IRELAND: The Broth of a King

Inishmurray is a 100-acre sliver of rock off the northwest coast of Ireland's County Sligo. In World War I, a British destroyer mistook its low-lying shape for a German submarine, let fly with a torpedo. The explosion shook the island up a bit but it failed to deflect the inhabitants from the pursuit of customs stemming back to the time of Saint Columba, who is said to have stopped off at Inishmurray on his way to convert Scotland to Christianity.

Among the customs to which the inhabitants have clung down through the ages is that...

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