Ĕamon a' Chnoic (The version that I know with a rough trans. Rich Merne, '06)
Cé hé sin amuigh, a bhuil faobhar ar a guth,
S'tá'g reabadh mo dhorais dúnta?
Mise Ĕamon a' chnoic atá báite fúair fliuch,
Ó shíorshúil na sléibhte s'na gleannta.

Is fada mis' 'muigh faoi sneachta's faoi sioc
Is gan dánacht agam ar éinne
Mo shéisreach gan scor, s'mo bhranar gan cur,
Agus gan íad agamsa ar aon chor

Níl cáirde agam, is danaid liom san,
Chun do glachadh mé moch agus déanach,
'Nois do caithigh mé dul thar farraige shoir
Ó 's ánn nach a' bhuil mo ghaelta.

Ó a lao ghil s'a chuid céard a dhéanaimse dhuit'
Mura gcuirfhinn tu féin faoi mo ghúna,
Is nach mbéidh púdar dubh á shiorshéadadh leat,
Ach go mbéimish (together) múchta.   Trans. (le chéile)

Ó mo mhallacht ar'n díamhall ar dhúnmharraidh é,
Is go dóiteann sé 'n-ifreann (forever)
Ach an t'Úasal Ó' Ríain, Ó go mbaireann do h'anam
Ar dheis Dé anois is I gcónai……Trans. (On God's right hand now and forever)
…………………………………………………………..
O! who's that without, with a trembling shout,
Now rattles my door that is bolted?
This is Eamon a' Chnoic and I'm drowned wet and cold,
From traversing the mountains and valleys.

I'm long perished in snow, and in ice and in gale,
I am famished, my life's nearly ended,
My land's without mark, and my fields without seed,
They're no longer my own (ar aon chor) Trans. (in any case)

I haven't a friend to call early or late,
From my family I'm hid and alone,
(Thar na farraige shoir), I must exile from here, Trans. (over the Eastern seas)
And must live in the land of the stranger.

O! my darling, my dote, what am I to do
But to cover you up with my gown,
So that powder and shot will not blast you alone,
But that we'll be together extinguished.

O! my curse on the fiend who has murdered my dear,
May he burn up for ever in Hades,
But my darling Ó'Ríain, may your soul be at rest,
Ar dheis Dé anois is I gcónaí. Trans. (do.)
The story of Edward Ryan………………..Eamon a' Chnoic.(Eamon of the Hill or Eamon th'Hill)

   In the sixteen hundreds, Eamon Ryan, a Tipperary land-owner was dispossessed by Oliver Cromwell's forces. He was from Cnoc MaothailI (the bald hill) in Teampall Beag, Co. Tipperary. A tenant of Ryan's – a widow, was also dispossessed of her cow by one of Cromwell's agents. Eamon a' Chnoic defended her and in the argument he killed the agent.
   He was outlawed and went on the run with a price of two hundred pounds (a lot of money then) on his head. After hiding in the mountains in the winter, where he was destroyed by exposure; he took refuge with an old lover of his who hid him in her house for a time. Its said that the agents looked for him at her house but that she successfully hid him under her dress. Presumably the dress was hanging up or thrown on a bed, but that she wasn't wearing it at the time. Subsequently, Ryan took refuge with a neighbour who killed him for the reward while he slept. Unknown to the neighbour, the reward had been withdrawn shortly beforehand because of Ryan's intercession and influence with his friends in authority. Posterity doesn't record the names of his faithful girlfriend or his treacherous neighbour.
   Edward Ryan's head is alleged to be buried in a very old graveyard at Dun Bleisce in Limerick.
   This story seems to have considerable historic and folklore credence, and it certainly moved the great bard Turlough O'Carolan to give it to posterity.
R.M.