Jenny completes the stations
Dublin Core
Title
Jenny completes the stations
Subject
Literature--Twentieth Century--Sean O'Faolain--Lough Derg
Description
As Jenny completes the stations at the penitential beds, she reflects on the power of repetition and prayer and feels the elements
Creator
Sean O'Faolain, 1900-1991
Source
The Lovers of the Lake', in The Collected Stories of Sean O'Faolain, Vol. 2, pp. 18-43, here p. 26
Publisher
Constable and Company, London
Date
1981
Rights
Citation for the purposes of criticism
Format
Edited edition
Language
English
Type
Collection of short stories
Identifier
DD_0239
Coverage
54.608913,-7.870977
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
“’Yerrah, but sure,’ the old woman cackled happily, ‘they say that fasting is good for the stomach.’
[Jenny] began to think of ‘they’.
They had thought all this up. They had seen how much could be done with simple prayers. For when she began to tot up the number of Paternosters and Aves that she must say she had to stop at the two thousandth. And these reiterated prayers must be said while walking on the stones, or kneeling in the mud, or standing upright with her two arms extended. This was the posture she disliked most. Every time she came to do it, her face to the lake, her arms spread, the queue listening to her renouncing her sins, she had to force herself to the posture and the words. The first time she did it, with the mist blowing into her eyes, her arms out like a crucifix, her lips said the words but her heart cursed herself for coming so unprepared, for coming at all. Before she had completed her first circuit – four times and around each one of six cells – one ankle and one toe was bleeding. She was then permitted to ask for the cup of black tea. She received it sullenly, as a prisoner might receive his bread and water.”
[Jenny] began to think of ‘they’.
They had thought all this up. They had seen how much could be done with simple prayers. For when she began to tot up the number of Paternosters and Aves that she must say she had to stop at the two thousandth. And these reiterated prayers must be said while walking on the stones, or kneeling in the mud, or standing upright with her two arms extended. This was the posture she disliked most. Every time she came to do it, her face to the lake, her arms spread, the queue listening to her renouncing her sins, she had to force herself to the posture and the words. The first time she did it, with the mist blowing into her eyes, her arms out like a crucifix, her lips said the words but her heart cursed herself for coming so unprepared, for coming at all. Before she had completed her first circuit – four times and around each one of six cells – one ankle and one toe was bleeding. She was then permitted to ask for the cup of black tea. She received it sullenly, as a prisoner might receive his bread and water.”
Original Format
Short stories
Citation
Sean O'Faolain, 1900-1991, “Jenny completes the stations,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 26, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/258.