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Na Rosa go Brách is ainm do bhailiúchán gearr-scéalta faoin shaol agus nósanna Ghaeltacht Thír Chonaill thart fá deireadh an 19u haois. Rugadh an t-údar Mánas Mac Cumhaill (le ainm pinn Fionn Mac Cumhaill, ar ndóigh) sna Rossa i 1885. Ina dhiaidh cuairt beag go Meiriceá mar lúthcleasaí agus mar dornalaí, d’fhill sé go hÉirinn agus é gníomhach I ngluaiseacht na Gaeilge agus i gCogadh na Saoirse. Foilsíodh "Na Rosa go Brách" a chéaduair i 1939. Tháinig ár rogha as an chéad chaibidil:

Eadar an dá ghaoth, Gaoth Dobhair agus Gaoth Beara, atá na Rosa. Ceantar anróiteach, iargúlta é nach raibh a oiread agus bealach mór amnáin féin ann arbh fhiú bealach mór a thabhairt air roimh bhliain an drochshaoil.

I mbliain an drochshaoil d’imigh drochbhláth ar gach seort sna Roas. Ach sa bheag, ba ar phréataí agus min choirce a bhiodh bunadh na háite beo. Ach tháining an aicíd bhubh ar na préataí agus níor líon gráinnín an choirce mar ba chóir. Nuair a bhí na préataí bainte agus an coirce meilte ní raibh trian féin na bpréataí nó na mine coirce acu ba ghnách a bheith acu. Tháinig an geimhreadh orthu go luath agus mhair sé go Féil’ Pádraig. Roimhe nó ina dhiaidh n’ior mhoithigh siad geimhreadh chomh tíoránta lies. Eadar a bheith ag sioc, ag cascairt, ag siabadh shneachta agus ag doirteadh fearthanna, ní raibh an ach lá ag gabháil chun olcais ar an lá eile. Bhí an fharraige ina craos amháin, gan an sioc in ann a buaidh a fháil, agus í ag éirí ar an talamh . . . de dhóigh gur mhinic a shíl cuid de na daoine go raibh an domhan mór ag réabadh, agus go raibh deireadh an tsaoil ann.

D’fhág na caoirigh taobhanna na gcnoc agus na talta arda chomh luath agus a tháinig an sneachta orthu, agus chuaigh siad ar lorg foscaidh. Ach níor fhág an treas ceann acu clúid an fhoscaidh ní ba mhó. Tháinig an sneachta. Shocraigh an ghaoth. Bhí bratógaí chomh leathan le croí do bhoise ag titim ar dhroim a chéile. Luigh na bratógaí san áit ar thit siad go dtí go raibh doimhne glún fir de shneachta ar an talamh. Ghéaraigh an ghaoth. Bhí an sneachta ag titim i rith an ama, ach go raibh sé mion tirim anois. Thoisigh an plúchadh agus an siabadh. Níorbh fhada go raibh ráthannaí sneachta ar thaobh na gaoithe de na claíocha; agus níorbh fhada ina dhiaidh sin go raibh na clúdaíocha agus na hailteannaí cothrom leis an chuid eile den talamh. 

Between the two "gaoths", Gaoth Dobhair and Gaoth Beara, are the Rosses. An isolated, severe place that did not even have a highway worthy of the name before the year of the Famine.

In the year of the Famine, all sorts of blights came upon the Rosses. But for a little while, it was on the potatoes and oatmeal which kept the inhabitants alive. But the black blight attacked the potatoes, and not a single grain of oats was as it should have been. When the potatoes were gathered and the oats harvested, there was scarcely a third of the usual amount of potatoes and oats. The winter arrived early and stayed until St. Patrick’s Day. Neither before nor since had they experienced such an oppressive winter. Between the freezing, the thawing, the blizzards, and the pouring rain, each day was more horrid than the previous one. The sea was extremely abusive, rising up on the land since it couldn’t freeze . . . in such a way that some of the people thought that the whole earth was shattering, and that the end of the world was come.

The sheep left the hillsides and high hillocks as soon as the snow arrived, and they went in search of shelter. But scarcely a third of them ever left their little nook of shelter. The snow came down. The wind subsided. The snowflakes were as broad as the width of your palm falling down together. The flakes lay where they fell until the snow was knee-deep on the ground. The wind picked up. The snow continued to fall, but now it was a dry powdery snow. It began to snow heavily and turn into a blizzard. It was not long before there were snowdrifts blown up along the hedges, and not long after that, in the sheltered places and ravines as much as anywhere else.

Altanna Gaelic-L Do Foghlaimeoirí - For the serious student, here are some articles suitable for beginners (they contain either a dictionary or a translation).

My husband Barry and I had the pleasure to participate as a host family with Project Children last summer. We hosted a beautiful 11-year-old girl named Nakela, from Derry, for six weeks. Our nieces, Kelly and Grace, visited from New York to be part of the fun.

It is not the adventures of the Fort Worth Zoo, Fossil Rim, Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, Dallas World Aquarium, or meeting our friends from various backgrounds that I am going to tell about. What I think may be of interest to the Conradh are the conversations Nakela and I had about the Irish language.

A few days after her arrival, I was playing a Clannad CD and they were singing a song in Irish. Nakela asked me in all sincerity "are they singing in Spanish?" I, in amazement and amusement, let her know they were singing in Irish.

Another conversation began in the car one day about Spanish, as Nakela had heard some people speaking Spanish. I mentioned to Nakela that a lot of people in Texas speak Spanish. Again in all sincerity, Nakela remarked that "English is such a perfect language. Why can’t all people in the world just speak English?" This led to a discussion about culture, identity, language, and soul. I also mentioned that Irish used to be spoken throughout Ireland. Nakela seemed to take an interest.

During Nakela’s stay, one of her mother’s phone calls was to tell Nakela she needed to pick two languages to learn in her fall semester. She proudly told me after she got off the phone that she chose Irish as one of her languages. I gave her one of our newsletters to "show and tell" her Irish language teacher. So somebody may be hearing from an Irish teacher from Derry.

Although I have not told of all our adventures, I will mention that it was truly an Irish Blessing to have Nakela in our home.

If you’d like to practice reading in Irish, improve your vocabulary, or just keep up with events in the worldwide Irish speaking community, there are several sites on the Internet where you can find interesting and well written material. Listed below are a few of the top sites, along with samples of articles available: