnance Letters of John O'Donovan and Eugene Curry (1839) goes as follows.
In the northern
part of this Parish of Kilnaboy is a Townland called Teeskagh and near it a
mountain called Slieve na Glaisé, the mountain of the celebrated cow called
Glas Ghoibhneach, said to have belonged to the smith, Lon Mac Loimhtha, the
first that ever made edged weapons in Ireland. He was a Tuatha De Danann
by nation, and lived in a cave in this mountain unknown to all the Scoti except
the few who lived in his immediate vicinity.
Lon was for many years supported by his
invaluable cow called Glas Gaibhneach which used to graze not far from his
forge on the mountain
of Sliabh na Glaise which
abounds in most beautiful rills and luxuriant pasturage. This cow he stole from
Spain, but after having settled with her in various parts he came at length to
the resolution of spending his life here, as being secure from enemies by the
remoteness and natural fastness and then inaccessible situation of the place,
and as he had found no other retired spot in Ireland sufficiently fertile to
feed the Glas but this. This cow would fill with her milk any vessel, be it
never so large, into which she was milked, and it became a saying in the
neighbourhood that no vessel could be found which the Glas would not fill at
one milking. At last two women laid a wager on this point, one insisting that
no vessel, be it never so large, could be found in Ireland which the smith’s
cow would not fill, and the other that there could. The bets being placed in
secure hands, the latter lady went to her barn and took out a sieve which she took
to Slieve na Glaise, and into which, by consent of Lon Mac Liomhtha, she milked
the cow. And behold! the milk, passing through the bottom of the sieve and even
overflowing it, fell to the ground and divided into seven rivulets called
Seacht Srotha na t-Aéscaíghe, the Seven Streams of the overflowing. Taescach,
i.e., the overflowing, is now the name of a Townland lying to the west of
Slieve na Glaise. Clear streams of water now run through the channels then
formed by the copious floods of the milk of the Glas, and one of them forms in
winter a remarkable waterfall. On the east side of Slieve na Glaise is a small
valley in which is shewn a spot called Leaba na Glaise in which this cow is
said to have slept every night and near it another spot called the bed of her
calf. The hoofs of this cow were reversed by which her pursuers (for many
sought to take her away by force) were always deceived in the course she took,
and the impressions of her feet are shewn to this day in the rocks in many
parts of the country around Slieve na Glaise.
Next time you see a calf, don't rush after it.
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| Knocanafrinn Ridge. |
