{"id":5028,"date":"2021-08-13T17:15:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T16:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=5028"},"modified":"2021-08-13T17:24:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T16:24:50","slug":"when-the-devil-was-beat-by-duffy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/when-the-devil-was-beat-by-duffy\/","title":{"rendered":"When The Devil Was Beat by Duffy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Blacksmith and the Devil is a common folk story in Europe, in North Longford it was attributed to a local blacksmith as the hero of the tale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A common folk story<\/a> in Europe, in North Longford it was attributed to a local blacksmith as the hero of the tale, recorded in @duchas_ie<\/a>. Who was Jack Duffy? I dont know. Its a noteworthy retelling in that is shows a local application of a legend to make a story from a distant place locally relevent. I retell it here in verse!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All Irishmen they love a drink
\nAt least so by some it is said,
\nJack Duffy was an Irishman so
\nA man now long since dead…
\nThey say that Banagher beat the Devil
\nWhether the Offaly one of the Derry one we don’t know…
\nBut Jack Duffy of North Longford
\nBeat him too, its said, a long long time ago.<\/p>\n

The drink got the better of Jack, a blacksmith
\nAs it does of many men today never mind the past,
\nThey say the drought and the wallet have their limits
\nAnd the wallet, with the drink, we know, doesn’t last.
\nJack was pretty bad one morning,
\nPrayed for God or the Devil money for drink to bring…
\nThe Devil showed up as he always does
\nMerry, a song to himself did sing.<\/p>\n

Jack sat against the anvil
\nAs the Devil walked around,
\nPromising great riches for seven years
\nAfter which Duffy would lie beneath the ground…
\nThis was Jacks choice with any of his conditions
\nAfter seven years his soul was the Devils to take…
\nNo use would a priests prayers be
\nSaid at funeral, exorcism or wake.<\/p>\n

Now, Jack was a clever man
\nHe had nothing to lose…
\nHe could accept the offer
\nWith any geis attached he’d choose…
\nNow the Devil knows a lot but like an Englishman
\nKnows not the Gaelic tongue
\nOr how even through it the Bearla itself
\nCan be wrought to use and wrung.<\/p>\n

“An old chair I have, and those that there sit,
\nShould not leave until the word I say,
\nA purse in my hand that here I have and what’s in it
\nUntil I give permission from it none take or it away,
\nThe sledge a man grips to strike the iron
\nOr to swing his strength to show…
\nIt is my wish, to attach as geis,
\nWithout my word he can not let go.”<\/p>\n

So said Duffy to the Devil
\nWho smiling wryly walking back and forth stood…
\n“Here is your money for your seven years
\nYour souls mine then, you have chosen what you could.”
\nDuffy, playing the fool who thinks he got the deal
\nWent to shake the devils hand…
\nBut Old Nick is a little distant
\nDemanded each maintain their stand.<\/p>\n

All at once the Devil disappeared:
\nDuffy in his forge was all alone…
\nTold few of his fortune and meeting the Devil
\nBut his good fortune soon was known,
\nFive years went by in a flash
\nAnd then as quick, another two…
\nA knock came on the forge door…
\nIt was a man that Duffy knew…<\/p>\n

“I have come for your soul, Jack Duffy
\nYour corpse its the priests to take
\nYou can look upon your family and friends
\nAs they party at your wake.”
\n“But I must shod this horse first” said Duffy,
\n“Strike it there will you with the sledge the way I show…”
\nThe devil tried, found he was stuck to the hammer
\n– The geis of seven years ago!!!<\/p>\n

“Let me go! I demand!” said the devil,
\nAs Duffy stood by at something else toiling,
\nThe Devil was furious and helpless!
\nAll the while swearing with blood boiling…
\nDuffy by now was laughing,
\nFrom it rolled down his cheeks great big tears…
\nHe said he’d let the devil go…
\nIf the Devil gave him to live seven more years…<\/p>\n

Six years went by as if but one,
\nAs did the next years first eleven months
\nA familiar form then filled the door with friends
\nDuffy exclaimed “Ye shower of runts”
\n“Your second seven years is up my friend,” said the Devil
\n“With me and my friends you have to go…
\nThat is the deal that you and I made
\nIn this very forge, some fourteen years ago..”<\/p>\n

“I have business to tidy up before I go,
\nSo my dear mother will not want or need
\nI am a good son” Duffy said to the Devil
\nWho replied “you are a good son, indeed!”
\n“I don’t want you seen by customers who are coming,
\nSit on that seat with your cloven feet over there…”
\nThe devil did as he was bid…
\nFalling foul of the geis on the old chair!<\/p>\n

“How can the devil be such a fool?”
\nSniggered Duffy to himself with glee…
\nThis is the second time in all of time
\nThe trickster has been tricked by me!
\nThe Devil blew a gasket,
\nHeld by a rickety chair,
\nAs if he had no strength at all
\nNot even a hayrope wound held him there!<\/p>\n

“You know the score” said Duffy
\n“Yes”, moaned the devil, “Seven more years”
\nDuffy gave the word, the devil was gone
\nAfter the seven, reappears.
\n“Your coming this time Duffy”
\nThe Devil, demanding, said…
\n“Sure, I have no issue, for my dear mother
\nTwelve months back, passed,” said Duffy, “is dead.”<\/p>\n

So the pair left the forge to the village
\nThe blacksmith locked the door
\nThrew the key into the quick,
\nDuffy said to the Devil “I wont need that no more”
\nThey walked up to a public house,
\nDuffy said, “You know what, I think,
\nBefore we both go to Hell,
\nId like to treat you to a drink!”<\/p>\n

“I have no money” said the devil
\n“Begod”, said Duffy, “neither do I
\nTurn yourself into a shilling,
\nAnd drinks for us both I’ll buy!”
\nSo the devil changed form into a shilling
\nOne one side was the Kings head and all, plain to see
\nDuffy tossed him into the purse and closed it
\nThe devil was trapped for eternity!<\/p>\n

Some say the purse was thrown into the Camlin
\nThat down to the Shannon flows
\nMore say he struck a deal till a natural death
\nThat the Devil got his soul then… but no-one knows.
\nWith all the evil in the world,
\nI doubt the Devil is still in Duffy’s purse
\nSince that day when those tricks Duffy did play,
\nThe evil in the world got worse!<\/p>\n

But of all the people of the world
\nIt is said that Irishmen
\nMake the Devil uneasy
\nWho will never make deals for their souls again…
\nBanagher beat the Devil it is said,
\nWell, Jack Duffy, the North Longfordman did too…
\nSo it should be a doddle for God against Gog and Magog!
\nApart from the lies its said this story is true!<\/p>\n

* Geis – a condition to a promise or curse that cant be undone, normally without invoking another as bad if not worse.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A common folk story in Europe, in North Longford it was attributed to a local blacksmith as the hero of the tale, recorded in @duchas_ie. Who was Jack Duffy? I dont know. Its a noteworthy retelling in that is shows a local application of a legend to make a story …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,3166,168,3631,2925,169,23],"tags":[4454,1406,4456,4452,42,4453,4455,4451],"class_list":["post-5028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ireland","category-irish-folklore-commission-poems-inspired-by-records-from","category-irish-legend","category-legends","category-longford","category-myths-and-tales","category-north-longford","tag-appartition-of-the-devil","tag-devil","tag-devil-buying-the-soul","tag-jack-duffy","tag-longford","tag-longford-blacksmith","tag-selling-soul","tag-the-devil-and-the-blacksmith","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-1j6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4040,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/flickering-candles-foretell-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":5028,"position":0},"title":"Flickering Candles Foretell Death","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"6th October 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A tradition of foretelling a death from North Longford... 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