Molly Bán (Bawn)

Failte, Reader. Welcome back if you're a regular.

I'm sitting on my couch in Spain, on a rainy afternoon, enjoying the rainbows forming out my window. I've just done a lovely writing class with a woman I met at the recent Costa Women event I spoke at. Her name is Natasha Kerry Smith. The exercises were wonderful. They left the world around me somehow even more alive than it had been before. How exciting that is! 

This week, I'm sharing the story of Molly Bán (Bawn) with you through Hiberno English. For new readers, that means you'll read a story. In it, you'll read words you do not understand. 

"What's the point in that?" I hear you wonder.

The point is that you learn words in a different language. You learn words in my language. In Hiberno English. Hiberno English is the English spoken in Ireland. It is a blend of Gaeilge, the Irish language, and British English. I take words from the Hiberno English dictionary and use them to write stories which aim to teach you my beautiful English. At the end of the story, there is a glossary of terms. I suggest reading the story first to guess meaning from context before checking. Alternatively, you can look through the glossary first and then read the story.

For English Teachers

If you're a teacher using the story in a lesson, there are different ways to use it. For higher levels and thinkers, get them to read first. For lower levels, make the glossary a matching activity and pre-teach whatever else is necessary. I have made one, so if you'd like it as a PDF, send me a message. You may need to pre-teach some of the structures also as they differ from British English. Comment or ask questions below if you're unclear about anything. 

Who is Molly Bán (Bawn)?

There is a band in Ireland called The Chieftains. One of their songs is an old story about a young woman named Molly Bawn who met a sad fate while out walking to her uncle's one evening. It teaches us a lesson about handling guns and acting before thinking. Listen to the song here. 

Summer in Ireland

I'm starting my summer in Kerry this year. In Kerry, if you have a bit of a voice on you, you need to be able to give what we might call "an 'auld song" here and there when you go out gallivanting in the local pubs. I have a bit of a voice on me, so I'm learning some songs to be ready for my trip. One of those songs is Molly Bán. That's why this week's Hiberno English story is an adaptation of her story. To hear it spoken and practise the pronunciation of the words, listen to the story here. The episode title is "Triple Lock Threatens Irish Neutrality" because after the story I talk a bit about what's happening in Ireland with respect to neutrality, buying fighter jets, and securing underwater cables in the name of defence. As always, please send me your thoughts and comments here or over on my Instagram here. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. 

Molly Bán

Be cúramach young fellas, especially if you're walking the streets and the roads at night handling a gun. Be an cúramach for signs and sights in the evening of the setting sun that may trick you into thinking they're something that they're not. And beware of an amshagh, an amshagh that happened to young Molly Bán in the Old Time, not too many moons ago.

She was on her way to her uncle's, carrying her little máilín, when suddenly there was a fierce bachram and she was at risk of getting báite. Molly didn't want to get báite because she didn't have a change of clothes with her, and she was on her way to her uncle's for the evening. To avoid the bachram, she jumped into a bearna and walked a little bit through the luachair ghabhair. The bachram was fierce, so she pulled from her bag her naprún, draping the beautiful white cotton around her as extra defence from the rain.

At the same time as the young Molly was hiding, up the road was coming a young man. He'd been out hunting for the day. He'd been fairly successful and was feeling a little bit andána. He was feeling a bit reckless because he was riding on an ego. He'd done so well all day with the shooting that he didn't think anything could stop him. Then, when he saw a white flash in the bushes, he thought he had another opportunity. A loud plab echoed into the air all around him and the trees and the birds and the bushes.

As soon as the sounds of the plab had silenced, a geonaíl filled the air, a whimper, as if it were beagles or hounds lamenting in the distance. The young man's stomach birled. He ran towards the place his shot had landed, climbing through the bearna, coming upon what was now a báite corse. He let out an olagón that could be heard for miles around when his eyes fell on a poll in the white that he had seen through the trees. On it, he saw what had the appearance of a ball searc. It was glistening red. The poor man had only gone and shot his maoineach, Molly Bán.

“Asthore!” he cried. “All the ór na cruinne will never bring you back. I need cúnamh, I need cúnamh.”

He looked around but there was no help to be found. There was nothing he could do now bar run home to his father, lude of himself. Her básaire he had become. The distraught young man ran into the house, panicking. He was so panicked that his father hit him a leadóg so strong he nearly sent him into the room beside them.

“M’anam on Díabhal son, what have you done?”

 “A athair. Father. I'm annis. I'm miserable. I've shot my Molly Bán.

For days afterwards he would walk the place where he had slain her. Neb drooped, misery on his shoulders. Cráite with grief. He would go on to hold a gun again, him being a farmer. But he swore that from that day forth, he would never again pull a trigger without taking a second to stop and think first.

*** Hiberno English Glossary ***

1. (Be) cúramach: be careful.
2. An cúramach: very careful. 
3. Amshagh: an accident.
4. Old Time: in the Old Time, the farmers didn’t use to change their clocks to summer in March. They kept standard time.
5. Bán: white.
6. Bawn (or bán): pet or darling. Cailín bán: darling girl. Molly Bawn could either mean she’s his “Molly Darling” or her name is Molly Bawn (Molly White). 
7. Máilín: a little bag.
8. Bachram: figure of speech: very heavy rain.
9. Báite: drenched.
10. Bearna: a gap in a fence or ditch.
11. Luachair ghabhair: coarse grass.
12. Naprún: apron.
13. Andána: reckless.
14. Plab: a bang / sudden noise.
15. Geonaíl: a cry / whimper as of beagles or hounds. 
16. Birl: to twist / spin.
17. A báite corse: a drenched corpse. 
18. Olagón: a lament / wail / crying out loud.
19. Only: intensive word.
20. Poll: a hole.
21. Ball searc: a red or strawberry mark on the body. A beauty spot (often on a male).
22. Maoineach: a cherished one / beloved person.
23. Asthore: interjection meaning darling.
24. Ór na Cruinne: all the wealth in the world.
25. Cúnamh: help / assistance.
26. Bar: only / except for.
27. Lude: ashamed.
28. Básaire: executioner.
29. Leadóg: a blow to the face with the palm of the hand.
30. M’anam on Díabhal: my soul to the Devil.
31. A athair: father.
32. Ainnis: miserable.
33. Neb: mouth. 
34. Cráite: tormented with sorrow.