Sweet Molly Malone

The story of Molly Malone is a bit sad. 300 years ago, she may have actually been called Mary or Margaret and was a fishmonger’s daughter who not only sold her catch on the streets of Dublin, but as she was such a beauty (and poor) also sold herself. She died young after contracting cholera or fever from one of her clients in 1699. (Although there is some debate on if all the facts are true or have become shrouded in legend.) It is said she still haunts the city to this day. Her story is commemorated in a famous Irish ballad:

In Dublin’s fair city,
Where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!”
“Alive, alive, oh,
Alive, alive, oh,”
Crying “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh”.
She was a fishmonger,
But sure ’twas no wonder,
For so were her father and mother before,
And they wheeled their barrows,
Through the streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!”
(chorus)
She died of a fever,
And no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.
But her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!”
(chorus)x2

Here is a rendition of it as a traditional Irish drinking song:

A statue at Grafton Street (where it is said she often work) was erected in 1988 (however it has been temporarily relocated to Suffolk Street during construction but should go back to Grafton later in 2017). Because of artist Jeanne Rynhart generous depiction of her ample breasts, it is sometimes referred to as “The Tart with a Cart” or “The Trollop with the Scallops”. In fact, today her breasts are shiny from all the manhandling of them.