"Lord of all flesh... and in whose ever embrace all creatures live." "And whatsoever world or condition they be..." "I beseech Thee to pull her hand to His name and dwell into." "And every need Thou knowest." "Thou art life and rest, refreshment... joy and consolation and paradise and in companionship... of the saints... in the presence of Christ and the hands that hold... all guide with love." "Where's Father?" "He's in the pub." " It's the little sprat again." " Poor creature." "As pale as a fish's belly." "And those eyes!" "She's only lost in the world." "And what would you be in a strange land without a mother's touch?" " A drunkard!" " You're already that." "Jim, wake up, will ya?" "It's your daughter." "How are you, girl?" "She's worn out." "Open your eyes!" "She looks as if she's raised in a tin box." "Fresh air." "That's the ticket." "A little sprat like her breathing the poison fumes in this town's air." "Take her to the country." "There's no work to be had at home." "I'm never going back to the island." "That's done." "A lemon squash for you, dear." "This isn't a place to be raising a girl." "I do my best." "You try, bless you." "Why not send her to her grandfather's?" "You'd like that, wouldn't ya, love?" "You'd like that, living with the old people." "Grandfather!" "Fiona." " We were expecting you later." " Father put me on the morning boat." "You climbed all this way up by yourself?" "It's great to see ya!" "Your grandmother saw you below." "She nearly had a fit." "She knew it was me?" "With that head of hair?" "At double the distance, I'd know you were a Coneelly." "Your father and his brother the same." "All but forJamie." "He's the only dark one." "You better not mention anything aboutJamie in front of Grandmother." "She's gettin' the tea ready for you now." "Oh, look at your arms, dear." "Like sticks they are." " Eat up now." " It's the sea air she's needin'." "I hear you can't find a proper hen's egg in that city." "The ones here is nothing compared to what was laid on the island." "You and that island." "'Tis true." "Didn't our own cow only give half the milk she gave in Roan Inish?" "What's done is done." "There's no use moaning over it." "Why did we have to leave?" "It was the young people, like your father and his brothers." "They were restless on the island." "Then came the war and jobs across the sea." "Now as they have the taste of the city in their blood..." "City indeed!" "Nothing but noise, dirt... and people that's lost their senses." "Couldn't tell the difference between a riptide and a raindrop... if you shoved their face in the water." " But you and Grandmother..." " Oh, no." "We couldn't start from naught." "Living alone on an island." "There isn't a thing out there for us but sad memories." "Can you see it from here?" "If the sky is willing, some can." "Look out there." "Do you see a lighthouse on a long flat island?" "I think I do." "Then beyond there to your right... a great island of dark hills." "There's a wee green bit of an island between them." " She sees it!" " You put it into her head!" "She sees it!" "Only them that's born to the islands can see it from this distance." "They say the east is our future and the west is our past." "The island's to the west of us, Hugh." "That's Roan Inish, girl." "Island of the seals." "There's more of them now that the people have deserted." " You've been out there?" " Once a week if the current's right." " God bless all here." " Eamon!" "Get in and sit for tea." "You remember him, Fiona?" "Your cousin Eamon, Uncle Patrick's boy." "Hello." "You moved back to the west." "Are you pleased?" "I'm well pleased." "How come you never left with your family?" "I tried it for a month, then I ran back here." "I'm not clever enough to live in town." "Too fast for me." "He's as good a young fella in a curragh as ever I've seen." "Love of the sea is a sickness." "You two will come to grief for it." "Eat." " She seen Roan Inish on her first look." " Is that so?" "You go there, too?" "I've not set foot there since the evacuation." "But Grandfather knows the shoals all about it... and what feeds there and when." "We always come back with a full net when the rest are scared to fish it." " Why are they scared?" " Eamon." "Oh." "Tales is all." "Tales of what?" "If it clears up this evening, you might see the light again." "Light?" "There's an end of it!" "I'll not have nonsense and superstition in my house." "Here." "Do your duty by those cakes." "They won't keep." "Your grandfather's already filled his gullet." "The sea gives, and the sea takes away." "This... is my father's father's father now... a Coneelly man... when he was only a few years older than you are now." "His name was Sean Michael." "Smart boy, dark haired." "Bit of the rebel in him." "Though times weren't as hard on the island as on the mainland... it's never easy pulling a living from the sea." "The English were still a force in the country then." "They had the schools." "It was their language and their ways that you had to learn there, or else." "There was a new schoolmaster in the school one year." "As stiff as a cat's whiskers, he was." "And Sean Michael wasn't a week in his class... before he put the cingulum about his neck." "It was a punishment of those days for speaking irish within his earshot." "Eject!" "Eject!" "Sean Michael stuck it out for as long as he could... for he had a strength of character." "But the shame was too great, and he tore it from his neck... and he went for the schoolmaster and began to beat on the man crying out..." "Hugh, please!" "It's a little girl." "You don't understand, do you, girl?" "I don't have any Irish." " More is the pity of it." " Aye." "Sean Michael's father had great hopes for the boy, clever as he was... that he would learn to read the Englishman's language... and study his laws, and grow to be a leader for his people." "But there was his son, knuckles bloody, anger in his heart... standing before him." ""You'll need to kill me to make me go back," he says." "His father sighed then, and looked out to the sea beyond them." ""You'll have nothing now," he said..." ""but the black rocks, the wild waves and the hard sky above you."" "And wasn't it his first trip out with his father... that a fierce storm from the north blew over them." "Sean Michael, his father, brothers, uncles and cousins... four boats in all." "And it took them in its terrible grip... lifted them high and turned them over... and slapped them back down into the violent black sea... with the scraps of their curraghs around them." "His father, caught in their net and dragged below without a whisper." "Out as far as they were, in a northern storm, an experienced fisherman... would swallow his draught of water and swim to the bottom." "For to fight the cold sea is only to prolong your suffering." "But Sean Michael was green with it." "And he flailed and cried out... and he beat the water with his legs and arms... till the sea grew to hate him and refused to swallow him up." "It was a full day later... when people gathering mussels on the strand found him." "Some was even afraid to touch him." "It was women mostly, softhearted as they are." "The boy was more dead than alive." "Cold as ice to the touch." "There wasn't a fire in ireland could bring the blood of life back into him." "This is the time when the country people still lived with their beasts inside." "And the woman as owned the house they brought him to said..." ""Here, bind him up to my cow."" "And then she brought another alongside." "And their heat went out through him." "Soon he began to shiver, and then he began to shake." "And then he slept like a Christian... for hours and hours." "When he started to sweat, the woman cut him loose from her animals... and they bathed him, and wrapped him in blankets warmed in the hearth." "He woke to their faces above him... all women and girls." ""Is this heaven, then?"he said." ""No, lad,"said the woman of the house." ""It's only Tech Duin."" "Tech Duin is the islands where the people thought... that the souls of all Ireland's dead were held to rest." "So Sean Michael believed he had drowned... and come to the hereafter." ""'Twas a seal that brought me here," he told them." ""I was sinking under... destroyed by the effort of keeping my head above the swell." "And a body, warm body... came under me and lifted me up." "It was a seal from the feel of its hide." "A great dark seal that bore me along through the storm... and i hugging its neck." "That's all i remember until i woke to your faces above me."" "Now, with his father and brothers... and uncles and cousins all gone... there was only Sean Michael left... to keep the Coneellys alive in these islands." "He was saved by a seal?" " And two cows." " And a woman as had her wits about her." "It's a wonderful story." "Some think so." "And some say you should never save a drowning man." "What the sea will take, the sea must have." "That's a lot of foolishness." "It's said that some that are saved turn wicked afterwards." "What happened to Sean Michael, your great-grandfather?" "Jailed by the English." "Died in prison a man of 50." "Smuggling arms to the Fenians, he was." "That's enough for now." "Take the child to bed, Hugh." "She's exhausted." "Aye." "Sweet dreams, dear." "Superstitious old man!" "I rake this fire as the pure Christ rakes us all... with Mary at the foot and Brigid at the head." "And may the eight brightest angels from the City of Grace... preserwe this house and all its people till the coming of the day." "The light." "Out into the sun with you, now." "You'll find him below on the strand." "Just follow the path across." "Grandfather!" "Ah, Fiona!" "I was just wishing I had someone to lend me a hand." "It'd be a great help to me if you kept stirring the tar in this bucket." "I'd love it." "In the olden times people used cowhide on their curraghs." "Then it was calico." "Now we make do with canvas." "The tar is what it always was." " Would you like some tea?" " Yes, please." "She's put in an extra mug for ya." "There." "I think I saw the light last night." "Light, is it?" "What light might that be?" "The one Eamon spoke of on Roan Inish." "There's plenty of things could be taken for a light in the dark." "And no tellin' how far off they might be." "You want me to forget aboutJamie." "We'll none of us forget him, dear." "But life goes on." "Can't even remember when we lost him." "I was already off in the ship when it happened." "It was a strange day." "Everyone on the beach for the evacuation." "The air was very still, like it is sometimes before a storm." "It was like a dream that day... slow, terrible dream that you watch." "You can't stop it." "All the people had rode out, and most of the goods." "There was only your father and brother ashore... and weeJamie sleeping in his cradle." " In his cradle?" " Aye." "Pulled up on the beach." "Jamie!" "Wait!" "Help me!" "Look there!" "Jamie!" ""Jamie!" he called." ""We're comin', boy."" "I don't know how the cradle could've made up so much speed." "The sea had taken poor weeJamie." "It was angry with us for leavin' Roan Inish." "Mind that tar, love, or it'll be stiffer than an old man on a winter's night." " He could still be out there." " Jamie?" "Alive?" "And cows could have wings." "You see this?" "It's a seal rent it open." "They're terrible rascals for stealin' fish." "One stared at me from the rock when I came in." "Maybe he's fell in love." "You've got to be careful 'cause one day a year... all the seals gather to choose their new king." "And it's said whichever of the island girls he fancies most... is taken below to live as his queen." " That's just stories." " Some stories is true, though." "Grandfather told me aboutJamie, about when he was taken." " Did he tell you the rumors?" " About what?" "There's them who claim to have seen him." "LittleJamie sailing the seas in his cradle boat." "What does he look like?" "They say he's grown into a fine little gossoon... sittin' in the stern of his cradle like a captain in his ship." "Always there's creatures about him." "Seals swimming' in the water... great crowd of sea gulls squawking' overhead." "If you call out or try to come closer, he vanishes... in a great splash in the water and wings flapping' like a phantom they say." "Where do they see him?" "Comin' back from the far side of the island, close to Roan Inish." " Grandfather!" " Shh!" "Don't let on I told you!" "What is it?" "Can I go out with you sometimes in your boat?" "It'll be a few days before the tar is dried." "Then?" "Well, we'll have to ask your grandmother first." "She won't have you out on a boat unless the day is fine." "Grandmother!" "I've lost track." "Is this Roan Inish?" "Quiet now, and you'll see something." "See that little fellow?" "It's his first year at sea." "He's the one that stared at me from the boat coming over." "I'm sure he is." "You scared 'em away with your screeching'." "He was the one I saw." "He really did remember me." "Hide your face then, or he'll be takin' you for a wife." " Don't scare the child." " Fiona's never scared." " Are you?" " His name is Jax." " How do you know that?" " It just is." " There it is." " Roan Inish?" "Aye." "Isn't it beautiful?" "Do you remember it, Fiona?" "That was your house at that end." " Tess and I were next door." " And ours was the one beyond." "Right." "We'll set those pots and be back." "Don't wander too far." "I wish you could talk to me." "Fiona!" "We better be goin' while the tide's still with us." " Do you miss it greatly?" " Roan Inish?" "It's only a place, I suppose." "Mostly I miss the way of life." "You're surrounded by the sea, your whole family about you." "I'm movin' back." "When I'm a man." "You'll be a sorry sight on your own, haunting' the island on your lonesome." " I'll have a wife." " But will she have you?" "Not many women these days see much romance in hard work and solitude." "I'm movin' back just the same." "I remember the evenings best." "We'd drop over and your mother, God rest her... would be layin' out food." "Your father smokin', drying' his feet by the fire." "Then you, Fiona, and poor weeJamie... off in the corner with little pieces of dinnerware." "Tea parties, it was." "You were always a great one for the tea parties." "Someone's been in our old cottage." " Vandals, is it?" " No." "Someone is living there." "Don't be daft." "I saw a footprint, a footprint of a little boy." " Why didn't you show it to us?" " A wave destroyed it." "There's all sorts of things that can look like a footprint in the shore." "I saw it!" "I did!" " So you saw the island today?" " Yes." "And the houses are in a terrible state, I suppose?" "They weren't so bad, with a little cleaning." "Ah, if you're idle for a week, nature takes it back." "There'll be birds nestin' in the thatch and chimney." "Creepy-crawly things in every corner." "It wasn't so bad." "Our old cottage looked as if we left it a day ago." "There was sand and everything, blowin' off the beach." "It was clean, though." "And the mornings... and the mist on the water." "We could move back." "Grandfather said it's the best fishing." "Oh, child, I couldn't think of it." "I've only the picture in my mind of your poor little brother floating' away." "The only real tragedy in life is young people passin' on before their time." "I always remember his eyes." "Dark they were, with a great soul behind them." "Oh, he was here before." "Jamie." "Tess, don't start." "Right." "One and a quarter pounds to the grain." "You're a mean, penny-pinchin' creature, Flynn." "Fiona, darlin', you have my purse." " Is this the granddaughter then?" " It is." "She isn't one of the dark ones, is she?" "Mind your own business." "You wait here, darlin', while I go and fetch your grandfather." "I could get him." "I'll not have a young girl exposed to the layabouts in that pub." "You call this fresh, do you?" "You ought to be ashamed." "She's the original tough customer, old Tess." "What's "dark ones"?" "You said before that I wasn't a dark one." " Haven't they told you?" " Told me what?" "Come along then." "There's an example for you." "Tadhg'd be your father's first cousin." "Once in a generation the Coneelly's spit out a dark one." " Like my brotherJamie?" " Aye!" "Tadhg would be the one ahead of him." "Will he know me?" "You can talk to him if you like, but there's no saying if he'll talk back." "He's a bit special, if you know what I mean." "Hello." "I'm Fiona, Fiona Coneelly." "You know my father." "I know you." "You do?" " You're after something?" " I am?" "It's as plain as day." "Will I find it?" "I've no idea of the future... but I can see the past quite well... and the present, if the weather's clear." "Better leave off." "You're frightening the wee girl." "She's not easily frightened, this one." "Am I right?" " Do you know why I'm dark?" " 'Cause his brain's leakin' shoe polish." " That's enough!" " Easy." "The Coneellys first came to Roan Inish... when it was still only Irish spoken on the islands." "They built their meager homes on the beach... and the seals and the birds moved aside to make room for them." "There's only a few families, and all related." "So when it came time to find a mate, it was elsewhere you had to look." "There was a boy among them, Liam... who always preferred to be alone." "He set his own traps, built his own curragh." "He sat alone at all the family gatherings." "One day walking about the outer islands... he saw a thing his eyes could scarce believe." "In them days, the seals was hunted for their oil and hides." "Clubbed to death, and made into coats, pouches and pampooties for the feet." "But Liam never took part in it... for he believed as many did then... that there was no worse luck than to harm a seal." "Liam had seen a selkie." "A creature that's half human, half beast." "Old stories told of such creatures... luring ships onto the rocks, and pulling sailors down into the drink." "But all Liam knew... was he had never seen a woman so lovely in all his life." "Now it was said the whoever could capture the hide of a selkie... would have it in their power... to command as they would." "The selkie maid had seen man before." "Fled from their fishing hooks and their spears and mattocks." "But never had she seen one as glorious handsome as Liam Coneelly." "All the islanders had seen Liam row out to sea alone." "And now all saw his return with the strange girl." "Island people is a careful lot." "Not likely to pass judgment on another person's business in public." "There was something so unearthly about the girl... that soon set their tongues to wagging." "There was much shaking of heads when Liam married the stranger." "She hardly spoke at all, and when she did... her Irish was queer sounding." "More ancient than their grandfather's grandfather's." "And when they asked him where he had found her... with her great dark eyes... and her wild black hair... he'd only say Trabeg." "Of course this was nonsense because it was only a speck in the ocean... that even the seals had to leave when the tide was high." "And she'd always be at the water..." "looking out at the seals and the birds." "She'd come back each day with her hands full of shellfish and seaweed... which she'd simmer over a driftwood fire... in a manner all her own." "But all had to admit that she was a good wife for their Liam." "Before long, she was asking him to build a cradle for their firstborn." "It must be made of the wood of a ship that sailed the ocean, she told him." "And there'll be no need for rockers for it will rock on the motion of the sea." "It was the queerest-lookin'thing." "More of a ship than cradle." "And carved with shells, fish and seaweed." "And whenever the day was calm, they put the babe afloat on the water." "Rocking on the sea, with the ripple of the waves for a lullaby." "The years passed... and Liam and Nuala, for that's what the selkie called herself... was happy in their work." "And their love grew and they had many children." "With all that... there was always a touch of sadness about Nuala." "And she spent long hours looking out at that that she had come from." "And listening to the cries of the seals on the outer islands." "One of these afternoons, it was her eldest... who was called Fiona... said the words to her that changed their home." "Why does Father hide a leather coat in the roof?" "Later that evening... as Liam was rowing home... he was followed by a solitary seal." "It seemed joyous in its movements." "It rolled and dived within the waves... joyous in the sleekness of its body." "Its eyes, as with all its kind... held a sadness as deep as the soul." "When the seal left him at last..." "Liam felt a great emptiness inside of fear!" "He rowed furious for the shore even though the sea was heavy on his oars." "When he got home... it was the faces of his children told him his fears were true." "For once a selkie finds its skin again... neither chains of steel nor chains of love... can keep her from the sea." "From that day on... it was forbidden to harm a seal on the island." "And man and beast lived side by side, sharing the wealth of the sea." "And sometimes the Coneellys would see her... out in the waves... basking in the sun on Trabeg... watching them... watching her children." "And the cradle was passed on through the years... with each new infant of the Coneellys rocked upon the waves within it." "And every so often... there'd be one born with the dark eyes and black hair... that the selkie had left in their blood." "And these darks ones were most at home at sea." "Great sailors and fisher folk, every one of them." "Like Tadhg here." "He's an admiral in the Royal Navy." "Fiona!" "Get out from there!" "Your grandfather's ready." "Welcome back, Fiona Coneelly." "We've been waitin'." "Is he mad?" "Tadhg." "Oh, no, he's not mad." "A wee bit strange, maybe." "Always has been." "He was a sailor for a little while." "Off to savage islands in the East." "Places a Christian man does well to avoid." " Did he upset you?" " No." "He was very pleasant." "You're not to mind anything he says to you." "Poor fellow doesn't know if he's wide awake or dreaming." "Your grandfather and I have to go to Kilmurry Banks tomorrow." "To deal with the landlord." "Would you like to come?" "Or maybe go with Eamon?" "He has to deliver a parcel for the postman among the smaller islands." "I'd like to go with him." "If the weather holds and you dress warm." "He's a troubled soul, Tadhg Coneelly." "It's as if he's caught between earth and water." "And when the sun is just four fingers above the horizon, you'll be waiting?" "I promise." "And if the weather turns foul?" "I'll go into the cottage and wait for you." "I promise." " You remember where there's water?" " I do." "If any harm comes to you, they'll have me head." " I'll be careful." " All right then." "Jamie!" "Jamie, I found you at last!" "Jamie!" "Come back to me!" " Right on time." " I saw him today." " Saw who?" " Jamie." "Sure you did." "I did!" "I went into the cottage and made a fire." "I fell asleep and dreamed of the selkie woman." "When I woke, I climbed to the top of the island." "I saw that seal, the little one that's been watchin' me." "Then I was walkin', and he was there." "Jamie, picking' flowers!" "But he ran from me." "And before I could reach him, he was gone." "Gone where?" "In his cradle." "He sailed away around the rocks." "There's talk of spirits here." "He wasn't a spirit." "He's a little boy." "I saw the flowers he pulled up." "He dropped them when he ran." "Can a spirit do that?" "You've got to believe me." "I saw him." "I do believe you." "But you mustn't tell our grandparents about what happened." " You weren't supposed to be here." " But if they knew?" "They'd think you were dreaming it all." "Let me think about it." "We'll come up with a plan." "Agreed?" "Agreed." "Good evening, Grandfather." "Grandfather?" "What's wrong?" "Oh, there you are, dear." "What is it?" "You know, we don't own this house." "The landlord says he got a letter today from some wealthy people overseas... who wants a place to summer in." ""A gold mine," he called it." " Where will you go?" " Inland." "Nothing is available here." "It was bad enough your grandfather having to come in off the island." "But to take him away from the sea." "I'm fearing' his spirits will fail him." "They can't do that." "It isn't fair." "It's the times, darlin'." "After a war, people are always ready to cut off the past and go forward." "We're the ones left behind is all." "That's not your worry, Fiona darlin'." "Your shoulders is too narrow to be carryin' all of that." "It's not lifting at all." "The mackerel won't see us comin', then." "It's not fish I'm talkin' about." "We can't take this wee one out with dirty weather comin' up." "It'll clear, you'll see." "You're an expert now, are ya?" "I'm sorry, but your grandmother would never forgive me if you took a chill." "You'll see naught but gray water on a day like this." "It's for the best." "And be careful climbing up to the house." "Wait!" "Your sandwiches!" "Grandfather?" "Eamon?" "Is that you?" "Jax, I can't see you." "Jax, is that you?" "Are you still there?" "Hello!" "Is anybody out there?" "What's happening?" "Where are we going?" "Won't you come ashore with me?" "Jamie!" "Jamie, it's me, Fiona." "No, Jamie!" "Don't go!" "It's your sister!" "Why must you always run from me?" "I know you're out there, and I know you can understand me." "Give him back!" "Do you hear?" "He's a little boy." "He belongs with his family." "I know you've taken care of him, but he has to live with people now." "I miss him so." "And so does Grandmother and Grandfather." "And all the rest." "Miss him terrible." "If we came back, would you give him to us?" "If we came back here, to Roan Inish." "Is that what you want?" "Are you still there?" "That you, Fiona?" "We saw the fire." "Grandfather!" "Christ Almighty, Fiona." "We were worried sick about you." "I sat in the boat, and it broke free." "Seals came from out of the fog." "And I looked and looked, but he wasn't there." "There was smoke in the chimney." "Jamie was inside having' tea with a little seal, but then they ran away." "She's gone crazy with some kind of fever." "I'm not sick!" "How did you get out here, then?" "And slow this time." "In the boat." "It drifted." "There's no oars in it." "And look at this." "He set a table inside with shells." "You can see it." "Someone's playin' tricks on us, and it might be you." "I don't lie." "I believe her." "It's the madness that runs in the family." "He's in the cradle, and there's always seals about." "That's from talkin' to Tadhg, isn't it?" "He put all this into your head." " But, Grandfather..." " Not another word." "Get in that curragh." "I need silence to think up some likely excuse for your grandmother." "Ah, seals indeed!" " Good mornin' to ya." " Good mornin'." "Where's Grandfather?" "He's already into the pub this mornin'." "And he'll be less likely to come out as it was a black mood he left with." "I gave him hard with my tongue for takin' you out yesterday." "Nothing bad happened." "Is Eamon going out in the motor boat today?" "It doesn't matter whether he is." "You're not goin' with him." "There's no need of the bleak ocean for catching' a dose of fresh air." "One day ashore won't kill you, will it?" "No, ma'am." "Hello." " Have you seen him?" " Why does he run from me?" " Why do you chase him?" " He's my brother." "He's lost." "He isn't lost at all." "He's just with another branch of the family." " Why look at me like that?" " Don't know whether to believe you." "People say you're daft." "They have their reason." "Have you ever seen him?" "Have you ever seen Jamie?" "I may be daft, girl... but I'm not blind." " Fisherman's bend." " Right." "We've got to get them to move back." "I don't see how." "They're going to lose their house." "Nobody's been on the island for years." "It's derelict with weeds, the cottages is fallen to ruin." "Bowline." "The cottages aren't so bad." "I've been in them." "Didn't you say you planned to move back?" "When I'm a man." "What's to stop you now?" "Grandmother will be the hard nugget." "She worries awful about Grandfather's health." "Carrick bend." "She'd move back forJamie, though." "In a minute she would." "Them that's caring for him won't let him back... until they see we've returned, I'm sure of it." " You've been speaking with the seals?" " We could start fixing the cottages." "What do you think?" " I'll meet you here in the mornin'." " I'll say we're off digging clams." "Pull this for a deal." "Granny's knot." "Help me with this." "Look at that, will ya?" "It's all our food floating' away." "We could row after it." "Not without losing half a day in the chase." "Come on, then." "Look." "It could've tipped in the waves and all spilt out." "Do you think that's what happened?" "Not for a moment." " How did the mussel gathering go?" " We worked wonders with them." " Didn't we, Fiona?" " It was hard work." "Be careful not to overtax yourself." "I won't." "It's good for me." "Look at my muscles." "It's improved your appetite anyway." "You came in here as though the hunger of the world was on you." "We should plant some things up here." "When we move back, there'll be time." "We'd better start back." "The tide won't wait." "Mother?" "Your mother is it?" " Where did she come from?" " Hasn't your father told you that?" "He doesn't like to speak of her." "She came from Balleybofey back in the mainland." "Traveling the hills in search of a meal and a place to sleep." "They was poor." "Her father with no livelihood, only his day's pay." "Seldom he had even that." "They say the only true wealth is land." "Like we own in Roan Inish." " For all the good it does us." " Quiet, Hugh." "Jimmy, your father, was me youngest, and the dearest of me heart." "Oh, but he was an airy boy." "Bone lazy at times, and at others you'd never find a worker as keen as him." "Like night and day he was, depending on the mood that struck him." "Can't put a wise head on a young body." "She was in Donegal town for the pilgrimage on St. Brigid's day... which was her namesake." "Sixteen years of age." "Beautiful, strong Christian girl." "Sun or stars never shone on a better one." "I loved her like a daughter, our Brigid." " And Father was there?" " We'd a run on mackerel that year." "A great patch of them shoaling up behind the island." "Our men were barely able to dip their nets in the water fast enough." "Your father and Matt Margonn had gone off to the mainland... to sell what they had left over." "First time he laid eyes on Brigid she was leaving the church." "He was struck speechless with the sight of her." "It was the shyness of an island boy, and she wasn't a worldly girl at all." "But toJimmy, anyplace off of Roan Inish... might have been Paris, France." "So there he is, making honey in his heart of her good looks." "Meanwhile, she's just as struck." "With him a big, handsome, powerful lad, with eyes that melted all the girls." "And she's in a hundred pieces, wondering what she could do to meet him." "Did he speak to her?" "What did he say?" ""Would you like to buy some fish, miss?"" "She said she'd love to." "She'd never tasted fish... from the salty ocean in all her life." "But she hadn't a shilling to her name to buy it with." "They fell into talking, great with each other immediately... as happens with the young." "I remember the day she came." "Sittin' in the back of the curragh." "I says to Tess, " Look at the prize Matt Margonn brought from Donegal."" ""No," she says, "for look how Matt's got his eyes straight ahead at the island." "OurJimmy is rowing, so he won't let her out of his sight."" "From that day, Jim had the name of a steady husband... and a hard worker." "As fine as any that ever broke bread." "She grew to love the island, our Brigid." "She was the last one to marry on to Roan Inish." "And the last one to die in it." "He always blamed himself... for bringin' her into the life of the sea." "But life can be hard on the mainland, too." "Your hands is gettin' rough." "It's pulling mussels that does it." "Look at them clouds." "Gathering for a right blow tonight." "It's going to be hell's own fury for any creature caught without shelter." " HopeJamie comes in." " What was that you were sayin'?" "I said I hopeJamie comes in out of the storm." " What can you mean?" " I've seen him, Grandmother." "She just dreamed him up sleeping one day on Roan Inish." "A wish can be a powerful thing." "I saw him." "Once on a hillside picking flowers... and once in the cottage having tea with a seal." "I'm not imagining it." "I've seen him." "He was without a stitch." "Then he nipped away in his little cradle boat." "The seals have been lookin' after him." " The seals, is it?" " It's the truth, Grandmother." "It is." "Oh, dear." "There's a box of biscuits on the shelf." "Will you get it down for me?" "Tess?" "Put the chickens in their coop like a good girl." " Is she all right?" " What have you got?" "You don't want to sleep out on the cold ground, do you?" "Look at that sky." "I can read a sky as well as you." "There's a storm comin'." "And it's no weather to be leavin' a small boy outside in." "I knew he wasn't gone from us." "Holy Mother, I felt it all along." "Hurry on, will ya?" "I'll get the lantern." "And they say the Coneellys is the mad ones." "Mind the bedding, Eamon." "It'll be damp enough in those wraps without a dousing of seawater." "What are you staring at now?" "Where's that Fiona got to?" "I need her to help gather seaweed for soup." "Tess, look what they've done." "Bless us, sweetJesus." "Now this is a soup as only the women of Roan Inish know how to make." "She learned it from my mother, Lord be good to her." "Who got it from hers, who got it from hers before that again." "All the way back to the first Coneellys." "They learned it from the dark woman, from Nuala." "Some tell it like that." "Yes." "When you're out in dirty weather... it's like the lifeblood flowing' back into your veins." " It's part of the backbone of a whale." " Jamie brought it in." "Well." "You young ones did a great job on this thatching." "It'll have its test in a few minutes." " It's a south wind, Grandfather." " Aye." "They're often the most fearsome." "Jamie." "Poor little soul." "It's the little seal." "Do you feel it?" " Like snuffing' out a candle." " Look!" "Jamie!" "Jamie, it's me, Fiona." "We've come back for you." "No, Jamie, don't go." "It's your family here." "Don't frighten him, dear." "Heavenly Father, look at that!" "They're telling him to stay." "But he's afraid." "He's so afraid." "Come on, Jamie boy." "There you go, love." "We'll be staying here now." "Thank you." "Lord love his little heart." "He's hungry." "How did you live out there?" "What did you eat?" "I wouldn't think he could answer." "I'll teach you to talk, and I'll tell you stories." "Your friends who have been looking after you can see you any time they like." "Fiona's to thank for finding you, Jamie boy." "She gave me her word." "I just wouldn't believe it." "Will you look at us?" "Back in Roan Inish." "It's like breathing fresh air after being three years on the ground." "Do you remember me, your sister Fiona?" "Fiona." "He's destroyed with the excitement." "At least he'll sleep warm tonight."