The Cattle Jobber Of Awnascawil : The Cattle Jobber of Awnascawil Do the fairies ever do harm for the pleasure of hurting people?" asked I of Maurice Fitzgerald. 'Whether they harm single men without reason I can't say, replied he, "but they injure a whole country-side sometimes." "Oh, they do," said Duvane. "I remember a story...
Introduction : Introduction Tales of the Fairies DURING my travels in Ireland I made a stay of some time at the house of a farmer at a cross-road west of Dingle. Besides cultivating two farms, this man kept a small country store, near the famous Ventry Strand, had a contract to keep a road in repair, and w...
St. Martin's Eve : St Martin's Eve (told by John Sheehy) IN Iveragh, not very far from the town of Cahirciveen, there lived a farmer named James Shea with his wife and three children, two sons and a daughter. The man was peaceable, honest, and very charitable to the poor, but his wife was hard-hearted, never giving...
The Girl And The Robber : The Girl and the Robber THE next story which was told by the blind man, contains an account of one important survival of old times: offering a beast to St. Martin. The method of curing a sick beast is also interesting. The most solemn acts of worship in primitive times were connected with food...
Tom Moore And The Seal Woman : Tom Moore and the Seal Woman A PROPOS of the following tale, I may say: The intermarriage with and descent of men from beings not human touches upon one of the most interesting and important points in primitive belief. Totemism among savage races in our day, and descent from the gods in antiquity...
The Knights Of Kerry.Rahonain Castle : The Knights of Kerry - Rahonain Castle "Is there a story about the beginning of Rahonain Castle?" asked I. "There is," said Maurice Fitzgerald, "and though I am not good at stories, I'll do the best I can and tell it to you." Long ago, when the knights of Kerry were in Dingle and wished to build...
Fitzgerald And Daniel O'donohue : Fitzgerald and Daniel O' Donohue WHEN the blind man had finished, my host said: "There's many a story about that same Daniel O'Donohue, a fairy chief and King of Lochlein: Lochlein is the old name of the upper lake of Killarney. I used to hear many of those stories when I was young, but not one...
John Shea And The Treasure : John Shea and the Treasure YOU have two stories of wise women, said the blind man. Now I'll tell the story of a man who came to the knowledge of what gold was in the kingdom, and lost it all through his own foolishness: Between Dingle and the village of Banog there lived one John Shea, and he w...
Murderous Ghosts : Murderous Ghosts THE following things happened about sixty years ago. In those times people used to go nine and ten miles to mass, especially of a Christmas Day. Four men in the parish of Drummond went to Cahirdonnefl to mass on Christmas and didn't start for home till after nightfall. The four...
Note : The burial customs of Ireland are very interesting because they throw light on beliefs concerning another life--beliefs that were once universal on the island and are held yet in a certain way by a good many people. There is much variety in the burial customs of the whole country, but I can refer...
Untitled : Title Page Introduction John Connors and the Fairies Fitzgerald and Daniel O'Donohue The Fairies of Rahonain and Elizabeth Shea The Knights of Kerry - Rahonain Castle The Cattle Jobber of Awnascawil The Midwife of Listowel Daniel Crowley and the Ghosts Tom Daly and the Nut-Eating Ghost Tom Connors...
The Three Sisters And Their Husbands, Three : The Three Sisters and Their Husbands, Three Brothers AFTER an interval of two days we had our fifth and last meeting in the house at the cross-road. As the old man had told all his stories, and the blind quarryman had only one left, my host brought a tinker who had "walked the way" that day...
The Four Leafed Shamrock : The Four-Leafed Shamrock THIS tale gives a good instance of the virtue of the four-leafed shamrock against the power which takes people's eyes--"i.e., "true vision--from them: A good many years ago a showman came to the town of Dingle and performed many tricks there. At one time he'd eat a dozen...
James Murray And Saint Martin : James Murray and Saint Martin (told by Timothy Sheahy) THERE was a small farmer named James Murray, who lived between this and Slieve Mish. He had the grass of seven cows, but though he had the land, he hadn't stock to put on it; he had but the one cow. Being a poor man, he went to Cork with four...
Daniel Crowley And The Ghosts : Daniel Crowley and the Ghosts THERE lived a man in Cork whose name was Daniel Crowley. He was a coffin-maker by trade, and had a deal of coffins laid by, so that his apprentice might sell them when himself was not at home. A messenger came to Daniel Crowley's shop one day and told him that there...
The Midwife Of Listowel : The Midwife of Listowel WHY do you call the fairies 'good people'?" asked I. "I don't call them the good people myself," answered Duvane, "but that is what the man called them who told me the story Some call them the good people to avoid vexing them. I think they are called the good people mostly...
Tom Daly And The Nut Eating Ghost : Tom Daly and the Nut-Eating Ghost THE value of the next story (which was told by the blind man), apart from the comic in its form and contents, is the fact that nuts are buried for the godfather to cat after death. This is an interesting survival of primitive Gaelic belief. Tom Daly lived between...
Tom Connors And The Dead Girl : Tom Connors and the Dead Girl "THAT is a droll story, and may be true," said John Malone, "though it doesn't stand to reason that the mother could run as fast as her son, and he as much in dread of the man in the graveyard as herself. But, true or false, sure there is neither ghost nor fairy in it...
Tom Foley's Ghost : Tom Foley's Ghost THERE was a man Tom Foley, a farmer who lived at Castle-main, near the Leann River; he had a brother John, who lived eight miles beyond Tralee, on a farm of his own he had there. The Leann is a great river for fishing; above all, when the weather is favourable. Tom Foley went...
John Cokeley And The Fairy : NOTE The following curious story reminds one a little of Slavic tales of dead men who dwell in their tombs as in houses. Some of the Slav tomb-dwellers are harmless, others malignant. The malignant ones are dead persons who rise up bodily and go around at night devouring people. When one of these...
Maggie Doyle And The Dead Man : Maggie Doyle and the Dead Man LONG ago, when I was a fine, strong girl, not the like of what I am this day, I went down the country with a bag of sea-moss to sell. I was in company with a girl from the next village, and she was carrying another bag. Coming evening, the other girl found lodgings...
Next. Note : NOTE The preceding group of fairy tales are connected with the peninsula between the bays of Dingle and Tralee. The following tales were taken down west of the Killarney mountains, but between Dingle Bay and the Kenmare River, and relate to the southern half of Kerry. In this mountainous regi...
The Blood Drawing Ghost : The Blood-Drawing Ghost THERE was a young man in the parish of Drimalegue, county Cork, who was courting three girls at one time, and he didn't know which of them would he take; they had equal fortunes, and any of the three was as pleasing to him as any other. One day when he was coming home...
The Farmer Of Tralee And The Fairy Cows : The Farmer of Tralee and the Fairy Cows BEFORE any comment was made on Connors' experience of ghosts, Maurice Lynch, the mason, came in. My host asked him at once to tell a story, and the following is his contribution: There was a rich farmer near Tralee, and he had a strong, able man of a son who...
The Ghost Of Sneem : The Ghost of Sneem SOME time after Pat Doyle was killed by the ghost, my husband, Martin Doyle, was at work on an estate at some distance from Sneem, and one evening the gentleman who employed Martin told him to go that night on an errand to Sneem. "Well," said he, "it's too late and the road is...
Pat Doyle And The Ghost : Pat Doyle and the Ghost THERE was" a "young man in the next parish whose name was Pat Doyle, and one night he had to bring the priest to his father, John Doyle. It was late when the young man came to the priest's house. He knocked; a servant opened and asked what he wanted. "The priest, for my...
John Connors And The Fairies : John Connors and the Fairies THERE was a man named John Connors, who lived near Killarney, and was the father of seven small children, all daughters and no sons. Connors fell into such rage and anger at having so many daughters, without any sons, that when the seventh daughter was born he would...
The Dead Mother : The Dead Mother THE next two tales were told by the blind man whom I have mentioned in connection with fairy tales told at Ventry Strand. It is not out of place to refer here to a certain popular error. It is supposed by many persons that women are the chief depositories of tales touching fairies...
Maurice Griffin And The Fairy Doctor : Maurice Griffin and the Fairy Doctor JOHN Malone had promised to give some information about doctors among the people, and tell how they got knowledge and power. When reminded of his promise, he told the following story: There was a man at Dun Lean named Maurice Griffin. He was in service...
John Cokeley And The Fairy. Part 02 : John Cokeley and the Fairy THERE was a farmer in the parish of Firez whose name was John Cokeley. John was a great man for every kind of new information, and would go a long way of an evening to hear people read newspapers, but he didn't give in to stories or to what old people used to say...
Title Page : TALES OF THE FAIRIES AND OF THE GHOST WORLD COLLECTED FROM ORAL TRADITION IN SOUTH-WEST MUNSTER BY JEREMIAH CURTIN Boston; Little, Brown & Co. [1895] Scanned And Redacted By Phillip Brown. Additional Formatting And Proofing , By John B. Hare. This File May Be Used For Any Non-commercial Purpose...
The Fairies Of Rahonain And Elizabeth Shea : The Fairies of Rahonain and Elizabeth Shea WHEN the company came to my room on the following evening the host brought a fourth man, Maurice Lynch, a mason, who knew a good deal about ghosts and fairies. When he bade me good-bye the night before, John Malone promised to open the present sessi...
John Reardon And The Sister Ghosts : John Reardon and the Sister Ghosts ONCE there was a farmer, a widower, Tom Reardon, who lived near Castlemain. He had an only son, a fine strong boy, who was almost a man, and the boy's name was John. This farmer married a second time, and the stepmother hated the boy and gave him neither rest n...
The Two Gamblers And The Fairies : The Two Gamblers and the Fairies AT our fourth meeting, which was held two nights later, the mason was present again, and told a story which had the same motive as the one which he had given us before, the stealing of a young woman made ill previously by a fairy stroke. The fairies leave...
Fairy Cows : Fairy Cows (told by William Keating) IN the parish of Drummor lived a farmer, whose name was Tom Connors. He had a nice bit of land and four cows. He was a fine, strong, honest man, and had a wife and five children. Connors had one cow which was better than the other three, and she went by...
Tim Sheehy Sent Back To This World To Prove : Tim Sheehy Sent Back to This World to Prove His Innocence (told by William Keating) THERE was a farmer, fourteen miles from Tralee, named Fitzgerald, who, by sly management and being a spy on his neighbours, became a great friend of the landlord. He carried matters that far that at last he got...
