Barefoot in Mullyneeny: A Boy’s Journey Towards Belonging. Bryan Gallagher

      Barefoot in

      Mullyneeny

      A Boy’s Journey Towards Belonging

      Bryan Gallagher

      As I write this, the memory of the tragic death of John Peel is still vivid in my mind. He changed the lives of many people with his encouragement, and he did that for me in his sincere appreciation of these stories. He broadcast some of them in his BBC programmes, and it was he who first broached the prospect of publication.

      This book is respectfully dedicated to his memory.

      Table of Contents

       Cover Page

       Title Page

       dedication

INTRODUCTION

The Map of Ireland

The Cobbler

Jolly Nice

I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls

Clerical Error

Last of the Islandmen

Goodbye Dolly Gray

Mrs Malaprop and Daughter

Altar Altercation

       Sand Pit

       Requiem for a Huntsman

       Oremus

       Rite of Passage

       The Huntsman

       Three Cheers for the Souls in Purgatory

       The Stations of the Cross

       Hounds and Hares

       The Fourth Fall

       Killing the Pig

       The Rabbit Island

       An Inspector Calls

       The White Horse

       Lords of the Dance

       Gorman’s Reel

       The Fiddle Maker

       Donkeys

       A Policeman’s Lot

       A-Hunting We Will Go

       Belonging

       How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

       Coping the Lea

       The Wet Winding Roads

       Hob-nailed Boots

       Bonny Mary of Argyll

       The Boat

       The Stonemason

       Disgrace

       Some Enchanted Evening

       Lost in Collooney

       Noreen Bawn

       The Streets of Laredo

       ‘Life slipped between the bars…’

       Foresight

       Big Tom

       Sheep Can’t Swim

       Punting

       The Poetry Lover

       Talking to a Ghost

       Acknowledgments

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

       INTRODUCTION

      They say in this county where I was reared, that for six months of the year Lough Erne is in Fermanagh, and for six months, Fermanagh is in Lough Erne. The county is dominated by the vast stretches of the mighty lake. It is from its shores, and the surrounding countryside, that most of my stories come.

      It