Cáit (An Bab) Feiritéar: Cáit (An Bab) Feiritéar, who has died aged 88, was a renowned storyteller and well known to listeners to Raidió na Gaeltachta and viewers of TG4.
Three years ago a collection of her stories, Ó Bhéal an Bhab, edited by Bo Almqvist and Roibeard Ó Cathasaigh, was published.
The editors described her as one of the last traditional storytellers of the Gaelic world: "Is léir gur thaithigh An Bhab an scéaltóireacht le linn don tradisiún úd a bheith faoi bhlath agus gur chuala sí is gur mheabhraigh sí mórchuid dá chuid scéalta ó scéalaithe a fáisceadh as tradisiún béil an tseansaoil Ghaelaigh, tradisiún a bhí neamhspleách go fóill ar thioncar na cathrach is na tionsclaíochta."
Reviewing the book in this newspaper, Liam Ó Muirthile wrote: "Má tá focal amháin a ritheann liom i gconaí agus mé ag éisteacht le Bab Feiritéar, is é glan é. Stíl ghlan inste. Guth glan cinn. Abairtí glana ar an leathanach. Uigeacht ghlan an scéil. Tá cáilíocht ghlan, leis, ag baint leis na dlúthioscaí in Ó Bhéal an Bhab."
She was born Cáit Ní Ghuithín in December 1916 in Baile na hAbha, Dún Chaoin, Co Kerry, one of the two children of Seán Ó Guithín and his wife, Eibhlín Ní Shé. Her mother died within weeks of her birth, and she became known as An Bab (the baby), a name that stayed with her.
Storytelling was in her blood. Her maternal grandmother and maternal grand- aunt, Cáit and Máire Ruiséal, were noted storytellers, as were her grandfather, Maidhc Ó Guithín, her father and her uncle Tadhg.
Her grandfather lived with the family, and his stories made a big impression on her as a child. At Scoil Naomh Gobnait, her teacher, Bríd Ní Lúing, was like a mother to her. She told religious stories and taught the children such stories as An Caitín agus an Luch and Cearc an Phrompa.
Her next teacher, Muiris Ó Dálaigh, the son of "An Common Noun", the pen name of the author and teacher Seán Ó Dálaigh, drew the children's attention to the importance of traditional stories and storytelling, asking them to compare notes with their parents about the stories he read in the classroom.
An Bab described storytelling as the radio and television of her generation - the home entertainment of their day.
In line with custom, An Bab was 50 years old before she became a recognised scéalaí, and she was first recorded by Pádraig Tyers. In all, hundreds of hours of recordings were made by Raidió na Gaeltachta, Roinn Bhéaloideas Éireann, University College Dublin and the Irish department of the University of Limerick.
She had a store of about 150 stories. Unlike the storytellers who went before her, she was able to read the stories of An Seabhac and Peig Sayers in addition to stories in journals such as Béaloideas and would make them her own. She was perhaps unique in knowing stories both from tradition and from literature. She had all the attributes of the good scéalaí: great presence, a rich vocabulary and what folklorists call an "eidetic memory" whereby she could see in her mind's eye the unfolding of events.
She was a regular broadcaster on Raidió na Gaeltachta, often in the company of Dr Seosamh Ó Dálaigh, the great folklore collector from Dún Chaoin, and they both participated in many éigsí and other events. She was always accessible to students of Irish and folklore.
In old age she drew great comfort from friends and neighbours who visited to swap stories. She married in 1943 Séamus Feiritéar, who predeceased her in 1992.
Her sons Brandán, Pádraig, Seán, Micheál and Séamus, and daughters Máirín and Treasa, survive her.
An Bab Feiritéar: born December 1st, December 1916; died June 8th, 2005