“Rory of the Hills”

Description

A son asks why a "rake up near the rafters" is not used to make hay. His father, Rory of the Hill, takes him to meet his old comrades and then reveals that the rake hides a sword. He does his soldier's drill and says "You'll be a Freeman yet, my boy"

Notes

Broadside Harding B 40(2) View 1 of 4 has the lines strangely rearranged and some of the text is missing. _Irish Minstrelsy_ by H. Halliday Sparling (London, 1888), pp. 28-30, 502, "Rory of the Hills" makes the attribution to Kickham. [Supported by Hoagland. - RBW] - BS

For the career of Kickham, an Irish nationalist who helped organize the Irish Republican Brotherhood, see the notes to "Patrick Sheehan [Laws J11]."

Healy, pp. 130-131, has a second "Rory of the Hill" song. It appears related only by title. - RBW

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 40(2) View 1 of 4, "Rory of the Hill" ("That rake up near the rafters"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1877-1884

References

1. O'Conor, pp. 74-75, "Rory of the Hills" (1 text)
2. Healy-OISBv2, pp. 128-130, "Rory of the Hill" (1 text)
3. DT, RORYOMOR*
4. ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 525-526, "Rory of the Hill" (1 text)
5. BI, OCon074