For the Love of Auld
Dan….
Daniel (Dan) Myles could trace his ancestors back to before Oliver
Cromwell (curse and spit at the mention of his name), in the 17th century, when he came over from
England and kicked all the farmers off the fine lands in Meath and surrounding
fertile counties. His family were forced to move to Connaught but
the land there only seemed to grow bigger rocks. Although most of his relatives
had taken to the roads to survive, many of them remained in and around Galway.
Mary O’Connor, his wife, could also trace her family back to the same time but as with
Daniel, there were no records to vouch for their family tree,
instead the details were handed down from father to son, or daughter in this
case, generation after generation. She had married Daniel in an unusually quiet
ceremony at the Parish Church in Durrow, County Laois, on a fine June summer’s
day in 1950. Although they did not think themselves any better than other
tinkers, they were not the types of people to waste money on such festivities.
They were highly respected among the Tinker fraternity.
Both sets
of parents bought them a new caravan and a fine three-year-old horse.
Other family friends helped to furnish and decorate it.
On the 1st day of June 1953, they
were blessed with a healthy daughter. She was baptised Nancy Mary
Myles. Dan was always boasting that she was a true Queen
the day before Queen Elizabeth was crowned in London. In fact they
both treated her as if she was the Queen of All the Tinker Clans.
Her mother taught her how to read and the ways of
the road and whenever they were casual workers harvesting in a particular area,
Mary always managed to get Nancy into the local village school for a few weeks
at a time. They followed the harvesting and planting throughout Ireland and
occasionally during really hard times, Dan would travel to Scotland for the
potato picking. It was hard work but brought in a little money.
When Nancy was five years old, her mother
contacted Tuberculosis and was bedridden for many weeks. She
would occasionally seem to be better but always ended up worse than she was
before. She died on Christmas Week in 1958 with Nancy
holding one hand and Dan the other. Dan was completely broken-hearted and
although Nancy was only five, she took it upon herself at that early age
to ‘look after Dan ‘till the day he died’.
Nancy was quick to learn and at every opportunity
she would watch other travelling girls and women cooking the main midday meal.
She became an expert at making do with very little. Dan worshipped the ground
she walked upon and her feelings of love for him were no less.
He trusted her implicitly and when she was no more
than thirteen years old, he often came home to find some of the tinker boys
sitting around the caravan making eyes at his daughter. She was always pleasant
and mannerly towards them but was too busy looking after her father.
When she was eighteen, many young single men of the
travelling people would call on Dan and seek his permission to visit Nancy. His
answer was always the same – "Ask Nancy yourself".
Nancy had learned the art of dressmaking from
another travelling woman and she was always immaculately dressed. She had grown
into a stunningly beautiful woman who was the envy of both men and women of the
travelling folk.
Her beauty always preceded her wherever they went
and people would stand on the pavement of villages through which they
travelled. She had a beautiful smile for everyone and rapidly became known for
her beauty throughout the whole of Ireland.
On one occasion when they were camped on the
outskirts of Ballinasloe on horse-fair day, several arguments broke out among
the young men about who was the most beautiful tinker woman of them all. There
were many fights to prove the point but Nancy won hands down...............
Whenever news came to Nancy that some old
travelling folk were ill, Nancy would get Dan to make a detour in order that
she visit them and do whatever she could to help them. She had learned the art
of herbal medicine making and her expertise was sought far and wide. As she
grew older, not only did she become more beautiful and sought after, she also
developed a serene aura about her.
It was in October 1974 when Dan, while poaching in a
swollen river, fell in and caught pneumonia. All efforts by Nancy to cure him
were of no avail. She even drove the horse and caravan to the local village and
paid good money to see the local doctor but all the medicine in the world could
not halt what was about to happen. Dan died at the stroke of midnight on the
last day of the month.
Nancy was totally devastated and heart-broken. She
immediately began to lose interest in life in general. She kept herself to
herself and would not entertain callers. When Dan was buried in the local
cemetery she did no more but drove the caravan out into the countryside,
released the horse into a field and then set fire to the caravan as was the
tinker tradition. She had read somewhere many years before that this was what should be
done.......................
She disappeared out of sight and all the efforts of
friends and extended family to trace her throughout Ireland failed. It was as
if she had never existed. She was never seen or heard of
again..............
Since that day, at every horse-fair within and
without Ireland, where tinkers congregate, stories are told of Nancy and the
love that she had for her old father Dan. The deeds she accomplished in her
life have grown in the telling but there is little or no doubt, that tinker
generations in the future will continue to sing the praises of Nancy Myles,
the Queen of all the Tinkers……………
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Suggested by an old Irish Tinker song:
The Tale of Nancy Myles….
Nancy was a tinker girl, who roamed the country roads,
And I will tell you how she came to be a legend in her time,
And the reason I have come to know, is because a tinker told me so,
And who was there to better know the tale of Nancy Myles.
Nancy’s father, Tinker Dan, he was a poor but honest man,
Drove a horse-drawn caravan, all through the Emerald Isle,
And when Nancy was no more a child, well Dan, he didn’t have the time,
Men would come from far and wide, to be with Nancy Myles.
Before the age of 21, a hundred men had come and gone,
But none of them could win the gleam of love that was in her eyes,
And sure any man who loved her then, he never was the same again,
His memory was haunted, with thoughts of Nancy Myles.
In every town and village too, the fame of Nancy grew and grew,
Soon her name was spoken, around many a camp fireside,
And at Ballinasloe, on horsefair day, when every tinker had his say,
Many a fight was fought to win, the court of Nancy Myles.
But I hope that you don’t get me wrong, for Nancy was the sweetest one,
Heart so full of kindness, and as charming as her smile,
She was known throughout the land, as queen of all the tinker clans,
It was the dream of every man, to marry Nancy Myles.
Before the age of 31, a thousand men had come and gone,
But none of them could win the gleam of love that was in her eyes,
And sure any man who loved her then, he never was the same again,
His memory was haunted, with thoughts of Nancy Myles.
But then there came the saddest day, when Nancy’s father passed away,
The loss it grieved her dearly, for he was her only pride,
Family friends and courting men, they never saw her smile again,
A change had taken place within the heart of Nancy Myles.
Before the age of 41, Nancy she had come and gone,
They searched the country over, but not a trace of her they found,
But Nancy’s memory will live on, as long as tinker men are born,
Proudly they will sing this song, of tinker, Nancy Myles.
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A lovely version of the song by Brendan Shine can
be heard on the following link:
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