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- [Voiceover] Emerging from a dawn mist
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is a natural way to come upon this island.
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Seamus Heaney wrote, "We have no prairies
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"to slice a sky at evening.
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"Everywhere the eye concedes~to encroaching horizon."
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Here, history stands up in the monuments
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of saints and scholars who,
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from Celtic times made~it a hub of learning.
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In Ireland's mix of people and influences,
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the written word is still a magic coin,
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an international currency.
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The pens of W.B. Yeats,~George Bernard Shaw,
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James Joyce, and others,~strike universal music
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from the tempo and temper of their people.
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This land has left its~mark on Ireland's people,
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and they in turn,
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have made their mark~on the world's esteem.
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(calm Irish folk music)
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(calm Irish music)
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(calm piano music)
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In Ireland, the past is ever present.
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Monasteries punctuate the~priorities and patterns of living
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of a nearly 2,000 year old Christianity.
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These were the dynamos~of prayer and learning,
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driving a commerce of~God, a trade in thoughts.
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The works of man have only~lightly marked the land.
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The fields are a startling fresh green,
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unlined by many fences, or~hemmed in regular portions.
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Nor do the Irish have~neat and tidy thoughts,
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not too much going by the book,
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nor bounded within~straight and ruly lines.
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Almost grudgingly, they've consented
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to live and work in towns,
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themselves not greatly regular.
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(calm Irish music)
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From the Rock of Cashel,
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the spiritual and temple~power of kings and bishops,
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spread their rule over~the broad lands of Munster
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in the early middle ages.
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(calm Irish music)
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Other times, other priorities.
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The Dukes of Devonshire~once lived in Lismore Castle
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in the Blackwater Valley.
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They, and their early English neighbors,
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Sir Walter Raleigh and~poet Edmund Spenser,
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attempted to impose their~own order on the land,
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a fleeting gesture.
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(calm music)
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(upbeat Irish drum music)
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The poet Yeats once described~the streets of London as,
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"Lonely London pavement grey."
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But the words apply here just as well.
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Yeats took refuge not far from
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this flat expanse of limestone rock
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of the Burren in County Clare.
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The Burren is like a moonscape,
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but not without its hidden beauties,
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for in the spring and~summer the old green roads
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of the drovers and the pathways~that the sheep tread out
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leave the drifts of alpine blooms,
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secret orchids, and the blue gentian.
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(upbeat Irish drum music)
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(lively Irish folk music)
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The Cliffs of Moher, thrust~up from prehistoric seas,
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produce fossil stone for the hearths
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of homes and stately halls.
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Only the brave press close to the edge,
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peering down to the dawn of time
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where the sea scribbles white waves
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on the ancient layered rock face.
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The wild sounds of sea birds counterpoint
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the piping music of Willie~Clancy's music school nearby.
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(lively Irish folk music)
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(upbeat Irish music)
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The sand dunes of the Kerry Coast
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show a gentler front~to the Atlantic Ocean.
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Famous golf links border the strand
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and pose the ultimate~test of any Irishman.
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(upbeat Irish music)
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Nearby, Ballybunion is famous for
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its annual bachelor's festival,
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a contest to find Ireland's~most eligible man.
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The event is not taken too seriously.
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But just a few miles down the coast
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the annual Rose of~Tralee contest for women
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is a more prestigious occasion.
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(upbeat Irish music)
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(cacophony of seagulls)
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"Make of the stones a pillow for my head
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"and thou shall see angels~ascending and descending"
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an ancient poet once wrote.
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18 miles out in the Atlantic,
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during the dark ages of the~seventh and eighth centuries,
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this was western~Christianity's last outpost
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for well over 100 years.
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700 feet above raging~seas sits Skellig Michael.
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The monk's beehive huts
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still cling like limpets to the rocks.
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No one today can imagine
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such harsh isolation and deprivation.
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(calm Irish folk music)
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Homeric themes of love, death, suffering
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live in beautiful, simple prose
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etched from the Irish language
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in masterpieces of literature.
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Toileanach, The Islandman,~Fiche Bliain ag Fas
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20 Years a'Growing,
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they were written by people who lived
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at the end of the Dingle Peninsula.
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These are treacherous waters,
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the grave alike of ships~of the Spanish Armada,
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who's names ring down the~centuries like a litany,
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and of those people in this century
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who lost their lives following
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the shoveling of mackerel for a living.
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As they said themselves,
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their light will not be seen again.
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Their descendants who live along
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the eastern seaboard of America
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often celebrate the old days
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in the next parish across the seas,
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for Dingle is the next town to America.
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(calm Irish music)
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Ancient texts say Saint~Brendan the Navigator
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and his monks set out from these parts
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before Columbus or Leif Erikson.
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Just as Patrick and other missionaries
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brought the faith to Ireland,
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Ireland's people in turn~have shared their values
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with the old and the new world ever since.
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It's entirely right that places
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like Waterville and Valentia
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were the bases from~which the first telephone
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cable was laid for the~modern communications era.
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The towns today are popular destinations
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along Ireland's famous Ring of Kerry.
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(calm Irish music)
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(calm piano music)
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May morning, once every seven years,
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the magical day of the ancient God Val,
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the chief of the O'Donoghues,
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rises from the waters of~Lough Leane on a white steed.
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Such stories about particular families
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are still told in their~particular areas of origin.
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In Ireland there's always~been a fierce determination
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to keep the name on the land,
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and still the McCarthys, the O'Neills,
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the O'Byrnes, and the Clancys
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can be found where they've always been,
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as rooted as the 10,000~year old yew forests
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in the mountains around Killarney.
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(calm piano music)
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(calm Irish music)
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In the south coast's many fingered inlets,
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the sea's delivery has~brought a thousand ships,
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and seen as many go.
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From Wexford and Waterford, to Bantry Bay,
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the sea has been a trade route,
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a playground, and a grave.
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British fleets have~sheltered and been supplied,
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where legendary Milesians~made their first landfall
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in leather covered boats.
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Vikings, Normans, booty~hunters from far and near
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have sought the river~mouths of Nore and Suir,
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Blackwater, and Lee,
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safe havens from which to~seek further fame and fortune.
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(calm Irish music)
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Like soldiers in every age,
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the garrison of the great star-shaped
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17th century Charles Fort,
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gave fanciful names of birds~of prey to their cannon,
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names like falcon and striker.
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The fort is now restored~as part of Ireland's
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mixed heritage of invaders and invaded.
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One of them, a McCarthy chief,
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is supposed to have used~his silver tongued eloquence
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to persuade the first Elizabeth
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to let him keep his~stronghold at Blarney Castle.
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(calm Irish music)
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The gift of the gab persists
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and is claimed by the~lilting tones of Cork men,
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poets, sculptors, and~masters of the short story,
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like Frank O'Connor.
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(calm Irish music)
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After enduring centuries of invasion,
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tens of thousands of Irish families
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were forced to give up their homeland
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in the mid-1800's.
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Famine and destitution drove them
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onto the trackless sea.
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It became a road where~those have gone before,
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were a small far off light
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beckoning to those languishing at home.
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The Irish word for immigrant, jorie,
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holds within its teardrop~meaning a tide of sorrow
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which has carried away a million hearts.
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As they set sail across the Atlantic,
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the last visible bit of~Ireland fading into the grey
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was Fastnet Rock.
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For those who were able to return,
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it emerged as the first~tangible sign of home.
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As one saying goes, "The~times they are a changing."
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The wild geese return~along the beckoning beacon
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of better times, or never~have to go away at all.
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(Irish music)
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(tranquil music)
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For centuries, the most~settled part of Ireland
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was England's very limited~bridge head, The Pale,
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part of the province of Leinster,
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and the only place the~crown's ranked ran freely.
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Here, the organizing flair~of the Norman invaders
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introduced religious orders
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from the continent,~Cistercians, Augustinians.
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(tranquil music)
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Man's interaction with his fate
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and his attempts to divine powers
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beyond his daily existence here
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go back beyond the great pyramid of Egypt
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to neolithic Newgrange.
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Here the sun's rays still strike directly
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into this mounded burial chamber
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at each dawn of the winter solstice.
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The cycle of birth and death,
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and the rhythm of the years work
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was settled and celebrated in rituals
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that still retain their mystery.
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These are sacred lands,
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recognized as such by successive cultures.
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The high kings at Tara~held annual festivals
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and claimed a wary allegiance
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from minor kings and chiefdoms.
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(calm Irish music)
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(lively Irish folk music)
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The old Irish ballad,~"The Rocky Road to Dublin"
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is now a tuneful counterpoint
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to the city's high speed connections.
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Dublin's tempo is ever quickening.
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Europe's chattering classes~and culture vultures
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have made it an essential~stage on their grand tour.
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(lively Irish folk music)
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From the gardens of Stephens Green
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to the Temple Bar District,
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Dublin's new bohemian left bank,
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you may still meet a~friend, an enemy, or a boor
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round every bend.
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But Dublin's wit and repartee
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leaves as little bitterness
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as you'll find at the bottom~of a glass of Guinness.
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(lively Irish folk music)
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(calm Irish music)
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The ascendancy, founders of~the great houses in Ireland,
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have a mixed reputation.
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Their contributions to the~public and commonwealth
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seldom match the grandeur~of their lifestyle.
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In general, the Anglo-Irish however,
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were, in Yeat's words, "No mean people."
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Recurring great names are the Almanbutlers
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and the FitzGeralds, who~were the Earls of Kildare,
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and Dukes of Leinster.
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Their townhouse, now the~seat of the Irish Parliament,
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the FitzGerald's were once considered
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the uncrowned kings of Ireland.
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(calm Irish music)
264
00:26:04,054 --> 00:26:06,007
The one place where the two ends
265
00:26:06,007 --> 00:26:08,913
of the social scale met on common ground
266
00:26:08,913 --> 00:26:10,912
was at the races.
267
00:26:10,912 --> 00:26:13,262
The horse could win a penny or a pound
268
00:26:13,262 --> 00:26:15,236
for lord or commoner.
269
00:26:15,236 --> 00:26:30,280
(intense Irish drum music)
270
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:53,434
(calm Irish music)
271
00:26:53,434 --> 00:26:56,059
The state has inherited and maintains
272
00:26:56,059 --> 00:26:59,277
some of the best of the old great houses,
273
00:26:59,277 --> 00:27:02,294
where all Ireland's citizens can now visit
274
00:27:02,294 --> 00:27:13,067
their treasures and take~refreshment on the terraces.
275
00:27:13,067 --> 00:27:24,020
(lively Irish folk music)
276
00:27:24,020 --> 00:27:27,290
The Kilkenny Cats, in their~black and amber stripe,
277
00:27:27,290 --> 00:27:30,330
are notable modern exponents of hurling.
278
00:27:30,330 --> 00:27:32,611
The game began with a small leather ball
279
00:27:32,611 --> 00:27:35,733
being struck by teams~from neighboring perishes.
280
00:27:35,733 --> 00:27:38,782
The winners, being those~who at the end of the day
281
00:27:38,782 --> 00:27:42,789
had penetrated furthest into~their opponent's territory.
282
00:27:42,789 --> 00:27:45,814
Like diplomacy, it was a more peaceful way
283
00:27:45,814 --> 00:27:50,784
to let off steam than the~older murderous faction fights.
284
00:27:50,784 --> 00:27:53,333
It was war by other means.
285
00:27:53,333 --> 00:28:34,182
(lively Irish folk music)
286
00:28:34,182 --> 00:28:37,582
The smell of a hearth fire is,~for Irish people everywhere,
287
00:28:37,582 --> 00:28:39,472
a touch stone of memory.
288
00:28:39,472 --> 00:28:42,920
The past and the present come together.
289
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,928
Where invading Elizabethan armies saw a
290
00:28:44,928 --> 00:28:47,541
soggy, savage wilderness where no sensible
291
00:28:47,541 --> 00:28:49,811
person would willingly set foot,
292
00:28:49,811 --> 00:28:53,408
peat is now milled for the domestic hearth
293
00:28:53,408 --> 00:28:56,660
and environment friendly power stations.
294
00:28:56,660 --> 00:28:58,456
Stripping the blanket bog
295
00:28:58,456 --> 00:29:00,745
turns back the pages of history,
296
00:29:00,745 --> 00:29:03,238
revealing ancient fields and pathways.
297
00:29:03,238 --> 00:29:22,164
(lively Irish folk music)
298
00:29:22,164 --> 00:29:34,334
(Irish music)
299
00:29:34,334 --> 00:29:46,999
(peaceful Irish folk music)
300
00:29:46,999 --> 00:29:50,508
Bare Benbulben's head~is where jealous Fionn
301
00:29:50,508 --> 00:29:54,196
of the warrior Fianna, finally~cornered young Diarmuid
302
00:29:54,196 --> 00:29:58,422
with whom his queen,~Garinne, had run away.
303
00:29:58,422 --> 00:30:01,789
These are heroes of a~half mythical Ireland,
304
00:30:01,789 --> 00:30:04,358
which W.B. Yeats invoked to underpin
305
00:30:04,358 --> 00:30:08,061
the republican dreams~of his own fickle love,
306
00:30:08,061 --> 00:30:13,425
Maud Gonne MacBride, the subject~of so much of his poetry.
307
00:30:13,425 --> 00:30:16,396
The Irish state which made Yeats a senator
308
00:30:16,396 --> 00:30:18,979
was uneasy with the liberal beliefs
309
00:30:18,979 --> 00:30:21,502
of this romantic Protestant.
310
00:30:21,502 --> 00:30:24,032
But they finally brought him home to rest
311
00:30:24,032 --> 00:30:26,937
in Drumcliff church yard.
312
00:30:26,937 --> 00:30:31,773
Cast a cold eye on life, on death,
313
00:30:31,773 --> 00:30:34,392
horsemen pass by.
314
00:30:34,392 --> 00:31:26,989
(peaceful Irish folk music)
315
00:31:26,989 --> 00:31:31,439
The wind has bundled up~the clouds over Knock Narea
316
00:31:31,439 --> 00:31:34,131
and thrown the thunder on the stones
317
00:31:34,131 --> 00:31:37,198
for all that Maeve can say.
318
00:31:37,198 --> 00:31:40,007
The grave cairn of the~powerful queen of Connacht
319
00:31:40,007 --> 00:31:42,074
who led the men of the west into Ulster
320
00:31:42,074 --> 00:31:45,752
to steal the brown bull of Cooley.
321
00:31:45,752 --> 00:31:48,904
The epic saga has been~recited and embellished
322
00:31:48,904 --> 00:31:51,858
from ancient times, one~of the great treasures
323
00:31:51,858 --> 00:31:53,459
of the Irish language.
324
00:31:53,459 --> 00:32:33,335
(peaceful Irish folk music)
325
00:32:33,335 --> 00:33:09,091
(upbeat music)
326
00:33:09,091 --> 00:33:12,385
Like ancient ruins, towering stacks
327
00:33:12,385 --> 00:33:16,236
loom off the mainland at Downpatrick Head.
328
00:33:16,236 --> 00:33:20,503
Slabs of cliff like dun~briste, the Broken Fort,
329
00:33:20,503 --> 00:33:25,835
testify to the dangerous~coast and treacherous waters.
330
00:33:25,835 --> 00:33:29,222
For centuries, smugglers~brought contraband goods,
331
00:33:29,222 --> 00:33:30,941
brandy and tobacco,
332
00:33:30,941 --> 00:33:33,983
ashore in the ports of~Ballina and Westport
333
00:33:33,983 --> 00:33:36,274
through these ungovernable seas.
334
00:33:36,274 --> 00:34:54,916
(upbeat music)
335
00:34:54,916 --> 00:34:57,631
Clew Bay's hundred islands lay
336
00:34:57,631 --> 00:35:01,607
like green stepping~stones in a peaceful sea,
337
00:35:01,607 --> 00:35:06,006
but once they were the domain~of traders and raiders,
338
00:35:06,006 --> 00:35:08,731
the seafaring O'Malleys.
339
00:35:08,731 --> 00:35:10,795
The O'Malleys traded with La Coruna
340
00:35:10,795 --> 00:35:12,857
and the ports of Northern Spain,
341
00:35:12,857 --> 00:35:16,341
and exacted tribute on the high seas.
342
00:35:16,341 --> 00:35:18,479
Their warrior chief was a woman,
343
00:35:18,479 --> 00:35:23,044
a she king, Grainne O'Malley, Granuaile.
344
00:35:23,044 --> 00:35:25,725
Her exploits were so cunning, so daring,
345
00:35:25,725 --> 00:35:29,010
that she captured the attention~of Queen Elizabeth herself,
346
00:35:29,010 --> 00:35:33,024
who extended a royal~invitation to visit in London.
347
00:35:33,024 --> 00:35:41,608
(calm music)
348
00:35:41,608 --> 00:35:44,231
There was a real Patrick~who came to Ireland
349
00:35:44,231 --> 00:35:46,376
about the middle of the fifth century.
350
00:35:46,376 --> 00:35:48,280
Writings like Patrick's grass plate,
351
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:52,062
and other records testify to his mission,
352
00:35:52,062 --> 00:35:54,921
but other lesser figures~have been subsumed
353
00:35:54,921 --> 00:35:58,660
into the mixture of fact~and legend surrounding him.
354
00:35:58,660 --> 00:36:01,940
Very real is the pain~for barefoot pilgrims
355
00:36:01,940 --> 00:36:04,423
wending their way through~early morning mist
356
00:36:04,423 --> 00:36:07,733
along the rocks and~ridges of Croagh Patrick.
357
00:36:07,733 --> 00:36:09,846
On the last Sunday of every July
358
00:36:09,846 --> 00:36:13,100
hundreds of penitents~climb this lonely mountain
359
00:36:13,100 --> 00:36:16,121
in an act of expiation and communion
360
00:36:16,121 --> 00:36:24,277
with powers acknowledged~long before Christianity.
361
00:36:24,277 --> 00:36:47,786
(upbeat Irish folk music)
362
00:36:47,786 --> 00:36:51,543
Galway City, the town square is overrun
363
00:36:51,543 --> 00:36:55,191
with Saturday shoppers on a summer's day.
364
00:36:55,191 --> 00:36:57,863
It was once called the City of the Tribes,
365
00:36:57,863 --> 00:37:00,748
home to chief Irish families,
366
00:37:00,748 --> 00:37:03,800
but maybe better titled City of Youth.
367
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,714
College students and musicians~vie to make their mark here.
368
00:37:07,714 --> 00:37:10,068
And come night fall, the local atmosphere
369
00:37:10,068 --> 00:37:13,652
is elbow to elbow, pint to pint fun.
370
00:37:13,652 --> 00:38:14,704
(upbeat Irish folk music)
371
00:38:14,704 --> 00:38:16,870
The strange quality of light coming in
372
00:38:16,870 --> 00:38:19,470
from the far distances of the Atlantic
373
00:38:19,470 --> 00:38:21,438
plays among the clouds.
374
00:38:21,438 --> 00:38:23,429
It glints on the glacial pools,
375
00:38:23,429 --> 00:38:25,665
gathered in the rocky folds.
376
00:38:25,665 --> 00:38:26,941
It plays hide and seek,
377
00:38:26,941 --> 00:38:30,566
in and out of the steep~sides of the Twelve Bens,
378
00:38:30,566 --> 00:38:38,364
the range of mountains~stretching across Connemara.
379
00:38:38,364 --> 00:38:41,688
This is seriously lost country.
380
00:38:41,688 --> 00:38:44,715
It will not stoop to~suit any human purpose.
381
00:38:44,715 --> 00:38:47,049
The mountains brood in lofty silence
382
00:38:47,049 --> 00:38:48,837
over the landscapes below,
383
00:38:48,837 --> 00:38:51,541
inspiring the palettes of Paul Henry,
384
00:38:51,541 --> 00:38:54,363
and a generation of~Irish landscape painters.
385
00:38:54,363 --> 00:39:30,343
(darkly dramatic music)
386
00:39:30,343 --> 00:39:35,132
Hy-Brasil, the isles of the blessed,
387
00:39:35,132 --> 00:39:40,640
as legend has it, a mirage in the sea.
388
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,527
The mysterious Aran~Islands may have inspired
389
00:39:43,527 --> 00:39:45,284
the legend of Oisin,
390
00:39:45,284 --> 00:39:48,220
the blue eyed boy of~the fianna warrior band,
391
00:39:48,220 --> 00:39:52,142
riding on a white horse with~weave of the golden tresses
392
00:39:52,142 --> 00:39:57,465
to the land of eternal youth.
393
00:39:57,465 --> 00:39:59,932
But it's hardly the~same place where seaweed
394
00:39:59,932 --> 00:40:03,046
from the shore was once~brought in baskets to create
395
00:40:03,046 --> 00:40:05,476
small fields among the barren rocks.
396
00:40:05,476 --> 00:40:37,698
(calm Irish folk music)
397
00:40:37,698 --> 00:40:42,959
Dun Aengus, the ultimate~in unassailable fortresses.
398
00:40:42,959 --> 00:40:45,871
Were the people who~barricaded themselves here
399
00:40:45,871 --> 00:40:48,075
driven to the edge of doom
400
00:40:48,075 --> 00:40:52,315
or survivors of a lost Atlantis?
401
00:40:52,315 --> 00:40:55,446
Some would have it they~and their descendants
402
00:40:55,446 --> 00:40:57,781
share in a common strand of a culture
403
00:40:57,781 --> 00:41:02,315
stretching along 1,000 miles~of the Atlantic seaboard,
404
00:41:02,315 --> 00:41:06,874
south to Spanish Galicia and North Africa.
405
00:41:06,874 --> 00:41:10,145
Certainly, the rhythms~and cadences of speech,
406
00:41:10,145 --> 00:41:12,804
and above all, the music of these parts
407
00:41:12,804 --> 00:41:15,348
have echos from far off places.
408
00:41:15,348 --> 00:41:24,287
(calm Irish folk music)
409
00:41:24,287 --> 00:41:40,172
(Irish music)
410
00:41:40,172 --> 00:41:55,767
(soft music)
411
00:41:55,767 --> 00:41:59,499
The Shannon, the longest river in Ireland,
412
00:41:59,499 --> 00:42:02,268
sweeping onward, broad and clear,
413
00:42:02,268 --> 00:42:04,507
stringing along its bright course,
414
00:42:04,507 --> 00:42:07,296
beads of lakes and rushy shallows
415
00:42:07,296 --> 00:42:10,840
where the moorhen clucks and~calls to the pleasure boats,
416
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,116
cruising uncluttered waters.
417
00:42:13,116 --> 00:43:29,873
(soft music)
418
00:43:29,873 --> 00:43:31,342
Guarding the western approaches,
419
00:43:31,342 --> 00:43:33,138
from Limerick to Coonagh,
420
00:43:33,138 --> 00:43:35,401
Bunratty Castle stands four square
421
00:43:35,401 --> 00:43:37,852
by the mouth of the Shannon.
422
00:43:37,852 --> 00:43:40,131
The O'Briens, lords of Thomond,
423
00:43:40,131 --> 00:43:42,145
like other great Irish families,
424
00:43:42,145 --> 00:43:46,186
took different sides in the~political fortunes of the day.
425
00:43:46,186 --> 00:43:49,913
Maire Rua, widowed in the~wars of the 17th century,
426
00:43:49,913 --> 00:43:51,990
married an enemy soldier
427
00:43:51,990 --> 00:43:54,259
to hold their patrimony for her sons.
428
00:43:54,259 --> 00:44:41,055
(soft music)
429
00:44:41,055 --> 00:44:53,354
(Irish music)
430
00:44:53,354 --> 00:45:13,258
(peaceful music)
431
00:45:13,258 --> 00:45:17,833
The hills of Donegal,~Errigal, and the Bluestacks
432
00:45:17,833 --> 00:45:21,073
look out at the north Atlantic.
433
00:45:21,073 --> 00:45:25,395
The mountainy people looked~north and east around Inishowen,
434
00:45:25,395 --> 00:45:29,420
following the track of Iona's~Columbkille to Scotland.
435
00:45:29,420 --> 00:45:32,533
In yesteryear, when the~seasonal potato pickers,
436
00:45:32,533 --> 00:45:35,265
the tattie-hokers, were away
437
00:45:35,265 --> 00:45:39,057
there weren't enough~men for a football team.
438
00:45:39,057 --> 00:45:41,218
The harvest now is different.
439
00:45:41,218 --> 00:45:43,400
Treasure from the sea spills around
440
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,664
the harbors and small towns,~from Killybegs to Burtonport.
441
00:45:47,664 --> 00:46:55,212
(peaceful music)
442
00:46:55,212 --> 00:48:20,189
(peaceful Irish folk music)
443
00:48:20,189 --> 00:48:22,092
Eerie of the golden eagle,
444
00:48:22,092 --> 00:48:24,390
Slieve League's sheer rock face,
445
00:48:24,390 --> 00:48:26,457
one of the highest in all of Europe,
446
00:48:26,457 --> 00:48:32,237
did not save the bird from~extinction in Ireland,
447
00:48:32,237 --> 00:48:36,095
but the vertical landscape~here may be the inspiration
448
00:48:36,095 --> 00:48:38,683
of a notable Donegal profession,
449
00:48:38,683 --> 00:48:41,674
expertise in digging underground.
450
00:48:41,674 --> 00:48:44,442
Wherever earth is moved the world over,
451
00:48:44,442 --> 00:48:46,769
there the spirit moves~and brings the famed
452
00:48:46,769 --> 00:48:49,220
tunnelers of Donegal.
453
00:48:49,220 --> 00:49:47,133
(peaceful Irish folk music)
454
00:49:47,133 --> 00:49:50,333
Images of the mortal boat bearing souls
455
00:49:50,333 --> 00:49:52,123
to the other world.
456
00:49:52,123 --> 00:49:55,166
In Seamus Heaney's work "Station Island",
457
00:49:55,166 --> 00:49:57,539
the phrase, "Hurry of bells"
458
00:49:57,539 --> 00:50:02,602
summons him to find himself again.
459
00:50:02,602 --> 00:50:05,262
Saint Patrick's purgatory~has been the mecca
460
00:50:05,262 --> 00:50:08,123
of the Gayle for a thousand years.
461
00:50:08,123 --> 00:50:11,291
Princes came here from~Capistrello to go through
462
00:50:11,291 --> 00:50:16,325
the inferno within, and~wrestle with Dante's demons.
463
00:50:16,325 --> 00:50:18,833
People who come to Station Island today
464
00:50:18,833 --> 00:50:20,983
face a similar ritual,
465
00:50:20,983 --> 00:50:26,198
three days of fasting, bare~feet shuffling about the rounds,
466
00:50:26,198 --> 00:50:29,255
the penance patterns of flinty stone.
467
00:50:29,255 --> 00:50:32,315
The only way out is to look within.
468
00:50:32,315 --> 00:51:19,157
(melancholy Irish folk music)
469
00:51:19,157 --> 00:51:22,189
Rats cannot survive on Tory.
470
00:51:22,189 --> 00:51:25,225
Its soil wards off misfortune.
471
00:51:25,225 --> 00:51:28,293
A solitary place, its islanders nick named
472
00:51:28,293 --> 00:51:31,156
their winter enemy, the deadly sea passage
473
00:51:31,156 --> 00:51:35,574
to the mainland, the Crucifier.
474
00:51:35,574 --> 00:51:38,017
Having made that first small journey,
475
00:51:38,017 --> 00:51:40,544
former Tory Islanders the world over
476
00:51:40,544 --> 00:51:43,385
travel with a pinch of island earth,
477
00:51:43,385 --> 00:51:49,329
a universal talisman, a corner~near the heart, forever Tory.
478
00:51:49,329 --> 00:52:23,975
(melancholy Irish folk music)
479
00:52:23,975 --> 00:53:04,228
(calm piano music)
480
00:53:04,228 --> 00:53:06,850
A prime pastoral expanse,
481
00:53:06,850 --> 00:53:09,085
the north has been a place of settlement
482
00:53:09,085 --> 00:53:12,890
long before the vikings~sailed up Strangford Lough.
483
00:53:12,890 --> 00:53:16,484
Ancient shore dwellers have~left their heaps of shells,
484
00:53:16,484 --> 00:53:19,347
a precarious hold on a new shore.
485
00:53:19,347 --> 00:53:21,749
The traffic here has been back and forth,
486
00:53:21,749 --> 00:53:23,518
both east and west.
487
00:53:23,518 --> 00:53:25,474
The Scottish kings extending their rule
488
00:53:25,474 --> 00:53:29,045
across the narrow seas,~a mixing of peoples,
489
00:53:29,045 --> 00:53:33,178
sometimes easy, not always so.
490
00:53:33,178 --> 00:53:35,350
The men and women from~the Scottish borders
491
00:53:35,350 --> 00:53:38,126
came into Carrickfergus and other ports,
492
00:53:38,126 --> 00:53:40,396
and often took their tough resourcefulness
493
00:53:40,396 --> 00:53:42,769
onwards to the new world.
494
00:53:42,769 --> 00:53:44,819
A long line of American presidents
495
00:53:44,819 --> 00:53:46,904
is a roll call of honor of the
496
00:53:46,904 --> 00:53:49,160
qualities of the Ulster Scot.
497
00:53:49,160 --> 00:54:01,132
(peaceful piano music)
498
00:54:01,132 --> 00:54:34,210
(calm Irish folk music)
499
00:54:34,210 --> 00:54:36,503
The bleaching greens of the Lagan Valley
500
00:54:36,503 --> 00:54:38,072
supply the mills,
501
00:54:38,072 --> 00:54:40,789
and Belfast linen and Belfast ships
502
00:54:40,789 --> 00:54:43,906
spread a byword for~excellence around the world,
503
00:54:43,906 --> 00:54:47,675
records of the industry of~the 17th century settlers.
504
00:54:47,675 --> 00:54:54,891
(calm Irish folk music)
505
00:54:54,891 --> 00:54:59,952
Derry, Londonderry, Derry of Columbkille,
506
00:54:59,952 --> 00:55:03,775
and the London Gills~have looked both ways.
507
00:55:03,775 --> 00:55:07,592
Taking northern poet John~Hewitt's advice in style,
508
00:55:07,592 --> 00:55:11,231
be your own man.
509
00:55:11,231 --> 00:55:14,760
Very much his own man was~the eccentric Earl Bishop
510
00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:17,236
who built this palace, and a lady's bower
511
00:55:17,236 --> 00:55:19,170
above the crashing seas.
512
00:55:19,170 --> 00:55:33,059
(calm Irish folk music)
513
00:55:33,059 --> 00:55:35,358
The bones of Dunluce Castle
514
00:55:35,358 --> 00:55:37,958
are a proper setting~for the daring exploits
515
00:55:37,958 --> 00:55:41,955
of famous chiefton Sorley Boy MacDonnell,
516
00:55:41,955 --> 00:55:45,301
whose history straddles the~narrow seas to Scotland,
517
00:55:45,301 --> 00:55:47,322
and all of Ulster's history.
518
00:55:47,322 --> 00:56:04,602
(calm Irish folk music)
519
00:56:04,602 --> 00:56:09,272
♫ (lyrics) Should you wander far away
520
00:56:09,272 --> 00:56:15,314
♫ Should you set your heart a sail ♫
521
00:56:15,314 --> 00:56:17,350
- [Voiceover] When you look upon Ireland
522
00:56:17,350 --> 00:56:19,394
what do you see?
523
00:56:19,394 --> 00:56:23,766
One writer saw people made~out of the wet, limey soil,
524
00:56:23,766 --> 00:56:28,316
others saw dreamers and~mystics, warriors and chiefs,
525
00:56:28,316 --> 00:56:31,673
where a cure Celtic streak~shaped and fashioned
526
00:56:31,673 --> 00:56:34,250
by the place they came from.
527
00:56:34,250 --> 00:56:38,471
Heaney sees its writers and~artists, who in his words,
528
00:56:38,471 --> 00:56:40,644
"Capture the impulse of pleasure
529
00:56:40,644 --> 00:56:44,957
"in the presence of natural phenomena."
530
00:56:44,957 --> 00:56:47,092
The land continues to leave its mark
531
00:56:47,092 --> 00:56:48,871
on Ireland's people,
532
00:56:48,871 --> 00:56:52,664
and they carry that gift wherever they go.
533
00:56:52,664 --> 00:56:58,044
Perhaps the sentiment is better~stated in this Irish poem,
534
00:56:58,044 --> 00:57:01,045
"And dearer the wind and its crying
535
00:57:01,045 --> 00:57:04,368
"are the secrets the wet hills hold.
536
00:57:04,368 --> 00:57:07,659
"And the goldenest place~they could find you
537
00:57:07,659 --> 00:57:12,008
"in the heart of a country of gold."
538
00:57:12,008 --> 00:57:16,029
♫ (lyrics) Dreams grow cold
539
00:57:16,029 --> 00:57:20,647
♫ But our love is strong as death
540
00:57:20,647 --> 00:57:24,312
♫ I will give my dying breath
541
00:57:24,312 --> 00:57:30,194
♫ You know I will
542
00:57:30,194 --> 00:57:34,869
♫ Should you wander with the tide
543
00:57:34,869 --> 00:57:40,073
♫ You will find me by your side
544
00:57:40,073 --> 00:57:44,133
♫ We are two swans taking flight
545
00:57:44,133 --> 00:57:46,977
♫ Will I follow you
546
00:57:46,977 --> 00:57:54,560
♫ You know I will
547
00:57:54,560 --> 00:57:58,651
♫ Your heart is at home
548
00:57:58,651 --> 00:58:03,198
♫ When you're with the one you know
549
00:58:03,198 --> 00:58:07,337
♫ And our love will brave the storm
550
00:58:07,337 --> 00:58:13,210
♫ You know it will
551
00:58:13,210 --> 00:58:17,693
♫ And dreams grow cold
552
00:58:17,693 --> 00:58:22,267
♫ But our love is strong as death
553
00:58:22,267 --> 00:58:26,488
♫ I will give my dying breath
554
00:58:26,488 --> 00:58:32,188
♫ You know I will
555
00:58:32,188 --> 00:58:34,649
♫ Will I follow you
556
00:58:34,649 --> 00:58:46,168
♫ You know I will ♫
557
00:58:46,168 --> 00:59:51,689
(lively Irish folk music)
42159
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