School: Graystown, Killenaule
- Location:
- Graystown, Co. Tipperary
- Teacher: Robert Hall
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0564, Page 286
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- XML School: Graystown, Killenaule
- XML Page 286
- XML “Gobán Saor”
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- (continued from previous page)/2/ One story related that the Gobán was a native of this parish and in a wealth of impressive detail, he was described as the child of an old man, this in the opinion of the storyteller was a contradiciton to his great powers. It was generally thought by the people here that the children of old men were never good for anything and they were generally called Gobáns or Gubbauns:
It was told that the Gobán's mother died at his birth, she was a very young woman who had married an old man, who was left to rear his child alone in the lonely island in the bog. The idea given by the tales of the Gobán's education is that the old man devoted his life to training and developing his boy in his own fashion: He kepts the boy away from all company, taught him the ways of wild life, educated him in the flora of the district and showed him the wonders of insect buildings; He also showed him how to make "bird calls" and to invent new or better ones for himself: The Gobán in his youth seemed to have been shy of any company of human beings except that of his father.
There is an old fort in Killenaule parish called Dungail-: Has it anything to do with the Gobán: I cannot trace the derivation of the name: the name Scornán baffles me also(continues on next page)
