Wednesday, January 9, 2013

An Ode to Austerity

An Ode to Austerity.

Well maybe to the bringers of it, but anyway I was stuck for a title. I came across this in the Finn Valley People or a version of it. Anyway this is how I remember it from the school books and in relation to the article that has gone before, a perfect riposte to those who would come demanding money with menaces. Story: In 1461 The O'Neill demanded tribute from Aodh O'Donnell who didn't take kindly to it and replied with the following. (When men were men)

No hawk no hound
No steed no steer
O'Neill gets from me
No homage yield
No tribute send
No vassal clan are we
Though he is lord of Clandeboye
And chieftain of Tyrone
Yet I am prince in Donegal
Let each man hold his own.

Maybe I'll go looking for another one. Never know what I'd find. 

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