The Peeler and the Goat

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"The Peeler and the Goat" is an old Irish rebel song, transportation ballad, and mockery of police corruption within the Royal Irish Constabulary that continues to be sung by Irish traditional musicians throughout the world.

Contents

History

The Peeler and the Goat was intended to poke fun at a number of factors affecting 19th century Ireland. Even though the Penal Laws, which had been passed as religious persecution of Irish Catholics, had been overturned by the Catholic Emancipation in 1829, pervasive religious discrimination continued until the end of the Irish War of Independence in 1922. Widespread poverty and starvation also continued and were rooted in the legality of rackrenting and other abuses of power by the Anglo-Irish landlord class, whose edicts were enforced by Sir Robert Peel and his newly formed Royal Irish Constabulary. RIC officers were nicknamed Bobbies and Peelers after their creator.

Originally written during the Victorian era by Darby Ryan of Bansha, County Tipperary, the song was reportedly inspired by the absurdity of RIC officers taking a domestic goats into 'custody' for creating an obstruction on a rural County Tipperary road.

Plot

A Royal Irish Constabulary officer finds a she-goat roaming the streets of Bansha, County Tipperary and, presuming her guilty of loitering or prostitution ('Stholler', as used in the lyrics, has both meanings). The peeler arrests her and vows that he will soon send her off to prison in Cashel and that the judge will sentence her to transportation as a convict from Cork harbour to Australia.

The Constable and the she-goat argue over her arrest, and whether or not the court system would return a conviction without proof that a crime was committed. At the end of the song, the she-goat accuses the peeler of alcoholism, extortion, and police corruption, and alleges that if she were able to bribe him with protection money or illegal liquor, she would be allowed to go free.

Symbolism

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