For many centuries, as everyone
knows, English monarchs tried to impose
their will on Ireland. Queen Elizabeth
I, eager to extend the influence of her
government, sent a deputy to Cormac MacDermot
MacCarthy, who was
Lord of Blarney, and
demanded that he take the tenure of his
lands from the Crown. Cormac set out to
visit the Queen and plead for his traditional
right to his land, but he despaired for
success for he was not fluent of speech.
Shortly
after starting his journey, he
met an old woman who asked him why
he
looked so forlorn. He told her
his story and she said, "Cormac,
when Blarney
Castle was built, one stone was
put into place by a man who predicted
no one would
ever be able to touch it again.
If you can kiss that stone, the gift
of eloquence
will be conferred upon you." Cormac
traveled back to his castle and
succeeded in kissing the stone.
He then
was able to go and address the
Queen with speech so soft and
words so fair that as
long as he lived, he never had
to renounce his right to his
land. From that time forward,
people have traveled from many
lands to
try to kiss the Blarney
Stone and receive
the "gift of gab" and
eloquence of speech.
