Straight from the horse's mouth

Author launches new picture book

A new animated children's book about the rich history and folklore of the majestic Cuilcagh Lakelands was launched at an event marking Culture Night in Dowra Courthouse last Friday, September 11.

Written by Munterconnaught-based visual artist Margaret McKenna, 'The Speaking Horse of Cuilcagh' follows a young boy named Conor, who unearths the tales of the region as he travels through on a mythical horse.

The book was inspired by a visit Margaret made to the area a few years ago, following which she created a short animation of the story.

Funded by Creative Cavan, the animation was launched on Culture Night 2025, and since then, Margaret has been working to develop the story into book form.

With a "huge interest" in telling stories of the land, which often have deep connections to their place names in the Irish language (logainmneacha), Margaret realised that Cuilcagh was full of similar roots.

The Benaughlin Mountain, which is part of the Cuilcagh Mountain Range, is "really where it all started", Margaret tells the Celt, as it translates to the 'The Peak of the Speaking Horse'.

As the story goes, a magical horse would come down from the mountain on Bilberry Sunday to speak to people and tell their fortunes.

“I used him as a conduit between the modern world and the mysterious, magical world,” Margaret explains.

In her story, the horse brings the young child on an adventure to learn the stories and mythology of the area.

Throughout the book, there are QR codes that bring people to the real place with a short video Margaret herself has taken.

“The child will actually realise this is a real place that I can visit, bringing the stories to life,” Margaret says.

She hopes that children who have read the book will be eager to visit the area and be able to connect with the stories of the land.

“The stories are all around us and we don’t see them often because the names have been so corrupted, we don’t understand what they mean anymore. We don’t understand them until we translate them back into Irish.”

It was only by looking at the Irish word for Benaughlin (Binn Eachlabhra) that Margaret realised there had to be some legend here, with Binn (peak), labhra (form of labhair: to speak) and each (horse).

“Without the Irish language names, this would never have happened,” Margaret acknowledges.

“That was the whole inspiration for it.”

During the process of creating the book, Margaret received some guided tours of the Geopark. She learned about the plant life, and has included small sketches of some of the wildlife there with their names in Irish underneath the main script of the book.

“I want to show some of what lived there as well as the stories that belong there, they’re all connected,” Margaret says.

“It’s all one big circle of stories and legends and nature and ancient man-made sites.”

The book launch was held in Dowra to remain within the Geopark area.

“It’s a great community spirit there and there’s a real interest in that whole aspect of the stories and their land.”