Siobhan Dennehy shared a post by John A. Brennan

Posted by Jim on June 25, 2018

The Fox the Birds and the Poets.

Geneticists, working out of Trinity College in Dublin, have discovered that the Irish gene pool is the least diluted in all of Europe, and perhaps the world. They have also found that the Irish traveling people (*tinkers) are purely Irish and date back to the nomadic hunter gatherers who inhabited Ireland beginning at the end of the last ice-age, prior to the arrival of our first named visitor, Cessair. The earth shattering discovery of the Fox P2 gene, which is high in the Irish DNA, has been found to control the ability to absorb and internalize information, then, after formulating, express it using the voice. This gene is also present in songbirds and serves to remind us that despite what the naysayers and begrudgers have said about us down through the centuries, we Irish truly are, a race apart, there’s no-one else like us, period.
*The word ‘tinker’ is short for tinsmith, denoting the ability to work with all metals including gold and silver.
In the age when the Maigue, flowing broad from the Shannon, winding slow through the sloping place of Crom Dubh, right there, right on that spot, it all changed forever. For it was there that the Long-ships carrying the sons of Thor along its’ looped course, stopped below the fastness sited high above the grassed banks, and sent the Linnet skyward from the heather, in frightful flight. And it was there, right on that spot, where O’Donovan parleyed, swore fealty and ruled in safety with the invasive Dane. And it was there that O’Connor encircled the ramparts at Rathmore, burned the enclosures and routed the pretenders.
And it was there that the Norman puppet masters, with their Welsh and Flemish bowmen in tow, installed the Geraldines to rule in lieu. And it was there that Red Hugh, after the night time march across the frozen bogs, en-route to meet the Spaniard, met first with the Countess from Kildare. And it was there too that the hedge masters of Kilmallock gathered and birthed the written and spoken native tongue. Thus, it was that the Fil Na Maigue rhyme was infused with life’s breath and it was then, right then, on that very spot, in that very place, that the Limerick was born.
The Birth of the Limerick
The two founders of the Maigue Poets in Croom were Sean O’ Tuama and his friend Andrias MacRaith. Both men grew up together in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. O’Tuama went on to become a publican. After the two men had a falling out they began castigating each other in rhyme. Below are believed to be the first two Limericks ever written and predate Edward Lear by one hundred years.

O’Tuama wrote:

“I sell the best Brandy and Sherry
to make all my customers merry.
But at times their finances
run short as it chances.
And then I feel sad, very, very.”

MacCraith replied:

“O’Tuama, you boast yourself handy,
At selling good ale and bright Brandy,
But the fact is your liquor
makes everyone sicker
I tell you this, I, your good friend Andy.”
Dedicated to the Maigue Poets of Croom.