The Trooping Fairies. The Priest's Supper : THE PRIEST'S SUPPER T. Crofton Croker It is said by those who ought to understand such things, that the good people, or the fairies, are some of the angels who were turned out of heaven, and who landed on their feet in this world, while the rest of their companions, who p. 10 had more sin to sink...
Ghosts. Grace Connor : GRACE CONNOR. MISS LETITIA MACLINTOCK. THADY and Grace Connor lived on the borders of a large turf bog, in the parish of Clondevaddock, where they could hear the Atlantic surges thunder in upon the shore, and see the wild storms of winter sweep over the Muckish mountain, p. 131 and his rugged...
Notes. Sir Samuel Ferguson : p. 320 SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON.--PAGES 13 AND 38. Many in Ireland consider Sir Samuel Ferguson their greatest poet. The English reader will most likely never have heard his name, for Anglo-Irish critics, who have found English audience, being more Anglo than Irish, have been content to follow English...
Changelings. The Brewery Of Egg Shells : p. 48 THE BREWERY OF EGG-SHELLS T. Crofton Croker Mrs. Sullivan fancied that her youngest child had been exchanged by "fairies theft", and certainly appearances warranted such a conclusion; for in one night her healthy, blue-eyed boy had become shrivelled up into almost nothing, and never ceased...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. The Confessions : THE CONFESSIONS OF TOM BOURKE. T. CROFTON CROKER. TOM BOURKE lives in a low, long farm-house, resembling in outward appearance a large barn, placed at the bottom of the hill, just where the new road strikes off from the old one, leading from the town of Kilworth to that of Lismore. He p. 171 is...
Notes. A Witch Trial : A WITCH TRIAL.--PAGE 146. The last trial for witchcraft in Ireland--there were never very many--thus given in MacSkimin's "History of Carrickfergus": "1711, March 31st, Janet Mean, of Braid-island; Janet Latimer, Irish-quarter, Carrickfergus; Janet Millar, Scotch-quarter, Carrickfergus; Margaret...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. The Pudding Bewitched : THE PUDDING BEWITCHED. WILLIAM CARLETON. "MOLL ROE RAFFERTY was the son--daughter I mane--of ould Jack Rafferty, who was remarkable for a habit he had p. 186 of always wearing his head undher his hat; but indeed the same family was a quare one, as everybody knew that was acquainted wid them. It w...
Ghosts. The Black Lamb : p. 134 THE BLACK LAMB. 1 LADY WILDE. It is a custom amongst the people, when throwing away water at night, to cry out in a loud voice, "Take care of the water"; or literally, from the Irish, "Away with yourself from the water"--for they say that the spirits of the dead last buried are then...
Changelings. Changelings : p. 47 THE TROOPING FAIRIES CHANGELINGS Sometimes the fairies fancy mortals, and carry them away into their own country, leaving instead some sickly fairy child, or a log of wood so bewitched that it seems to be a mortal pining away, and dying, and being buried. Most commonly they steal children...
T'ir Na N Og. The Legend Of O'donoghue : p. 201 THE LEGEND OF O'DONOGHUE 1 T. Crofton Croker In an age so distant that the precise period is unknown, a chieftain named O'Donoghue ruled over the country which surrounds the romantic Lough Lean, now called the lake of Killarney. Wisdom, beneficence, and justice distinguished his reign...
Next. Bewitched Butter : BEWITCHED BUTTER (DONEGAL). MISS LETITIA MACLINTOCK. Not far from Rathmullen lived, last spring, a family called Hanlon; and in a farm-house, some fields distant, people named Dogherty. Both families had good cows, but the Hanlons were fortunate in possessing a Kerry cow that gave more milk...
Changelings. The Stolen Child : THE STOLEN CHILD. W. B. YEATS Where dips the rocky highland Of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island Where flapping herons wake The drowsy water-rats. There we've hid our fairy vats Full of berries, And of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, O, human child! To the woods and waters wild...
The Merrow. The Merrow : p. 61 THE TROOPING FAIRIES THE MERROW The Merrow, of if you write it in the Irish, "Moruadh" or "Murghach", from "muir", sea, and "oigh", a maid, is not uncommon, they say, on the wilder coasts. The fishermen do not like to see them, for it always means coming gales. The male "Merrows" (if you c...
Notes. Shoneen And Sleiveen : SHONEEN AND SLEIVEEN.--PAGE 220. Shoneen is the diminutive of "shone" [Ir. "Sen"]. There are two Irish names for John--one is "Shone", the other is "Shawn" [Ir. "Seghan"]. Shone is the "grandest" of the two, and is applied to the gentry. Hence "Shoneen" means "a little gentry John", and is applied...
Notes. Father John O'hart : FATHER JOHN O'HART.--PAGE 220. Father O'Rorke is the priest of the parishes of Ballysadare and Kilvamet, and it is from his learnedly and faithfully and sympathetically written history of these parishes that I have taken the story of Father John, who had been priest of these parishes, dying...
The Trooping Fairies. Cusheen Loo, Tr : CUSHEEN LOO. Translated from the Irish by J. J. Callanan [This song is supposed to have been sung by a young bride, who was forcibly detained in one of those forts which are so common in Ireland, and to which the good people are very fond of resorting. Under pretence of hushing her child to rest...
The Solitary Fairies. Master And Man : p. 84 MASTER AND MAN T. CROFTON CROKER Billy Mac Daniel was once as likely a young man as ever shook his brogue at a patron, 1 emptied a quart, or handled a shillelagh; fearing for nothing but the want of drink; caring for nothing but who should pay for it; and thinking of nothing but how to make...
Notes. Omens : OMENS.--PAGE 108. We have other omens beside the Banshee and the Dullahan and the Coach-a-Bower. I know one family where death is announced by the cracking of a whip. Some families are attended by phantoms of ravens p. 322 or other birds. When McManus, of '48 celebrity, was sitting by his dying...
Ghosts. A Legend Of Tyrone : A LEGEND OF TYRONE. ELLEN O'LEARY. Crouched round a bare hearth in hard, frosty weather, Three lonely helpless weans cling close together; Tangled those gold locks, once bonnie and bright-- There's no one to fondle the baby tonight. "My mammie I want; oh! my mammie I want! The big tears stream down...
Giants. Giants : p. 260 GIANTS WHEN the pagan gods of Ireland--the "Tuath-De-Dann"--robbed of worship and offerings, grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies, the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants.
The Merrow. Flory Cantillon's Funeral : FLORY CANTILLON'S FUNERAL T. CROFTON CROKER The ancient burial-place of the Cantillon family was on an island in Ballyheigh Bay. This island was situated at no great distance from the shore, and at a remote period was overflowed in one of the encroachments which the Atlantic has made on that part...
Notes. Demon Cat : p. 325 DEMON CAT.--PAGE 229. In Ireland one hears much of Demon Cats. The father of one of the present editors of the "Fortnightly" had such a cat, say county Dublin peasantry. One day the priest dined with him, and objecting to see a cat fed before Christians, said something over it that made it...
The Trooping Fairies. The Legend Of Knockgrafton : THE LEGEND OF KNOCKGRAFTON. T. Crofton Croker There was once a poor man who lived in the fertile glen of Aherlow, at the foot of the gloomy Galtee mountains, and he had a great hump on his back: he looked just as if his body had been rolled up and placed upon his shoulders; and his head was pressed...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 05 : p. 294 THE ENCHANTMENT OF GEAROIDH IARLA. PATRICK KENNEDY. 1 IN old times in Ireland there was a great man of the Fitzgeralds. The name on him was Gerald, but the Irish, that always had a great liking for the family, called him "Gearoidh Iarla" (Earl Gerald). He had a great castle or rath...
The Trooping Fairies. The Fairy Well Of Lagnanay : THE FAIRY WELL OF LAGNANAY BY SAMUEL FERGUSON. Mournfully, sing mournfully- "O listen, Ellen, sister dear: Is there no help at all for me, But only ceaseless sigh and tear? Why did not he who left me here, p. 14 With stolen hope steal memory? O listen, Ellen, sister dear, (Mournfully, sing...
Ghosts. The Fate Of Frank M'kenna : p. 139 THE FATE OF FRANK M'KENNA. WILLIAM CARLETON. There lived a man named M'Kenna at the hip of one of the mountainous hills which divide the county of Tyrone from that of Monaghan. This M'Kenna, had two sons, one of whom was in the habit of tracing hares of a Sunday whenever there happened...
Saints, Priests. Saints, Priests : p. 214 SAINTS, PRIESTS Everywhere in Ireland are the holy wells. People as they pray by them make little piles of stones, that will be counted at the last day and the prayers reckoned up. Sometimes they tell stories. These following are their stories. They deal with the old times, wher King Alfred...
The Trooping Fairies. The Trooping Fairies : p. 1 FAIRY AND FOLK TALES THE TROOPING FAIRIES. The Irish word for fairy is "sheehogue" ["sidheg"], a diminutive of "shee" in banshee. Fairies are "deenee shee" ["daoine sidhe"] (fairy people). Who are they? "Fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost," say...
Saints, Priests. The Priest Of Coloony : THE PRIEST OF COLOONY W. B. Yeats Good Father John O'Hart In penal days rode out To a "shoneen" 1 in his freelands, With his snipe marsh and his trout. In trust took he John's lands, --"Sleiveens" 2 were all his race-- And he gave them as dowers to his daughters, And they married beyond their place...
The Merrow. The Soul Cages : THE SOUL CAGES T. CROFTON CROKER Jack Dogherty lived on the coast of the county Clare. Jack was a fisherman, as his father and grandfather before him had been. Like them, too, he lived all alone (but for p. 62 the wife), and just in the same spot. People used to wonder why the Dogherty family were...
The Banshee. The Banshee Of The Mac Carthys : THE BANSHEE OF THE MAC CARTHYS T. CROFTON CROKER CHARLES MAC CARTHY was, in the year 1749, the only surviving son of a very numerous family. His father died when he was little more than twenty, leaving him the Mac[paragraph continues] p. 114 Carthy estate, not much encumbered, considering that it...
The Trooping Fairies. Paddy Corcoran's Wife : PADDY CORCORAN'S WIFE William Carleton Paddy Corcoran's wife was for several years afflicted with a kind of complaint which nobody could properly understand. She was sick, and she was not sick; she was well, and she was not well; she was as ladies wish to be who love their lords, and she was not...
The Devil. The Long Spoon : p. 231 THE LONG SPOON 1 Patrick Kennedy The devil and the hearth-money collector for Bantry set out one summer morning to decide a bet they made the night before over a jug of punch. They wanted to see which would have the best load at sunset, and neither was to pick up anything that wasn't...
T'ir Na N Og. T'ir Na N Og : p. 200 T'YEER-NA-N-OGE. There is a country called Tr-na-n-Og, which means the Country of the Young, for age and death have not found it; neither tears nor loud laughter have gone near it. The shadiest boskage covers it perpetually. One man has gone there and returned. The bard, Oisin, who wandered...
Saints, Priests. King O'toole And His Goose : KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE S. Lover "By Gor, I thought all the world, far and near, heerd o' King O'Toole-well, well, but the darkness of mankind is ontellible! Well, sir, you must know, as you didn't hear it afore, that there was a king called King O'Toole, who was p. 225 a fine ould king...
Ghosts. A Dream : A DREAM. WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. I heard the dogs howl in the moonlight night; I went to the window to see the sight; All the Dead that ever I knew Going one by one and two by two. On they pass'd, and on they pass'd; Townsfellows all, from first to last; Born in the moonlight of the lane, Quench'd...
The Solitary Fairies. Far Darrig In Donegal : FAR DARRIG IN DONEGAL. MISS LETITIA MACLINTOCK. Pat Diver, the tinker, was a man well-accustomed to a wandering life, and to strange shelters; he had shared the beggar's blanket in smoky cabins; he had crouched beside the still in many a nook and comer where poteen was made p. 91 on the wild...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. The Witches' Excursion : THE WITCHES' EXCURSION. 1 PATRICK KENNEDY SHEMUS RUA 2 (Red James) awakened from his sleep one night by noises in his kitchen. Stealing to the door, he saw half-a-dozen old women sitting round the fire, jesting and laughing, his old housekeeper, Madge, quite frisky and gay, helping her sister...
The Pooka. Daniel O'rourke : DANIEL O'ROURKE T. CROFTON CROKER People may have heard of the renowned adventures of Daniel O'Rourke, but how few are there who know that the cause of all his perils, above and below, was neither more nor less than having slept under the walls of the Pooka's p. 98 tower. I knew the man well. He...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 07 : THE LAZY BEAUTY AND HER AUNTS. 1 PATRICK KENNEDY. There was once a poor widow woman, who had a daughter that was as handsome as the day, and as lazy as a pig, saving your presence. The poor mother was the most industrious person in the townland, and was a particularly good h...
Notes. Some Authorities On Irish Folk Lore : SOME AUTHORITIES ON IRISH FOLK-LORE Croker's "Legends of the South of Ireland". Lady Wilde's "Ancient Legends of Ireland". Sir William Wilde's "Irish Popular Superstitions". McAnally's "Irish Wonders". "Irish Folk-Lore", by Lageniensis. Lover's "Legends and Stories of the Irish Peasantry". Patrick...
Notes. The Ganconer Or Gancanagh : THE GANCONER OR GANCANAGH [GEAN-CANACH].--PAGE 207. O'Kearney, a Louthman, deeply versed in Irish lore, writes of the "gean-cnach" (love-talker) that he is "another diminutive being of the same tribe as the Lepracaun, but, unlike him, he personated love and idleness, and always appeared with...
Ghosts. Ghosts : p. 128 GHOSTS Ghosts. or as they are called in Irish, "Thevshi" or "Tash" ("taidhbhse", "tais"), live in a state intermediary between this life and the next. They are held there by some earthly longing or affection, or some duty unfulfilled, or anger against the living. "I will haunt you", is...
T'ir Na N Og. Hy Brasail The Isle Of The Blest : p. 212 HY-BRASAIL--THE ISLE OF THE BLEST Gerald Griffin On the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye dwell, A shadowy land has appeared, as they tell; Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest, And they called it "Hy-Brasail", the isle of the blest. From year unto year on the ocean's blue rim...
The Trooping Fairies. The Fairies : THE FAIRIES William Allingham Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap, And white owl's feather! p. 4 Down along the rocky shore Some make their home, They live on crispy pancakes...
Changelings. The Fairy Nurse : p. 51 THE FAIRY NURSE. BY EDWARD WALSH Sweet babe! a golden cradle holds thee, And soft the snow-white fleece enfolds thee; In airy bower I'll watch thy sleeping, Where branchy trees to the breeze are sweeping. Shuheen, sho, lulo lo! When mothers languish broken-hearted, When young wives are...
Saints, Priests. Conversion Of King Laoghair's : p. 224 CONVERSION OF KING LAOGHAIR'S DAUGHTERS. ONCE when Patrick and his clericks were sitting beside a well in the Rath of Croghan, with books open on their knees, they saw coming towards them the two young daughters of the King of Connaught. 'Twas early morning, and they were going to the well...
Giants. The Giant's Stairs : THE GIANT'S STAIRS 1 T. Crofton Croker On the road between Passage and Cork there is an old mansion called Ronayne's Court. It may be easily known from the stack of chimneys and the gable-ends, which are to be seen, look at it which way you will. Here it was that Maurice Ronayne and his wife...
The Trooping Fairies. The White Trout : p. 35 THE WHITE TROUT; A LEGEND OF CONG BY S. LOVER There was wanst upon a time, long ago, a beautiful lady that lived in a castle upon the lake beyant, and they say she was promised to a king's son, and they war to be married, when all of a sudden he was murthered, the crathur (Lord help us)...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 03 : DONALD AND HIS NEIGHBOURS. From Hibernian Tales. 1 Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Nery were near neighbours in the barony of Balinconlig, and ploughed with three bullocks; but the two former, envying the present p. 300 prosperity of the latter, determined to kill his bullock, to prevent his farm...
T'ir Na N Og. The Phantom Isle : p. 213 THE PHANTOM ISLE Giraldus Cambrensis 1 Among the other islands is one newly formed, which they call the Phantom Isle, which had its origin in this manner. One calm day a large mass of earth rose to the surface of the sea, where no land had ever been seen before, to the great amazement...
Notes. T'yeer Na N Oge : T'YEER-NA-N-OGE.--PAGE 200. "Tr-na-n-g"," Mr. Douglas Hyde writes, "'The Country of the Young', is the place where the Irish peasant will tell you "geabhaedh tu an sonas aer pighin", 'you will get happiness for a penny', so cheap and common it will be. It is sometimes, but not often, called...
The Devil. The Demon Cat : p. 229 THE DEVIL. THE DEMON CAT. 1 LADY WILDE. THERE was a woman in Connemara, the wife of a fisherman; as he had always good luck, she had plenty of fish at all times stored away in the house ready for market. But, to her great annoyance, she found that a great cat used to come in at night...
Notes. Stolen Child : STOLEN CHILD.--PAGE 59. The places mentioned are round about Sligo. Further Rosses is a very noted fairy locality. There is here a little point of rocks where, if anyone falls asleep, there is danger of their waking silly, the fairies having carried off their souls.
Witches, Fairy Doctors. A Queen's County Witch : p. 151 A QUEEN'S COUNTY WITCH 1 IT was about eighty years ago, in the month of May, that a Roman Catholic clergyman, near Rathdowney, in the Queen's County, was awakened at midnight to attend a dying man in a distant part of the parish. The priest obeyed without a murmur, and having performed his...
Introduction : p. ix INTRODUCTION Dr. Corbett, Bishop of Oxford and Norwich, lamented long ago the departure of the English fairies. "In Queen Mary's time" he wrote-- "When Tom came home from labour, Or Cis to milking rose, Then merrily, merrily went their tabor, And merrily went their toes." But now...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 02 : THE JACKDAW. Tom Moor was a linen draper in Sackville Street. His father, when he died, left him an affluent fortune, and a shop of excellent trade. As he was standing at his door one day a countryman came up to him with a nest of jackdaws, and accosting him, says, "Master, will you buy a nest...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 06 : THE HAUGHTY PRINCESS. 1 PATRICK KENNEDY. There was once a very worthy king, whose daughter was the greatest beauty that could be seen far or near, but she was as proud as Lucifer, and no king or prince would she agree to marry. Her father was tired out at last, and invited p. 291 every king...
The Solitary Fairies. Lepracaun. Cluricaun : p. 80 THE SOLITARY FAIRIES. LEPRACAUN. CLURICAUN. FAR DARRIG. "The name "Lepracaun"," Mr. Douglas Hyde writes to me, "is from the Irish "leith brog"--"i.e.", the One-shoemaker, since he is generally seen working at a single shoe. It is spelt in Irish "leith bhrogan", or "leith phrogan", and is...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. The Horned Women : THE HORNED WOMEN 1 Lady Wilde A rich woman sat up late one night carding and preparing wool, while all the family and servants were asleep. Suddenly a knock was given at the door, and a voice called--"Open! open!" "Who is there?" said the woman of the house. "I am the Witch of the one Horn," w...
The Trooping Fairies. Frank Martin And The Fairies : FRANK MARTIN AND THE FAIRIES William Carleton Martin was a thin, pale man, when I saw him, of a sickly look, and a constitution naturally feeble. His hair was a light auburn, his beard mostly unshaven, and his hands of a singular delicacy and whiteness, owing, I dare say, as much to the soft...
The Devil. The Three Wishes : THE THREE WISHES W. Carleton In ancient times there lived a man called Billy Dawson, and he was known to be a great rogue. They say he was descended from the family of the Dawsons, which was the reason, I suppose, of his carrying their name upon him. Billy, in his youthful days, was the best h...
Giants. A Legend Of Knockmany : A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY. WILLIAM CARLETON. What Irish man, woman, or child has not heard of our renowned Hibernian Hercules, the great and glorious Fin M'Coul? Not one, from Cape Clear to the Giant's Causeway, nor from that back again to Cape Clear. And, by the way, speaking of the Giant's Causeway...
Changelings. Jamie Freel And The Young Lady : p. 52 JAMIE FREEL AND THE YOUNG LADY A Donegal Tale. MISS LETITIA MACLINTOCK Down in Fannet, in times gone by, lived Jamie Freel and his mother. Jamie was the widow's sole support; his strong arm worked for her untiringly, and as each Saturday night came round, he poured his wages into her lap...
Saints, Priests. The Story Of The Little Bird : p. 222 THE STORY OF THE LITTLE BIRD 1 T. Crofton Croker MANY years ago there was a very religious and holy man, one of the monks of a convent, and he was one day kneeling at his prayers in the garden of his monastery, when he heard a little bird singing in one of the rose-trees of the garden...
Notes. Legend Of Knockgrafton : LEGEND OF KNOCKGRAFTON.--PAGE 40. Moat does not mean a place with water, but a tumulus or barrow. The words "Da Luan Da Mort augus Da Dardeen" are Gaelic for "Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday too". Da Hena is Thursday. Story-tellers, in telling this tale, says Croker, sing these words...
The Trooping Fairies. The Fairy Thorn : THE FAIRY THORN An Ulster Ballad. SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON. "GET up, our Anna dear, from the weary spinning-wheel; For your father's on the hill, and your mother is asleep; Come up above the crags, and we'll dance a highland-reel Around the fairy thorn on the steep." At Anna Grace's door 'twas thus...
The Solitary Fairies. The Lepracaun. Or Fairy : THE LEPRACAUN; OR FAIRY SHOEMAKER WILLIAM ALLINGHAM I. Little Cowboy, what have you heard, Up on the lonely rath's green mound? Only the plaintive yellow bird 1 Sighing in sultry fields around, Chary, chary, chary, chee-ee!-- Only the grasshopper and the bee?-- p. 82 "Tip-tap, rip-rap...
Notes. Cusheen Loo : CUSHEEN LOO.--PAGE 33. Forts, otherwise raths or royalties, are circular ditches enclosing a little field, where, in most cases, if you dig down you come to stone chambers, their bee-hive roofs and walls made of unmortared stone. In these little fields the ancient Celts fortified themselves...
Saints, Priests. The Priest's Soul : p. 215 THE PRIEST'S SOUL 1 Lady Wilde In former days there were great schools in Ireland, where every sort of learning was taught to the people, and even the poorest had more knowledge at that time than many a gentleman has now. But as to the priests, their learning was above all, so that the fame...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers : THE STORY OF CONN-EDA; OR THE GOLDEN APPLES OF LOUGH ERNE. 1 Translated from the original Irish of the Story-teller, ABRAHAM M'COY, "by" NICHOLAS O'KEARNEY. It was long before the time the western districts of "Innis Fodhla" 2 had any settled name, but were indiscriminately called after the pers...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 04 : MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR Translated literally from the Irish by Douglas Hyde There once lived a Munachar and a Manachar, a long time ago, and it is a long time since it was, and if they were alive then they would not be alive now. They went out together to pick raspberries, and as many as Munachar...
The Pooka. The Piper And The Puca : p. 95 THE PIPER AND THE PUCA. DOUGLAS HYDE Translated literally from the Irish of the "Leabhar Sgeulaigheachta". In the old times, there was a half fool living in Dunmore, in the county Galway, and although he was excessively fond of music, he was unable to learn more than one tune, and that w...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. Witches, Fairy Doctors : p. 146 WITCHES, FAIRY DOCTORS Witches and fairy doctors receive their power from opposite dynasties; the witch from evil spirits and her own malignant will; the fairy doctor from the fairies,, and a something--a temperament--that is born with him or her. The first is always feared and hated...
T'ir Na N Og. Rent Day : RENT-DAY "Oh, ullagone! ullagone! this is a wide world, but what will we do in it, or where will we go?" muttered Bill Doody, as he sat on a rock by the Lake of Killarney. "What will we do? Tomorrow's rent-day, and Tim the Driver swears if we don't pay our rent, he'll cant every "ha'perth" we have;...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. Bewitched Butter : BEWITCHED BUTTER (QUEEN'S COUNTY) 1 ABOUT the commencement of the last century there lived in the vicinity of the once famous village of Aghavoe 2 a wealthy farmer, named Bryan Costigan. This man kept an extensive dairy and a great many milch cows, and every p. 156 year made considerable sums by...
Notes. Solitary Fairies : SOLITARY FAIRIES.--PAGE 80. The trooping fairies wear green jackets, the solitary ones red. On the red jacket of the Lepracaun, according to McAnally, are seven rows of buttons--seven buttons in each row. On the western coast, he says, the red jacket is covered by a frieze one, and in Ulster...
Ghosts. The Radiant Boy : THE RADIANT BOY. MRS. CROW. CAPTAIN STEWART, afterwards Lord Castlereagh, when he was a young man, happened to be quartered in Ireland. He was fond of sport, and one day the pursuit of game carried him so far that he lost his way. The weather, too, had become very rough, and in this strait he...
Kings, Queens, Princesses, Earls, Robbers. Part 08 : p. 280 KINGS, QUEENS, PRINCESSES, EARLS, ROBBERS THE TWELVE WILD GEESE. 1 PATRICK KENNEDY. THERE was once a King and Queen that lived very happily together, and they had twelve sons and not a single daughter. We are always wishing for what we haven't, and don't care for what we have, and so it w...
The Trooping Fairies. A Donegal Fairy : p. 46 A DONEGAL FAIRY LETITIA MACLINTOCK Ay, it's a bad thing to displeasure the gentry, sure enough--they can be unfriendly if they're angered, an' they can be the very best o' gude neighbours if they're treated kindly. My mother's sister was her lone in the house one day, wi' a big pot o' water...
The Banshee. A Lamentation For The Death : A LAMENTATION For the Death of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight, of Kerry, who was killed in Flanders, 1642. FROM THE IRISH, BY CLARENCE MANGAN There was lifted up one voice of woe, One lament of more than mortal grief, Through the wide South to and fro, For a fallen Chief. In the dead of night th...
Ghosts. Song Of The Ghost : SONG OF THE GHOST. ALFRED PERCIVAL GRAVES. When all were dreaming But Pastheen Power, A light came streaming Beneath her bower: p. 135 A heavy foot At her door delayed, A heavy hand On the latch was laid. "Now who dare venture, At this dark hour, Unbid to enter My maiden bower?" "Dear Pastheen...
Witches, Fairy Doctors. The Witch Hare : THE WITCH HARE. MR. AND MRS. S. C. HALL. I WAS out thracking hares meeself, and I seen a fine puss of a thing hopping, hopping in the moonlight, and whacking her ears about, now up, now down, and winking her great eyes, and--"Here goes," says I, and the thing was so close to me that she turned...
T'ir Na N Og. Loughleagh : LOUGHLEAGH (LAKE OF HEALING) 1 "Do you see that bit of lake," said my companion, turning his eyes towards the acclivity that overhung Loughleagh. "Troth, and as little as you think of it, and as ugly as it looks with its weeds and its flags, it is the most famous one in all Ireland. Young and ould...
Notes. Gods Of The Earth : NOTES p. 319 GODS OF THE EARTH.--PAR. 5, PAGE 2. Occultists, from Paracelsus to Elephas Levi, divide the nature spirits into gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, undines; or earth, air, fire, and water spirits. Their emperors, according to Elephas, are named Cob, Paralda, Djin, Hicks respectively...
The Banshee. The Banshee : p. 108 THE SOLITARY FAIRIES. THE BANSHEE The "banshee" (from "ban" ["bean"], a woman, and "shee" ["sidhe"], a fairy) is an attendant fairy that follows the old families, and none but them, and wails before a death. Many have seen her as she goes wailing and clapping her hands. The keen ["caoine"]...
Notes. A Legend Of Knockmany : A LEGEND OF KNOCKMANY.--PAGE 266 Carleton says--"Of the grey stone mentioned in this legend, there is a very striking and melancholy anecdote to be told. Some twelve or thirteen years ago, a gentleman in the vicinity of the site of it was building a house, and, in defiance of the legend and curse...
Title Page : p. i The Camelot Series. EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS FAIRY AND FOLK TALES p. iii FAIRY AND FOLK TALES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY: EDITED AND SELECTED BY W. B. YEATS LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE NEW YORK: 3 EAST 14TH STREET. 1888 Scanned , November 2003. J. B. Hare, Redactor. This Text Is...
The Pooka. The Kildare Pooka : THE KILDARE POOKA 1 PATRICK KENNEDY Mr. H R , when he was alive, used to live a good deal in Dublin, and he was once a great while out of the country on account of the "ninety-eight" business. But the servants kept on in the big house at Rath all the same as if the family was at home. Well, they...
The Devil. The Countess Kathleen O'shea : THE COUNTESS KATHLEEN O'SHEA 1 A very long time ago, there suddenly appeared in old Ireland two unknown merchants of whom nobody had ever heard, and who nevertheless spoke the language of the country with the greatest perfection. Their locks wore black, and bound round with gold, and their garments...
The Pooka. The Pooka : p. 94 THE SOLITARY FAIRIES THE POOKA The Pooka, "rect" Pca, seems essentially an animal spirit. Some derive his name from "poc", a he-goat; and speculative persons consider him the forefather of Shakespeare's "Puck". On solitary mountains and among old ruins he lives, "grown monstrous with much...
The Trooping Fairies. Teig O'kane : TEIG O'KANE (TADHG O CTHN) AND THE CORPSE 1 Literally translated from the Irish by Douglas Hyde [I FOUND it hard to place Mr. Douglas Hyde's magnificent story. Among the ghosts or the fairies? It is among the fairies on the grounds that all these ghosts and bodies were in no manner ghosts...
The Banshee. How Thomas Connolly Met The Banshee : HOW THOMAS CONNOLLY MET THE BANSHEE J. TODHUNTER Aw, the banshee, sir? Well, sir, as I was striving to tell ye I was going home from work one day, from Mr. Cassidy's that I tould ye of, in the dusk o' the evening. I had more p. 109 nor a mile--aye, it was nearer two mile--to thrack to, where I w...