Chapter Two - ‘The birth of Lizzy’s firstborn, Mary Lanigan’
In accordance with the Romany’s prophecy, within three months of the peg-selling traveller leaving her door, Lizzy Lanigan proudly announced to her husband Mick that she was pregnant with their first child. Despite not knowing where they’d find the means to support an extra mouth to feed, the couple were nevertheless over the moon to be starting their own family.
There was no way of Lizzy knowing if her pregnant state was due to the intercession of any divine power or had been determined by the astrological alignment of the stars as foretold by the travelling Romany in July. For all she knew, everything could have been made possible by no more than the cooking of one good plate of colcannon and the promise of an early night in bed by a fetching wife, suitably attired.
There was no way of Lizzy knowing if her pregnant state was due to the intercession of any divine power or had been determined by the astrological alignment of the stars as foretold by the travelling Romany in July. For all she knew, everything could have been made possible by no more than the cooking of one good plate of colcannon and the promise of an early night in bed by a fetching wife, suitably attired.
~~~~~
When their first child was born it was a girl, and Lizzy Lanigan named her daughter, ‘Mary’. Being the most Catholic of all names to give any daughter, and the baptismal name of his deceased mother who’d died prematurely in her forties, Mick Lanigan had no objections to his wife’s choice of Christian name for their firstborn.
Lizzy Lanigan’s faith in the gypsy’s prophecy was as strong as her belief in God himself. She firmly believed that her faith in the Romany’s foretelling had proved sufficient to have given her the status of motherhood within her first year of marriage, and that her firstborn had been a ‘special’ child as foretold.
Lizzy knew that while the chances of any Catholic woman giving birth during her first year of marriage was common enough, she nevertheless concluded that only a true Romany or the Angel Gabriel himself would have known the sex of the infant to be born, and if the child to be delivered would be born ‘simple’ or ‘special’!
Lizzy Lanigan’s faith in the gypsy’s prophecy was as strong as her belief in God himself. She firmly believed that her faith in the Romany’s foretelling had proved sufficient to have given her the status of motherhood within her first year of marriage, and that her firstborn had been a ‘special’ child as foretold.
Lizzy knew that while the chances of any Catholic woman giving birth during her first year of marriage was common enough, she nevertheless concluded that only a true Romany or the Angel Gabriel himself would have known the sex of the infant to be born, and if the child to be delivered would be born ‘simple’ or ‘special’!
~~~~~
Believing in every word the Romany had spoken, Lizzy Lanigan kept the gypsy’s prophecy a secret from all, apart from telling her firstborn when her daughter had reached 7 years of age and Mary was old enough to understand.
Only when Lizzy Lanigan was satisfied that she could make her young daughter understand the legacy of the ‘specialness’ conferred on her, and the possibility of this special trait being handed down to her firstborn child; only then did Mary’s mother tell her of the attaching conditions.
“You know that your mother would never knowingly tell you a lie, Mary, don’t you?” Lizzy asked her daughter two months after her 7th birthday.
“I know you would never lie to me, Mammy,” Mary replied.
Then Lizzy Lanigan swore her daughter to an oath of complete secrecy and warned her of the dire consequences if she ever broke this undertaking.
“Remember, Mary, no other living soul should ever hear from your lips about your ‘specialness’ and how you came to learn of it; not even your father! If you tell the secret to any other person than your oldest daughter after her 7th birthday, not only will you lose the ‘specialness’ you were born with, but so will your firstborn! Break this solemn undertaking, Mary, and the blessing you now enjoy will turn into a curse!”
Only when Lizzy Lanigan was satisfied that she could make her young daughter understand the legacy of the ‘specialness’ conferred on her, and the possibility of this special trait being handed down to her firstborn child; only then did Mary’s mother tell her of the attaching conditions.
“You know that your mother would never knowingly tell you a lie, Mary, don’t you?” Lizzy asked her daughter two months after her 7th birthday.
“I know you would never lie to me, Mammy,” Mary replied.
Then Lizzy Lanigan swore her daughter to an oath of complete secrecy and warned her of the dire consequences if she ever broke this undertaking.
“Remember, Mary, no other living soul should ever hear from your lips about your ‘specialness’ and how you came to learn of it; not even your father! If you tell the secret to any other person than your oldest daughter after her 7th birthday, not only will you lose the ‘specialness’ you were born with, but so will your firstborn! Break this solemn undertaking, Mary, and the blessing you now enjoy will turn into a curse!”
~~~~~
While Lizzy Lanigan was simply bursting to tell all the world about the Romany’s prophecy that came true, she knew that had any of her Portlaw neighbours ever learned of her encounter with the peg-selling gypsy, they would have immediately poo-pooed the palm reading and called the Romany a travelling ‘tinker’ and a ‘fraud’.
Their scepticism would have branded the gypsy’s prophecy as being a piece of pure fiction, plucked from the air before being sold and spoon fed, along with six wooden pegs, to a gullible Kilkenny fool for the cost of the four shillings she’d squandered; one third of her husband’s weekly wage!
Lizzy knew that her neighbours’ inbred scepticism would never give way to the many possibilities of life. Indeed, if she could look inside their minds were they to learn about the gypsy’s prophecy, Lizzy Lanigan knew precisely what they’d be thinking.
‘Any fool with half a working brain coming across Lizzy Lanigan three months into her marriage, and knowing her husband to be a healthy, hot-blooded Irish man, would have the foresight to know she’d be pregnant before the year was out. It doesn’t take any Romany fortune-telling ability to foresee that!’
‘As regard to her child being born male or female, well, that was never less than a 50/50 chance of being correct any month of the year! As to the new-born child’s name; if the mother-to-be is told in a state of non-pregnancy that she is to give birth to a daughter called Mary within the year, and then delivers a girl child within the designated time-span, she’s already half-way there to calling the new-born infant the name prophesised by the gypsy!’
‘And, as to believing that her firstborn is to enter this life as a ‘special’ child………… well, what’s the strangeness in that? Doesn’t any old eejit know that every mother who has ever given birth, believes that to be the case?’
Had her neighbours ever known about the gypsy’s prophecy, Lizzy hadn’t the slightest doubt, they would have pooh-poohed it at every opportunity! Lizzy firmly believed that the prophecy was one that had always been destined to happen; and was never a product of self-fulfilment!
Lizzy did have reservations however, when it came to keeping her husband in the dark about the Romany’s visit and prophecy. She inherently believed that a man and wife should not hold secrets from each other, and that the foundation of all lasting marriages is based on truth. However, the limitations placed upon the prophecy, and particularly who it could and couldn’t be revealed to, had been made patently clear and set in stone by the Romany messenger.
Their scepticism would have branded the gypsy’s prophecy as being a piece of pure fiction, plucked from the air before being sold and spoon fed, along with six wooden pegs, to a gullible Kilkenny fool for the cost of the four shillings she’d squandered; one third of her husband’s weekly wage!
Lizzy knew that her neighbours’ inbred scepticism would never give way to the many possibilities of life. Indeed, if she could look inside their minds were they to learn about the gypsy’s prophecy, Lizzy Lanigan knew precisely what they’d be thinking.
‘Any fool with half a working brain coming across Lizzy Lanigan three months into her marriage, and knowing her husband to be a healthy, hot-blooded Irish man, would have the foresight to know she’d be pregnant before the year was out. It doesn’t take any Romany fortune-telling ability to foresee that!’
‘As regard to her child being born male or female, well, that was never less than a 50/50 chance of being correct any month of the year! As to the new-born child’s name; if the mother-to-be is told in a state of non-pregnancy that she is to give birth to a daughter called Mary within the year, and then delivers a girl child within the designated time-span, she’s already half-way there to calling the new-born infant the name prophesised by the gypsy!’
‘And, as to believing that her firstborn is to enter this life as a ‘special’ child………… well, what’s the strangeness in that? Doesn’t any old eejit know that every mother who has ever given birth, believes that to be the case?’
Had her neighbours ever known about the gypsy’s prophecy, Lizzy hadn’t the slightest doubt, they would have pooh-poohed it at every opportunity! Lizzy firmly believed that the prophecy was one that had always been destined to happen; and was never a product of self-fulfilment!
Lizzy did have reservations however, when it came to keeping her husband in the dark about the Romany’s visit and prophecy. She inherently believed that a man and wife should not hold secrets from each other, and that the foundation of all lasting marriages is based on truth. However, the limitations placed upon the prophecy, and particularly who it could and couldn’t be revealed to, had been made patently clear and set in stone by the Romany messenger.
~~~~~
As a practising Catholic, Lizzy had been told many times throughout her life about the Angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary to announce that she was soon to give birth to a ‘special’ child called Jesus. Lizzy had always believed that bible story and was therefore already conducive towards accepting a similar prophecy coming true today; even if the bearer of the good news happened to be a peg-selling gypsy, and the mother-to-be wasn’t a virgin, and the child born was a girl called ‘Mary’ and not a baby boy called ‘Jesus’!
~~~~~
Lizzy Lanigan chose to wholeheartedly believe that her firstborn, Mary, had been born a ‘special’ child, and thereafter treated her as being ‘special’; telling her so at every opportunity. Consequently, being told daily that she was ‘special’ by her loving mother, young Mary naturally started to feel ‘special’ and eventually came to believe that she was indeed ‘special’.
Mary’s ‘specialness’ had been conferred upon her by a peg-selling gypsy prior to her birth for the price of two shillings, and every exceptional, unusual, or inexplicable thing which happened to young Mary since her birth simply confirmed the existence of her daughter’s ‘specialness’ to Lizzy Lanigan.
Mary’s ‘specialness’ had been conferred upon her by a peg-selling gypsy prior to her birth for the price of two shillings, and every exceptional, unusual, or inexplicable thing which happened to young Mary since her birth simply confirmed the existence of her daughter’s ‘specialness’ to Lizzy Lanigan.
