diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:07:22 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:07:22 -0700 |
| commit | f5f2a65b820ed2056949ce210e74f629d96c8e5b (patch) | |
| tree | 9f1efbe73f8c1521362655f3e3da067bfe6efbef /37187-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '37187-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/37187-h.htm | 5314 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/image006.png | bin | 0 -> 6281 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/image30.png | bin | 0 -> 20585 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 22151 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39699 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate11.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67249 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate12.jpg | bin | 0 -> 18827 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 45015 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 90321 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29552 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 21737 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48110 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate7.jpg | bin | 0 -> 58496 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate8.jpg | bin | 0 -> 52539 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 37187-h/images/plate9.jpg | bin | 0 -> 60332 bytes |
15 files changed, 5314 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/37187-h/37187-h.htm b/37187-h/37187-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d6c40e --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/37187-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5314 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html lang="en"> + + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ulster Folklore, by Elizabeth Andrews. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + margin: auto; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: gray; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} + +/* Chapter Start */ + .newpg {page-break-before: always;} + .firstwords {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;} + .firstLetter{ + display : block; + float : left; + margin-top : -0.17em; + margin-left : -0.1em; + margin-right : 0.4em; + height : 2em; + text-indent: 0em; + } + +.firstLetter span{ + font-size : 3.33em; /* use 3.33em for two lines */ + line-height : 1em; +} + +.firstLetter + span{ + margin-left : -1.4em; +} + +.chapsub { + font-size:1.1em; + font-weight:bold; + text-align: center; + font-variant: small-caps; + text-indent:0em; + margin-top:.35em; + margin-bottom:.75em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%;} + + .center {text-align: center;text-indent:0em;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + .caption { + font-size: .7em; + font-weight:bold; + text-align: left; + font-family: serif; + text-indent:0em; + margin-left:.8em; + margin-bottom:.2em; + } + + .captioncenter { + font-size: .7em; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + font-family: serif; + margin-top:.2em; + text-indent:0em; + margin-left:0em; + } + + .captionimage { + font-size: .9em; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + font-family: serif; + margin-top:.3em; + text-indent:0em; + margin-left:0em; + font-variant: small-caps; + } + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + + .alignright { + float: right; + padding-right: .4em; + font-style:italic; + } + +/* Footnotes */ + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;margin-top:2em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size: 0.9em; text-indent: 1.5em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .7em; text-decoration: none;} + .fnanchorchap {vertical-align: super; font-size: .5em; text-decoration: none;} + .label { font-size: 1em; font-weight: bold;} + + +/* Poetry */ + +.poem { + margin-left:15%; + margin-right:15%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + font-size: .9em; + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i0a { + font-size: .9em; + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 2.65em; + text-indent: -3.00em; +} +.poem span.i2 { + font-size: .9em; + display: block; + margin-left: 3.25em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + + .smaller {font-size:.7em;} + .toctext {text-align: left;font-size:1em; display: block; padding-left: 1.8em; text-indent: -2.5em;margin-left:1em;} + + + .linearound { + border-width: 2px; + border-style: solid; border-color: black; margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%; + } + + .index { + margin-top:.2em; + margin-bottom:.2em; + margin-right:15%; + margin-left:15%; + display: block; + padding-left: 1.8em; + text-indent: -1.8em; + } + +.indexstart { + margin-top:.2em; + margin-bottom:.2em; + padding-top:.9em; + margin-right:15%; + margin-left:15%; + display: block; + padding-left: 1.8em; + text-indent: -1.8em; + } + --> + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ulster Folklore, by Elizabeth Andrews + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ulster Folklore + +Author: Elizabeth Andrews + +Release Date: August 24, 2011 [EBook #37187] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ULSTER FOLKLORE *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Linda Hamilton, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> +<h1>ULSTER FOLKLORE</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:499px;padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/plate1.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="499" height="700"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate I.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">HARVEST KNOT.</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="linearound newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span> + + +<h1 class="smcap" style="padding-top:2em;padding-bottom:1em;">Ulster Folklore</h1> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:3em;padding-bottom:3em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;line-height:1.4;"> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .7em;display:block;" class="smcap">By<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;">ELIZABETH ANDREWS, F.R.A.I.</span> +</div> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:3em;padding-bottom:2em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;"> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .9em;display:block;">WITH FOURTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS<br></span> +</div> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:4em;padding-bottom:2em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;line-height:140%;"> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;display:block;">LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;">7, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;">1913</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> + +<a name="INTRODUCTION"></a><h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>I</span></span><span class="firstwords">n</span> 1894 I was at the meeting of the British +Association at Oxford, and had the good +fortune to hear Professor Julius Kollmann give his +paper on "Pygmies in Europe," in which he +described the skeletons which had then recently +been discovered near Schaffhausen. As I listened +to his account of these small people, whose average +height was about four and a half feet, I recalled the +description of Irish fairies given to me by an old +woman from Galway, and it appeared to me that +our traditional "wee-folk" were about the size of +these Swiss dwarfs. I determined to collect what +information I could, and the result is given in the +following pages. I found that the fairies are, +indeed, regarded as small; but their height may be +that of a well-grown boy or girl, or they may not +be larger than a child beginning to walk. I once +asked a woman if they were as small as cocks and +hens, but she laughed at the suggestion.</p> + +<p>I had collected a number of stories, and had +become convinced that in these tales we had a +reminiscence of a dwarf race, when I read some of +Mr. David MacRitchie's works, and was gratified +to find that the traditions I had gathered were in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +accordance with the conclusions he had drawn +from his investigations in Scotland. A little later +I made his acquaintance, and owe him many thanks +for his great kindness and the encouragement he +has given me in my work.</p> + +<p>As will be seen in the following pages, tradition +records several small races in Ulster: the Grogachs, +who are closely allied to the fairies, and also to the +Scotch and English Brownies; the short Danes, +whom I am inclined to identify with the Tuatha +de Danann; the Pechts, or Picts; and also the +small Finns. My belief is that all these, including +the fairies, represent primitive races of mankind, +and that in the stories of women, children, and +men being carried off by the fairies, we have a +record of warfare, when stealthy raids were made +and captives brought to the dark souterrain. +These souterrains, or, as the country people call +them, "coves," are very numerous. They are +underground structures, built of rough stones +without mortar, and roofed with large flat slabs. +<a href="#plate2">Plate II.</a> shows a fine one at Ardtole, near +Ardglass, Co. Down. The total length of this +souterrain is about one hundred and eight feet, its +width three feet, and its height five feet three +inches.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The entrance to another souterrain is +shown in the Sweathouse at Maghera<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<a href="#plate3">Plate III.</a>).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>As a rule, although the fairies are regarded as +"fallen angels," they are said to be kind to the +poor, and to possess many good qualities. "It +was better for the land before they went away" is +an expression I have heard more than once. The +belief in the fairy changeling has, however, led to +many acts of cruelty. We know of the terrible +cases which occurred in the South of Ireland some +years ago, and I met with the same superstition +in the North. I was told a man believed his sick +wife was not herself, but a fairy who had been substituted +for her. Fortunately the poor woman was +in hospital, so no harm could come to her.</p> + +<p>Much of primitive belief has gathered round the +fairy—we have the fairy well and the fairy thorn. +It is said that fairies can make themselves so small +that they can creep through keyholes, and they are +generally invisible to ordinary mortals. They can +shoot their arrows at cattle and human beings, and +by their magic powers bring disease on both. +They seldom, however, partake of the nature of +ghosts, and I do not think belief in fairies is connected +with ancestral worship.</p> + +<p>Sometimes I have been asked if the people did +not invent these stories to please me. The best +answer to this question is to be found in the diverse +localities from which the same tale comes. I have +heard of the making of heather ale by the Danes, +and the tragic fate of the father and son, the last +of this race, in Down, Antrim, Londonderry, and +Kerry. The same story is told in many parts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +Scotland, although there it is the Picts who make +the heather ale. I have been told of the woman +attending the fairy-man's wife, acquiring the power +of seeing the fairies, and subsequently having her +eye put out, in Donegal and Derry, and variants of +the story come to us from Wales and the Holy +Land.</p> + +<p>I am aware that I labour under a disadvantage +in not being an Irish scholar, but most of those in +Down, Antrim, and Derry from whom I heard the +tales spoke only English, and in Donegal the +peasants who related the stories knew both languages +well, and I believe gave me a faithful version +of their Irish tales.</p> + +<p>Some of these essays appeared in the <i>Antiquary</i>, +others were read to the Archæological Section of +the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, but are now +published for the first time <i>in extenso</i>. All have +been revised, and additional notes introduced. +To these chapters on folklore I have added an +article on the Rev. William Hamilton, who, in his +"Letters on the North-East Coast of Antrim," +written towards the close of the eighteenth century, +gives an account of the geology, antiquities, and +customs of the country.</p> + +<p>The plan of the souterrain at Ballymagreehan +Fort, Co. Down, was kindly drawn for me by Mr. +Arthur Birch. I am much indebted to the Council +of the Royal Anthropological Institute for their +kindness in allowing me to reproduce the plan of +the souterrain at Knockdhu from Mrs. Hobson's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +paper, "Some Ulster Souterrains," published in +the <i>Journal</i> of the Institute, vol. xxxix., January to +June, 1909. My best thanks are also due to Mrs. +Hobson for allowing me to make use of her photograph +of the entrance to this souterrain. The +other illustrations are from photographs by Mr. +Robert Welch, M.R.I.A., who has done so much to +make the scenery, geology, and antiquities of the +North of Ireland better known to the English +public.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Belfast,<br></span> +<span style="margin-left:2em;"><i>August, 1913</i>.</span> +</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See "Ardtole Souterrain, Co. Down," by F. J. Bigger +and W. J. Fennell in <i>Ulster Journal of Archæology</i>, 1898-99, +pp. 146, 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> I am much indebted to Mr. S. D. Lytle of that town for +kind permission to reproduce this view.</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Contents" align="center"> +<tr> +<td align="left" width="90%"> </td> +<td align="right" style="width: 10%; padding-bottom: 0em;"> <span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">INTRODUCTION</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">V</a></td> +</tr> +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right"> </td> +</tr> +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">FAIRIES AND THEIR DWELLING-PLACES</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Fairies_and_their_Dwelling-places3">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">A DAY AT MAGHERA, CO. LONDONDERRY</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#A_Day_at_Maghera_Co_Londonderry7">14</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">ULSTER FAIRIES, DANES, AND PECHTS</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Ulster_Fairies_Danes_and_Pechts15">24</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">FOLKLORE CONNECTED WITH ULSTER RATHS AND SOUTERRAINS</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Folklore_connected_with_Ulster_Raths_and">36</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">TRADITIONS OF DWARF RACES IN IRELAND AND IN SWITZERLAND</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Traditions_of_Dwarf_Races_in_Ireland_and">47</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">FOLKLORE FROM DONEGAL</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Folklore_from_Donegal72">64</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">GIANTS AND DWARFS</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Giants_and_Dwarfs83">84</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="left"><span class="toctext">THE REV. WILLIAM HAMILTON, D.D.</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#The_Rev_William_Hamilton_DD109">105</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> + +<a name="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a><h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="List of Illustrations" align="center"> +<tr> +<td align="left" colspan="4"><span class="smaller">PLATES</span> +</tr> + +<tr valign="top"> +<td align="right" valign="top" width="10%">I.</td> +<td align="left" width="60%"><span class="toctext">HARVEST KNOT</span></td> +<td align="right" width="20%"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +<td align="right" width="10%"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right" colspan="4"><span class="smaller">FACING PAGE</span> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">II.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">SOUTERRAIN AT ARDTOLE, ARDGLASS, CO. DOWN</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate2">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">III.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">ENTRANCE TO SWEATHOUSE, MAGHERA</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate3">14</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">IV.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">RUSH AND STRAW CROSSES</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate4">17</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">V.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">HARVEST KNOTS</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate5">19</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">VI.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">"CHURN"</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate6">20</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">VII.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">ENTRANCE TO SOUTERRAIN AT KNOCKDHU</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate7">30</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">VIII.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">THE OLD FORT, ANTRIM</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate8">36</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">IX.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">GREY MAN'S PATH, <a name="tn_pg_15"></a><!-- TN: "FAIRHEAD" changed to "FAIR HEAD"-->FAIR HEAD</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate9">49</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">X.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">TORMORE, TORY ISLAND</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate10">73</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">XI.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">VALLEY NEAR ARMOY, WHENCE, ACCORDING TO LEGEND, EARTH WAS TAKEN TO FORM RATHLIN</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate11">90</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top">XII.</td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">FLINT SPEARHEAD AND BASALT AXES FOUND UNDER FORT IN LENAGH TOWNLAND</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#plate12">97</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h3 style="margin-top:1.5em;">PLANS</h3> + +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Plans" align="center"> +<tr> +<td align="right" colspan="4"><span class="smaller">PAGE</span> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top" width="10%"> </td> +<td align="left" width="80%" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">SOUTERRAIN AT BALLYMAGREEHAN</span></td> +<td align="right" width="10%"><a href="#image1">6</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr valign="bottom"> +<td align="right" valign="top"> </td> +<td align="left" colspan="2"><span class="toctext">SOUTERRAIN AT KNOCKDHU</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#image30">30</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter newpg" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate2"></a> +<img src="images/plate2.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="500"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate II.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">SOUTERRAIN AT ARDTOLE, ARDGLASS CO. DOWN.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1>ULSTER FOLKLORE</h1> +<hr style="width: 10%;"> +<h2><a name="Fairies_and_their_Dwelling-places3" id="Fairies_and_their_Dwelling-places3"></a>Fairies and their Dwelling-places<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchorchap">[3]</a></h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>I</span></span><span class="firstwords">n</span> the following notes I have recorded a few +traditions gathered from the peasantry in Co. +Down and other parts of Ireland regarding the +fairies. The belief is general that these little +people were at one time very numerous throughout +the country, but have now disappeared from +many of their former haunts. At Ballynahinch I +was told they had been blown away fifty years ago +by a great storm, and the caretaker of the old +church and graveyard of Killevy said they had +gone to Scotland. They are, however, supposed +still to inhabit the more remote parts of the +country, and the old people have many stories of +fairy visitors, and of what happened in their own +youth and in the time of their fathers and grandfathers.</p> + +<p>We must not, however, think of Irish fairies as +tiny creatures who could hide under a mushroom +or dance on a blade of grass. I remember well +how strongly an old woman from Galway repudiated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +such an idea. The fairies, according to her, were +indeed small people, but no mushroom could give +them shelter. She described them as about the +size of children, and as far as I can ascertain from +inquiries made in many parts of Ulster and Munster, +this is the almost universal belief among the +peasantry. Sometimes I was told the fairies were +as large as a well-grown boy or girl, sometimes that +they were as small as children beginning to walk; +the height of a chair or a table was often used as a +comparison, and on one occasion an old woman +spoke of them as being about the size of monkeys.</p> + +<p>The colour red appears to be closely associated +with these little people. In Co. Waterford, if a +child has a red handkerchief on its head, it is said +to be wearing a fairy cap. I have frequently been +told of the small men in red jackets running about +the forts; the fairy women sometimes appear in +red cloaks; and I have heard more than once that +fairies have red hair.</p> + +<p>A farmer living in one of the valleys of the Mourne +Mountains said he had seen one stormy night little +creatures with red hair, about the size of children. +I asked him if they might not have been really +children from some of the cottages, but his reply +was that no child could have been out in such +weather.</p> + +<p>An old woman living near Tullamore Park, Co. +Down, described vividly how, going out to look +after her goat and its young kid, she had heard +loud screams and seen wild-looking figures with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +scanty clothing whose hair stood up like the mane +of a horse. She spoke with much respect of the +fairies as the gentry, said they formerly inhabited +hills in Tullamore Park, and that care was taken +not to destroy their thorn-bushes. She related the +following story: As a friend of hers was sitting alone +one night, a small old woman, dressed in a white +cap and apron, came in and borrowed a bowl of +meal. The debt was repaid, and the meal brought +by the fairy put in the barrel. The woman kept +the matter secret, and was surprised to find her +barrel did not need replenishing. At last her +husband asked if her store of meal was not coming +to an end; she replied that she would show him +she had sufficient, and lifted the cover of the +barrel. To her astonishment it was almost empty; +no doubt, had she kept her secret, she would have +had an unlimited supply of meal.</p> + +<p>I have heard several similar stories, and have not +found that any evil consequences were supposed +to follow from partaking of food brought by the +fairies. Men have been carried off by them, have +heard their beautiful music, seen them dancing, or +witnessed a fairy battle without bringing any misfortune +on themselves. On the other hand, according +to a story I heard at Buncrana, Co. Donegal, +a little herd-boy paid dearly for having entered one +of their dwellings. As he was climbing among +the rocks, he saw a cleft, and creeping through it +came to where a fairy woman was spinning with +her "weans," or children, around her. His sister<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +missed him, and after searching for a time, she too, +came to the cleft, and looking down saw her +brother, and called to him to come out. He came, +but was never able to speak again.</p> + +<p>In another case deafness followed intercourse +with the fairies. An elderly man at Maghera, Co. +Down, told me that his brother when four or five +years old went out with his father. The child lay +down on the grass. After a while the father heard +a great noise, and looking up saw little men about +two feet in height dancing round his son. He +called to them to be gone, and they ran towards +a fort and disappeared. The child became deaf, +and did not recover his hearing for ten years. He +died at the age of seventeen.</p> + +<p>To cut down a fairy thorn or to injure the house +of a fairy is regarded as certain to bring misfortune. +An old woman also living at Maghera, related +how her great-grandmother had received a visit +from a small old woman, who forbade the building +of a certain turf-stack, saying that evil would +befall anyone who injured the chimneys of her +house. The warning was disregarded, the turf-stack +built, and before long four cows died.</p> + +<p>I was told that when a certain fort in Co. +Fermanagh was levelled to the ground misfortune +overtook the men who did the work, although, +apparently, they were only labourers, many of them +dying suddenly. It was also said that where this +fort had stood there were caves or hollows in the +ground into which the oxen would fall when plough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>ing. +An attempt to bring a fort near Newcastle +under cultivation is believed to have caused the +sudden death of the owner.</p> + +<p>The fairies are celebrated as fine musicians; they +ride on small horses; the women grind meal, and +the sound of their spinning is often heard at night in +the peasants' cottages. The following story is related +as having occurred at Camlough, near Newry.</p> + +<p>A woman was spinning one evening when three +fairies came into the house, each bringing a spinning-wheel. +They said they would help her with her +work, and one of them asked for a drink of water. +The woman went to the well to fetch it. When +there she was warned, apparently by a friendly +fairy, that the others had come only to mock and +harm her. Acting on the advice of this friend, the +woman, as soon as she had given water to the +three, turned again to the open door, and stood +looking intently towards a fort. They asked what +she was gazing at, and the reply was: "At the +blaze on the fort." No sooner had she uttered +these words than the three fairies rushed out with +such haste that one of them left her spinning-wheel +behind, which, according to the story, is now to be +seen in Dublin Castle. The woman then shut her +door, and put a pin in the keyhole, thus effectually +preventing the return of her visitors.</p> + +<p>In this story we have probably an allusion to +the signal fires which are believed by the peasantry +to have been lit on the forts in time of danger, one +fort being always within view of another. These<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +forts, or raths, appear to have been the favourite +abode of the fairies. To use the language of the +peasantry, these little people live in the "coves of +the forths," an expression which puzzled me until +I found that coves, or caves, meant underground +passages—in other words, souterrains.</p> + +<p>There are a number of these souterrains in the +neighbourhood of Castlewellan, and with a young +friend, who helped me to take a few rough measurements, +I explored several.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="image1"></a> +<img src="images/image006.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="700" height="195"> +<p class="captionimage">Plan of Ballymagreehan Souterrain.</p> +</div> + +<p>Ballymagreehan Fort is a short distance from +Castlewellan, near the Newry Road. It is a small +fort, and on the top we saw the narrow entrance +to the souterrain. Passing down through this, we +found ourselves in a short passage, or chamber, +which led us to another passage at right angles to +the first. It is about forty feet in length and three +feet in width; the height varies from four to five +feet. The roof is formed of flat slabs, and the walls +are carefully built of round stones, but without +mortar. At one end this passage appeared to +terminate in a wall, but at the other it was only +choked with fallen stones and débris, and I should +think had formerly extended farther.</p> + +<p>Herman's Fort is another small fort on the oppo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>site +side of Castlewellan, in the townland of Clarkill. +Climbing to the top of it, we came to an enclosure +where several thorn-bushes were growing. The +farmer who kindly acted as our guide showed us +two openings. One of these led to a narrow chamber +fully six feet high, the other to a passage more +than thirty feet in length and about three feet wide, +while the height varied from three and a half feet +in one part to more than five feet in another. I was +told that water is always to be found near these +forts, and was shown a well which had existed from +time immemorial; the sides were built of round +stones without mortar, in the same way as the walls +of the passage.</p> + +<p>We heard here of another souterrain about a +mile distant, called Backaderry Cove. It is on the +side of a hill close to the road leading from Castlewellan +to Dromara. A number of thorn-bushes +grow near the place, but there is no mound, either +natural or artificial. Creeping through the opening, +we found ourselves in a passage about forty feet in +length; a chamber opens off it nine feet in length, +and between five and six feet in height, while the +height of the passage varies from four and a half to +five and a half feet. There is a tradition that this +passage formerly connected Backaderry with Herman's +Fort.</p> + +<p>Ballyginney Fort is near Maghera. I only saw +the entrance to the souterrain, but from what I +heard I believe that here also there is a chamber +opening off the passage. The farmer on whose land<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +the fort is situated told me that one dry summer +he had planted flax in the field adjoining the fort. +The small depth of soil above the flat slabs affected +the crop, so that by the difference in the flax it was +easy to trace where the passage ran below the field.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the fairies are believed to +inhabit the souterrains; they are also said to live +inside certain hills, and in forts where, so far as is +known, no underground structure exists. I may +mention as an example the large fort on the Shimna +River, near Newcastle, where I was told their +music was often to be heard. There may be many +souterrains whose entrance has been choked up, +and of which no record has been preserved. Mr. +Bigger gave last session an interesting account of +one discovered at Stranocum; another was accidentally +found last September in a field about three +miles from Newry. Mr. Mann Harbison, who +visited the souterrain, writes to me that the excavation +has been made in a circular portion which is +six feet wide and five feet high. A gallery opens +out of this chamber, and is in some places not more +than three feet six inches high.</p> + +<p>The building of the forts and souterrains is +ascribed by the country people to the Danes, a race +of whom various traditions exist. They are said +to have had red hair; sometimes they are spoken of +as large men, sometimes as short men. One old +woman, who had little belief in fairies, told me that +in the old troubled times in Ireland people lived +inside the forts; these people were the Danes, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +they used to light fires on the top as a signal from +one fort to another. I heard from an elderly man +of Danes having encamped on his grandmother's +farm. Smoke was seen rising from an unfrequented +spot, and when an uncle went to investigate the +matter he found small huts with no doors, only a +bundle of sticks laid across the entrance. In one of +the huts he saw a pot boiling on the fire, and going +forward he began to stir the contents. Immediately +a red-haired man and woman rushed in; they +appeared angry at the intrusion, and when he went +out threw a plate after him.</p> + +<p>The traditions in regard both to Danes and fairies +are very similar in different parts of Ireland. In +Co. Cavan the country people spoke of the beautiful +music of the fairies, and told me of their living in +a fort near Lough Oughter. One woman said they +were sometimes called Ganelochs, and were about +the size of children, and an old man described them +as little people about one or two feet high, riding +on small horses.</p> + +<p>In Co. Waterford I was told that the fairies were +not ghosts: they lived in the air. One man might +see them while they would be invisible to others.</p> + +<p>In an interesting lecture on the "Customs and +Superstitions of the Southern Irish," the Rev. J. B. +Leslie, who has kindly allowed me to quote from his +manuscript, describes the fairies as "a species of +beings neither men nor angels nor ghosts.... +They are connected in the popular imagination +with the Danish forts which are common in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +country. In these they seem to have their abode +underground. At night they hold here high revels—in +grand banqueting-halls—and in these revels there +must always, I believe, be a living human being. +The fairies are often called the 'good people'; some +think they are 'fallen angels.' They are usually +thought of as harmless creatures, unless, of course, +they are interfered with, when the power they wield +is very great. They are very fond of games; some +testify that they have seen them play football, +others hurley, while playing at marbles is a special +pastime, and I have even heard of persons who +have discovered 'fairy marbles' near or in these +forts. No one will interfere with the forts; they +fear the power and anger of the fairies."</p> + +<p>While the fairies are generally associated with the +forts, I heard both in Co. Down and Co. Kerry of +their living in caves in the mountains, and a lad +whom I met near the Gap of Dunloe described them +as having cloven feet and black hair.</p> + +<p>A boatman at Killarney spoke of the Leprechauns +as little men about three feet in height, wearing +red caps. He thought the fairies might be taller, +and spoke of their living in the forts. He said these +forts had been built by the Danes, who must have +been small men, when they made the passages so +low. We thus see that fairies and Danes are both +associated with these ancient structures. Although +the Irish peasant speaks of these Danes having been +conquered by Brian Boru, the structure and position +of the raths and souterrains point to their having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +been the work of one of the earlier Irish races rather +than of the medieval Norsemen. Their name +appears to identify them with the Tuatha de +Danann whose necromantic power is celebrated +in Irish tales, and of whom, according to O'Curry, +one class of fairies are the representatives. I know +that some high authorities regard the Tuatha de +Danann and the fairies as alike mythological beings. +The latter are certainly in popular legend endowed +with superhuman attributes; they can transport +people long distances, creep through keyholes, and +the fairy changeling, when placed on the fire, can +escape up the chimney and grin at his tormentors. +If we ask the country people who are the fairies, +the reply is frequently, "Fallen angels." According +to an old woman in Donegal, these angels fell, some +on the sea, some on the earth, while some remained in +the air; the fairies were those who fell on the earth.</p> + +<p>These "fallen angels" may be the representatives +of the spirits whom the pagan Irish worshipped and +strove to propitiate, and some of the tales relating +to the fairies may have their origin in the mythology +of a primitive people. But the raths and souterrains +are certainly the work of human hands, and I +would suggest that in the legends connected with +them we have a reminiscence of a dwarf race who +rode on ponies, were good musicians, could spin and +weave, and grind corn. The traditions would point +to their being red-haired.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mann Harbison has kindly written to me +on this subject, and expresses his belief that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +souterrains "were constructed by a diminutive +race, probably allied to the modern Lapps, who +seem to be the survivors of a widely distributed +race." In another letter he says: "The universal +idea of fairies is very suggestive. The tall Celts, +when they arrived, saw the small people disappear +in a mysterious way, and, without stopping to +investigate, imagined they had become invisible. +If they had had the courage or the patience to +investigate, they would have found that they had +passed into their souterrain."</p> + +<p>In his work "Fians, Fairies, and Picts," Mr. +David MacRitchie argues that these three names +belong to similar if not identical dwarf races in +Scotland. The Tuatha de Danann he also regards +as of the same race as the fairies, or, to give them +their Irish name, the Fir Sidhe, the men of the +green mounds.</p> + +<p>The remains of the ancient cave-dwellers point +to a primitive race of small size inhabiting Europe. +Dr. Munro, in his work "Prehistoric Problems," +refers to the skeletons discovered at Spy in Belgium +by MM. Lohest and De Pudzt. He describes them +as examples of a very early and low type of the +human race, and states that Professor Fraipont, +who examined them anatomically, "came to the +conclusion that the Spy men belonged to a race +relatively of small stature, analogous to the modern +Laplanders, having voluminous heads, massive +bodies, short arms, and bent legs. They led a +sedentary life, frequented caves, manufactured flint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +implements after the type known as Moustérien, +and were contemporary with the Mammoth."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Let us compare this description with that in the +ballad of "The Wee, Wee Man":<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"His legs were scarce a shathmont's<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> length,<br></span> +<span class="i2">And thick and thimber was his thigh;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Between his brows there was a span,<br></span> +<span class="i2">And between his shoulders there was three."<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I do not, however, mean to suggest that the +builders of the raths and souterrains were contemporary +with the men of Spy, but rather that +a small race of primitive men may have existed +until a comparatively late period in this country. +Leading a desultory warfare with their neighbours, +they would carry off women and children, and +injure the cattle with their stone weapons. We +should note that in the traditions of the peasantry, +and also in the old ballads, those who have been +carried off by the fairies can frequently be released +from captivity, and they return, not as ghosts, but +as living men or women. May we not see in these +legends traces of a struggle between a primitive +race, whose gods may have been, like themselves, of +diminutive stature, and their more civilized neighbours, +who accepted the teaching of the early +Christian missionaries?</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Communicated to Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, +January 18, 1898.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> P. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs," published anonymously, +but known to have been collected by David Herd (vol. i., p. 95, ed. 1776).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The fist closed with thumb extended, and may be considered +a measure of about six inches.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +<h2><a name="A_Day_at_Maghera_Co_Londonderry7" id="A_Day_at_Maghera_Co_Londonderry7"></a>A Day at Maghera, Co. Londonderry<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchorchap">[7]</a></h2> + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>O</span></span><span class="firstwords">ne</span> fine morning last August I found myself +in the quaint old town of Maghera. My first +visit was to the post-office, where I bought some +picture-cards, and inquired my way to Killelagh +Church, the Cromlech, and the Sweat-house, as it +is called, where formerly people indulged in a +vapour-bath to cure rheumatism and other complaints. +I was told to follow the main street. This +I did, and when I came to the outskirts of the town +I tried to get a guide, and spoke to a boy at one of +the cottages. He, however, knew very little, but +fortunately saw an elderly man coming down the +road, who consented to show me the way, and +proved an excellent guide. His name is Daniel +McKenna, a coach-builder by trade. His father, +who was teacher in Maghera National School for +thirty-five years, knew Irish well, and I understand +gave Dr. Joyce information in regard to some of the +place-names in Co. Derry. Taking a road which +led in a north-westerly direction, we came to the +Cromlech, and a few yards farther on saw the old +Church of Killelagh.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate3"></a> +<img src="images/plate3.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="484"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate III.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">ENTRANCE TO SWEATHOUSE, MAGHERA.</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>My guide pointed out that the doorstep was +much worn, doubtless by the feet of those who +during many centuries had passed over it; he +showed me, too, the strong walls, and said the +mortar had been cemented with the blood of +bullocks. This probably recalls an ancient custom, +when an animal—in still earlier times it might be +a human being<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>—was slain to propitiate or drive +away the evil spirits and secure the stability of the +building. A similar tradition exists in regard to +Roughan Castle, the stronghold of Phelim O'Neill, +in Co. Tyrone.</p> + +<p>Leaving Killelagh Church, we continued our +walk, and I asked my guide about the customs and +traditions of the country. He told me that on +Hallow Eve Night salt is put on the heads of children +to protect them from the fairies. These fairies, +or wee folk, are about three feet in height, some not +so tall; they are of different races or tribes, and +have pitched battles at the Pecht's graveyard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +This is a place covered with rough mounds and +very rough stones, and is looked on as a great +playground of the fairies; people passing through it +are often led astray by them. The Pechts, or Picts, +were described to me as having long black hair, +which grew in tufts; they were small people, about +four feet six inches in height, thick set, nearly as +broad as they were long, strong in arms and +shoulders, and with very large feet. When a +shower of rain came on, they would stand on their +heads and shelter themselves under their feet. +Some years ago I was told a similar story in Co. +Antrim of the Pechts lying down and using their +feet as umbrellas.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>I regretted we had not time to visit a large fort +we passed on the way to Ballyknock Farmhouse. +Here we left the road, and, passing through some +fields, came to the old Sweat-house. As you will +see from the photograph kindly given to me by +Mr. Lytle of Maghera, the entrance is on the side +of a bank. It is a much more primitive structure +than those at the Struel Wells, near Downpatrick. +No mortar has been used in its construction, and I +should say it is an old souterrain, or part of a +souterrain. The following are rough measurements:</p> + +<table style="margin-bottom:1em;" border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Souterrain Measurements"> +<tr> +<td width="60%">Height of entrance</td> +<td width="10%" style="text-align: right;">2</td> +<td width="30%">feet.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Width of entrance</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">15</td> +<td><a name="tn_pg_36"></a><!-- TN: Period added after "inches"-->inches.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Height of interior</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">5</td> +<td>feet 5 inches.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Width of interior</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">3</td> +<td>feet.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>Length of interior</td> +<td style="text-align: right;">9</td> +<td>feet.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:491px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate4"></a> +<img src="images/plate4.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="491" height="700"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate IV.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">RUSH AND STRAW CROSSES.</p> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>This building, as already mentioned, was used +by those suffering from rheumatism, and near the +entrance is a well in which the patients bathed to +complete the cure.</p> + +<p>While we were resting I asked about rush crosses, +which are put up in many cottages at Maghera, +and, gathering some rushes, Daniel McKenna showed +me how they were made. He told me that on +St. Bridget's Eve, January 31, children are sent +out to pull rushes, which must not be cut with a +knife. When these rushes are brought in, the +family gather round the fire and make the crosses, +which are sprinkled with holy water. The wife or +eldest daughter prepares tea and pancakes, and the +plate of pancakes is laid on the top of the rush cross. +Prayers are said, and the family partake of St. +Bridget's supper. The crosses are hung up over +doors and beds to bring good luck. In former +times sowans or flummery was eaten instead of +pancakes. I have heard of similar customs in +other places. At Tobermore those who bring in the +rushes ask at the door, "May St. Bridget come in?" +"Yes, she may," is the answer. The rushes are +put on a rail under the table while the family partake +of tea. Afterwards the crosses are made, and, +as at Maghera, hung up over doors and beds.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>This custom probably comes to us from pre-Christian +times. The cross in its varied forms is +a very ancient symbol, sometimes representing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +sun, sometimes the four winds of heaven. Schlieman +discovered it on the pottery of the Troad; it is +found in Egypt, India, China, and Japan, and +among the people of the Bronze Period it appears +frequently on pottery, jewellery, and coins.</p> + +<p>Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, +a poetess of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we +may perhaps regard as a female Apollo. Cormac, +in his "Glossary," tells us she was a daughter of +the Dagda and a goddess whom all poets adored, +and whose two sisters were Brigit the physician +and Brigit the smith. Probably the three sisters +represent the same divine or semi-divine person +whom we may identify with the British goddess +Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo.</p> + +<p>May we not see, then, in these rush crosses a very +ancient symbol, used in pagan times, and which +was probably consecrated by early Christian missionaries, +and given a new significance?</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate5"></a> +<img src="images/plate5.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="478"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate V.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">HARVEST KNOTS.</p> +</div> + +<p>The harvest knots or bows are connected with +another old custom which was, until recently, +observed at Maghera. When the harvest was +gathered in, the last handful of oats, the corn of +this country, was left standing. It was plaited in +three parts and tied at the top, and was called by +the Irish name "luchter." The reapers stood at +some distance, and threw their sickles at the +luchter, and the man who cut it was exempt from +paying his share of the feast. Daniel McKenna +told me he had seen some fine sickles broken in +trying to hit the luchter. It was afterwards carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +home; the young girls plaited harvest knots and +put them in their hair, while the lads wore them +in their caps and buttonholes. A dance followed +the feast. The knots, with the ears of corn +attached, are, I am told, the true old Irish type, +while it is thought that the smaller ones were made +after a pattern brought from England by the +harvest reapers on their return home. I heard of +the same custom at Portstewart and also in the +Valley of the Roe, where the last sheaf of oats was +called the "hare," and the throwing of the sickles +was termed the "churn." In some places the last +sheaf itself was called the "churn," but by whatever +name it was known the man who hit it was regarded +as the victor, and was given the best seat at the +feast, or a reward of some kind. An old woman +above ninety years of age repeated to me a song +about the churn, or kirn, and she and many others +remember well the custom and the feast which +followed, when both whisky and tea were served.</p> + +<p>In some districts the last sheaf is termed the +"Cailleagh,"<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> or old wife.</p> + +<p>A similar custom in Devonshire has been described<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +by Mr. Pearse Chope in the <i>London Devonian Year +Book</i> for 1910, p. 127. Here corn is wheat, and a +sheaf of the finest ears, termed the "neck," is +carried by one of the men to an elevated spot; the +reapers form themselves into a ring, and each man +holding his hook above his head, they all join in +"the weird cry, 'A neck! a neck! a neck! We +ha' un! we ha' un! we ha' un!' This is repeated +several times, with the occasional variation: 'A +neck! a neck! a neck! God sa' un! God sa' un! +God sa' un!' After this ceremony the man with +the neck has to run to the kitchen, and get it there +dry, while the maids wait with buckets and pitchers +of water to 'souse' him and the neck." Mr. Chope +adds that in most cases the neck is more or less in +the form of a woman, and undoubtedly represented +the spirit of the harvest, and that "the main +idea of the ceremony seems to have been that in +cutting the corn the spirit was gradually driven +into the last handful.... As it was needful to +cut the corn and bury the seed, so it was necessary +to kill the corn spirit in order that it might rise again +in fresh youth and vigour in the coming crop."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>I think we may safely assume that the Irish +churn had a similar origin, and that in throwing +the sickles the aim of the ancient reapers was to +kill the spirit of the corn.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:483px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate6"></a> +<img src="images/plate6.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="483" height="700"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate VI.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">"CHURN"</p> +</div> + + +<p>We have seen that in the North of Ireland the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +last sheaf is frequently termed the "hare," and +in many other countries the corn spirit takes the +form of an animal. In his recent volumes of the +<i>Golden Bough</i>, entitled "Spirits of the Corn and the +Wild," Dr. Frazer mentions many animals, such +as the wolf, goat, fox, dog, bull, cow, horse, hare, +which represent the corn spirit lurking in the last +patch of standing corn. He tells us that "at +harvest a number of wild animals, such as hares, +rabbits, and partridges, are commonly driven by +the progress of the reaping into the last patch of +standing corn, and make their escape from it as +it is being cut down.... Now, primitive man, +to whom magical changes of shape seem perfectly +credible, finds it most natural that the spirit of +the corn, driven from his home in the ripe grain, +should make his escape in the form of the animal, +which is seen to rush out of the last patch of corn +as it falls under the scythe of the reaper."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>To return to Maghera. The morning passed +swiftly as I listened to my guide's description of +these old customs, and it was after two o'clock +when I said good-bye to him at his cottage, and +found myself again in the main street of Maghera. +I now wished to visit the Fort of Dunglady, and +after a refreshing cup of tea, engaged a car. The +driver knew the country well, and, going uphill and +downhill, we passed through the village of Culnady, +and were soon close to this fine fort. A +few minutes' walk, and I stood on the outer ram<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>part, +and gazed across the inner circles at the +cattle grazing on the central enclosure.</p> + +<p>This fort was visited in 1902 by the Royal Society +of Antiquaries of Ireland, when a very interesting +paper, written by Miss Jane Clark of Kilrea, was +read. She mentions that Dr. O'Donovan considered +this fort one of the most interesting he had met +with; not so magnificent as the Dun of Keltar at +Downpatrick, but much better fortified, and states +that a map of the time of Charles I. represents +Dunglady Fort as a prominent object, and shows +three houses built upon it, one of considerable +size. Quoting from an unpublished letter of Mr. +J. Stokes, she refers to the triple rampart, which +makes the diameter of the whole to be three +hundred and thirty feet. There was formerly a +draw well in the middle of the fort, and at one +time it was used as a burial-ground by members +of the Society of Friends. Miss Clark also referred +to a smaller fort at Culnady, which had been +demolished. The two mounds in the centre of +this rath had been formed of earth on a stone +foundation.</p> + +<p>A rapid drive brought me back to Maghera in +time for a short visit to the ruins of the Church of +St. Lurach, popularly known in the district as +St. Lowry. There is a curious sculpture of the +Crucifixion over the west doorway, which is shown +in the sketch of this doorway by Petrie in Lord +Dunraven's "Notes on Irish Architecture."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> + +<p>I must now conclude this account of my visit +to Maghera, but may I mention that farther north +there are other interesting antiquities? The large +cromlech, called the Broadstone, is some miles +from Kilrea. There are several forts in the neighbourhood +of that town, which draws its supply of +water from a fairy well.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Read before the Archæological Section of the Belfast +Naturalists' Field Club, January 15, 1913.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> In "My Schools and Schoolmasters" (chap. x., pp. 222-223, +ed. <a name="tn_pg_49"></a><!-- TN: Bracket added after "1854"-->1854), Hugh Miller describes the goblin who +haunted Craig House, near Cromarty Firth, as a "grey-headed, +grey-bearded, little old man," and the apparition was thus +explained by a herdboy: "<i>Oh! they're saying</i> it's the spirit of +the man that was killed on the foundation-stone just after it +was laid, and then built intil the wa' by the masons, that he +might keep the castle by coming back again; and <i>they're saying</i> +that a' the verra auld houses in the kintra had murderit men +builded intil them in that way, and that they have a' o' them +this bogle." +</p><p> +In "The Study of Man," Professor Haddon gives a number +of allusions to the human sacrifice in the building of bridges +(pp. 347-356).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> In <a href="#plate4">Plate IV.</a> the larger cross is of rushes, the smaller one +is made of straw.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Mr. McKean kindly informs me that he has found this +name or its modification "Collya" in Counties Armagh, Monaghan, +and Tyrone; also near Cushendall, Co. Antrim, where +the ceremony is called "cutting the Cailleagh." He was told +this Cailleagh was an old witch, and by "killing" her and +taking her into the house you got good luck. At Ballyatoge, +at the back of Cat Carn Hill, near Belfast, in the descent to +Crumlin, the custom is called "cutting the Granny." At +Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, the plait or braid is called the +"car-line."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Dr. Frazer also describes this Devonshire custom (see +<i>Golden Bough</i>, "Spirits of the Corn and the Wild," vol. i., +pp. 264-267).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> "Spirits of the Corn and the Wild," vol. i., pp. <a name="tn_pg_49a"></a><!-- TN: Period changed to comma after "304"-->304, 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Vol. i., p. 115.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +<h2><a name="Ulster_Fairies_Danes_and_Pechts15" id="Ulster_Fairies_Danes_and_Pechts15"></a>Ulster Fairies, Danes and Pechts<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchorchap">[15]</a></h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>T</span></span><span class="firstwords">he</span> fairy lore of Ulster is doubtless dying +out, but much may yet be learned about the +"gentle" folk, and as we listen to the stories told +by the peasantry, we may well ask ourselves what +is the meaning of these old legends.</p> + +<p>Fairies are regarded on the whole as a kindly +race of beings, although if offended they will work +dire vengeance. They have no connection with +churchyards, and are quite distinct from ghosts. +One old woman, who had much to say about fairies, +when asked about ghosts, replied rather scornfully, +that she did not believe in them. The +fairies are supposed to be small—"wee folk"—but +we must not think of them as tiny creatures +who could hide in a foxglove. To use a +North of Ireland phrase, they are the size of a +"lump of a boy or girl!" and have been often +mistaken for ordinary men or women, until their +sudden disappearance marked them as unearthly.</p> + +<p>A farmer in Co. Antrim told me that once when +a man was taking stones from a cave in a fort, +an old man came and asked him would it not be +better to get his stones elsewhere than from those +ancient buildings. The other, however, continued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +his work; but when the stranger suddenly disappeared, +he became convinced that his questioner +was no ordinary mortal. In after-life he often said +sadly: "He was a poor man, and would always +remain a poor man, because he had taken stones +from that cave." The cave was no doubt a +souterrain.</p> + +<p>An elderly woman in Co. Antrim told me that +when a child she one evening saw "a little old +woman with a green cloak coming over the burn." +She helped her to cross, and afterwards took her +to the cottage, where her mother received the +stranger kindly, told her she was sorry she could +not give her a bed in the house, but that she might +sleep in one of the outhouses. The children +made Grannie as comfortable as they could, and +in the morning went out early to see how she was. +They found her up and ready to leave. The child +who had first met her said she would again help +her across the burn—"But wait," she added, +"until I get my bonnet." She ran into the house, +but before she came out the old woman had disappeared.</p> + +<p>When the mother heard of this she said: "God +bless you, child! Don't mind Grannie; she is very +well able to take care of herself." And so it was +believed that Grannie was a fairy.</p> + +<p>I have also heard of a little old man in a three-cornered +hat, at first mistaken for a neighbour, +but whose sudden disappearance proved him to be +a fairy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>In the time of the press-gang a crowd was seen +approaching some cottages. Great alarm ensued, +and the young men fled; but it was soon discovered +that these people did not come from a man-of-war—they +were fairies.</p> + +<p>A terrible story, showing how the fairies can +punish their captives, was told me by an old woman +at Armoy, in Co. Antrim, who vouched for it as +being "candid truth." A man's wife was carried +away by the fairies; he married again, but one night +his first wife met him, told him where she was, +and besought him to release her, saying that if he +would do so she would leave that part of the country +and not trouble him any more. She begged him, +however, not to make the attempt unless he were +confident he could carry it out, as if he failed she +would die a terrible death. He promised to save +her, and she told him to watch at midnight, when +she would be riding past the house with the fairies; +she would put her hand in at the window, and he +must grasp it and hold tight. He did as she bade +him, and although the fairies pulled hard, he had +nearly saved her, when his second wife saw what +was going on, and tore his hand away. The poor +woman was dragged off, and across the fields he +heard her piercing cries, and saw next morning the +drops of blood where the fairies had murdered her.</p> + +<p>Another woman was more fortunate; she was +carried off by the fairies at Cushendall, but was +able to inform her friends when she and the fairies +would be going on a journey, and she told them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +that if they stroked her with the branch of a rowan-tree +she would be free. They did as she desired. +She returned to them, apparently having suffered +no injury, and in the course of time she married.</p> + +<p>This story was told me by a man ninety years of +age, living in Glenshesk, in the north of Co. Antrim. +He spoke of the fairies as being about two feet in +height, said they were dressed in green, and had +been seen in daylight making hats of rushes. In +Donegal I was also told that the fairies wore high +peaked hats made of plaited rushes; but there, as +in most parts of Ulster, and indeed of Ireland, the +fairies are said to wear red, not green. In Antrim +the fairies, like their Scotch kinsfolk, dress in green, +but even there are often said to have red or sandy +hair.</p> + +<p>The Pechts are spoken of as low, stout people, +who built some of the "coves" in the forts. An +old man, living in the townland of Drumcrow, +Co. Antrim, showed me the entrance to one of +these artificial caves, and gave me a vivid description +of its builders. "The Pechts," he said, "were +low-set, heavy-made people, broad in the feet—so +broad," he added, with an expressive gesture, +"that in rain they could lie down and shelter +themselves under their feet." He spoke of them +as clad in skins, while an old woman at Armoy said +they were dressed in grey. I have seldom heard +of the Pechts beyond the confines of Antrim, +although an old man in Donegal spoke of them as +short people with large, unwieldy feet.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>The traditions regarding the Danes vary; sometimes +they are spoken of as a tall race, sometimes +as a short race. There is little doubt that the +tall race were the medieval Danes, while in the +short men we have probably a reminiscence of an +earlier race.</p> + +<p>A widespread belief exists throughout Ireland +that the Danes made heather beer, and that the +secret perished with them. According to an old +woman at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, the +Danes had the land in old times, but at last they were +conquered, and there remained alive only a father +and son. When pressed to disclose how the heather +beer was made, the father said: "Kill my son, and +I will tell you our secret"; but when the son was +slain, he cried: "Kill me also, but our secret +you shall never know!" I have the authority +of Mr. MacRitchie for stating that a similar story +is known in Scotland from the Shetlands to +the Mull of Galloway, but there it is told of the +Picts.</p> + +<p>We all remember Louis Stevenson's ballad of +heather ale—how the son was cast into the sea:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"And there on the cliff stood the father,<br></span> +<span class="i2">Last of the dwarfish men.<br></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"True was the word I told you:<br></span> +<span class="i2">Only my son I feared;<br></span> +<span class="i0">For I doubt the sapling courage<br></span> +<span class="i2">That goes without the beard.<br></span> +<span class="i0">But now in vain is the torture,<br></span> +<span class="i2">Fire shall never avail;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Here dies in my bosom<br></span> +<span class="i2">The secret of heather ale."<br></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>The secret appears, however, to have been preserved +for many centuries. After visiting Islay in +1772, the Welsh traveller and naturalist, Pennant, +states that "Ale is frequently made in this island +from the tops of heath, mixing two-thirds of that +plant with one of malt."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Probably these islanders were descendants of the +Picts or Pechts.</p> + +<p>I do not know if there is any record of the +making of heather beer in Ireland in later times, +but I heard the story of the lost secret in Down, +in Kerry, in Donegal, in Antrim, and everywhere +the father and the son were the last of the Danes. +Does not this point to the Irish Danes being a +kindred race to the Picts? If we may be allowed +to hold that the Tuatha de Danann are not altogether +mythical, I should be inclined to believe that +they are the short Danes of the Irish peasantry, +who built the forts and souterrains. I visited some +Danes' graves near Ballygilbert, in Co. Antrim; it +appeared to me that there were indications of a +stone circle, the principal tomb was in the centre, +the walls built without mortar, and I was told that +formerly it had been roofed in with a flat stone. +Various ridges were pointed out to me as marking +the small fields of these early people. I was also +shown their houses, built, like the graves, without +mortar. Within living memory these old struc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>tures +were much more perfect than at present, many +of them having the characteristic flat slab as a roof; +but fences were needed, and the Danes' houses +offered a convenient and tempting supply of stones. +In the same neighbourhood I was shown a building +of uncemented stone with flat slabs for the roof, +and was told it had been built by the fairies.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="image30"></a> +<img src="images/image30.png" border="0" alt="SOUTERRAIN of KNOCKDHU Co. Antrim - PLAN - Drawn by Florence Hobson from the +measurements made by M Hobson" title="" width="578" height="700"> +</div> + + +<p>In the same district I visited a fine souterrain at +the foot of Knockdhu, which was afterwards fully +explored and measured by Mrs. Hobson. She +describes it as "a souterrain containing six chambers, +with a length of eighty-seven feet exclusive of +a flooded chamber."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Mrs. Hobson photographed +the entrance to this souterrain, which is reproduced +in <a href="#plate7">Plate VII</a>.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate7"></a> +<img src="images/plate7.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="455"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate VII.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">ENTRANCE TO SOUTERRAIN AT KNOCKDHU.</p> +</div> + +<p>From the foregoing traditions it will be seen that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +Pechts, Danes, and fairies are all associated with the +remains of primitive man. I may add that the +small pipes sometimes turned up by the plough are +called in different localities Danes', Pechts', or +fairies' pipes.</p> + +<p>The peasantry regard the Pechts and the Danes +as thoroughly human; with the fairies it is otherwise. +They are unearthly beings, fallen angels with +supernatural powers; but, while quick to revenge an +injury or a slight, on the whole friendly to mankind. +"It was better for the country before they went +away," was the remark made to me by an old +woman from Garvagh, Co. Derry, and I have +heard the same sentiment expressed by others. +They are always spoken of with much respect, and +are often called the "gentry" or the "gentle folk."</p> + +<p>We hear of fairy men, fairy women, and fairy +children. They may intermarry with mortals, and +an old woman told me she had seen a fairy's funeral. +Now, do these stories give us only a materialistic +view of the spirit world held by early man, or can +we also trace in them a reminiscence of a pre-Celtic +race of small stature? The respect paid to the +fairy thorn is no doubt a survival of tree-worship, +and in the banshee we have a weird being who has +little in common with mortal woman. On the other +hand, the fairies are more often connected with the +artificial Forts and souterrains than with natural +hills and caves. These forts and souterrains, as we +have seen, are also the habitations of Danes and +Pechts. They are sacred spots—to injure them is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +to court misfortune; but I have not heard them +spoken of as sepulchres.</p> + +<p>I have already mentioned that I have rarely, if +ever, found among the peasantry any tradition of +fairies a few inches in height. In one of the tales +in "Silva Gadelica" (xiv.) we read, however, of +the lupracan being so small that the close-cropped +grass of the green reached to the thigh of their +poet, and the prize feat of their great champion was +the hewing down of a thistle at a single stroke. +Such a race could not have built the souterrains, +and probably owe their origin to the imagination of +the medieval story-teller. The lupracan were not, +however, always of such diminutive size. In a note +to this story Mr. Standish H. O'Grady quotes an +old Irish manuscript<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> in which a distinctly human +origin is ascribed to these luchorpan or wee-bodies. +"Ham, therefore, was the first that was cursed +after the Deluge, and from him sprang the wee-bodies +(pygmies), fomores, 'goatheads' (satyrs), +and every other deformed shape that human beings +wear." The old writer goes on to tell us that this +was the origin of these monstrosities, "which are +not, as the Gael relate, of Cain's seed, for of his +seed nothing survived the Flood."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>It is true that in this passage the lupracan or +wee-bodies are associated with goatheads; but +whether these are purely fabulous beings, or point +to an early race whose features were supposed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +resemble those of goats, or who perhaps stood in +totem relationship to goats, it would be difficult +to say. What we have here are two medieval +traditions, the one stating that the pygmies are +descendants of Cain, the other classing them among +the descendants of Ham. Does the latter contain +a germ of truth, and is it possible that at one time +a people resembling the pygmies of Central Africa +inhabited these islands?</p> + +<p>Those who have visited the African dwarfs in +their own haunts have been struck by the resemblance +between their habits and those ascribed to +the northern fairies, elves, and trolls.</p> + +<p>Sir Harry Johnston states that anyone who has +seen much of the merry, impish ways of the Central +African pygmies "cannot but be struck by their +singular resemblance in character to the elves and +gnomes and sprites of our nursery stories." He +warns us, however, against reckless theorizing, and +says: "It may be too much to assume that the +negro species ever inhabited Europe," but adds +that undoubtedly to his thinking "most fairy +myths arose from the contemplation of the mysterious +habits of dwarf troglodyte races lingering +on still in the crannies, caverns, forests, and mountains +of Europe after the invasion of neolithic +man."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Captain Burroughs refers to the stories of +these mannikins to be found in all countries, and +adds that "it was of the highest interest to find +some of them in their primitive and aboriginal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +state."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> He speaks of the red and black Akka, +and Sir Harry Johnston also describes the two +types of pygmy, one being of a reddish-yellow +colour, the other as black as the ordinary negro. +In the yellow-skinned type there is a tendency on +the part of the head hair to be reddish, more especially +over the frontal part of the head. The hair is +never absolutely black—it varies in colour between +greyish-greenish-brown, and reddish.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> We have +seen how Irish fairies and Danes have red hair, but +I should infer of a brighter hue than these African +dwarfs. The average height of the pygmy man is +four feet nine inches, of the pygmy woman four feet +six inches,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and although we cannot measure fairies, +I think the Ulster expression, "a lump of a boy or +girl," would correspond with this height. I do not +know the size of the fairy's foot, but, as we have +seen, both Danes and Pechts have large feet, and +so has the African pygmy.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> One of the great +marks of the fairies is their vanishing and leaving +no trace behind, and Sir Harry Johnston speaks of +the baboon-like adroitness of the African dwarfs in +making themselves invisible in squatting immobility.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>Dr. Robertson Smith has shown that "primitive +man has to contend not only with material difficulties, +but with the superstitious terror of the +unknown, paralyzing his energies and forbidding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +him freely to put forth his strength to subdue +nature to his use."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> In speaking of the Arabian +"jinn," he states "that even in modern accounts <i>jinn</i> +and various kinds of animals are closely associated, +while in the older legends they are practically +identified,"<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> and he adds that the stories point +distinctly "to haunted spots being the places where +evil beasts walk by night."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> He also shows that +totems or friendly demoniac beings rapidly develop +into gods when men rise above pure savagery,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +and he cites the ancestral god of Baalbek, who was +worshipped under the form of a lion.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>If we see, then, that early man, terrified by the +wild beasts, whether lions or reptiles, ascribed to +them superhuman powers, may not a similar mode +of thought have caused one race to invest with +supernatural attributes another race, strangers to +them, and possibly of inferior mental development? +The big negro is often afraid to withhold his +banana from the pygmy, and the dwarfish Lapps +and Finns have long been regarded as powerful +sorcerers by their more civilized neighbours. In like +manner the little woman, inhabiting her underground +dwelling at the foot of the sacred thorn-bush, +might well be looked upon as an uncanny +being, and in after-ages popular imagination might +transform her into the weird banshee, the woman +of the fairy mound, whose wailing cry betokens +death and disaster.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Reprinted from the <i>Antiquary</i>, August, <a name="tn_pg_63"></a><!-- TN: Comma changed to period after "1906"-->1906.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "Voyage to the Hebrides in 1772," p. 229. For a full +discussion of the subject, see Mr. MacRitchie's "Memories of +the Picts," in the <i>Scottish Antiquary</i> for 1900.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See "Some Ulster Souterrains," <i>Journal of the Royal +Anthropological Institute</i>, vol. xxxix., January-June, 1909. +The plan was drawn by Miss Florence Hobson from the +measurements made by Mrs. Hobson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Rawl., 486, f.49, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> "Silva Gadelica" (translation and notes), pp. 563, 564.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "Uganda Protectorate," vol. ii., pp. 516, 517.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "Land of the Pygmies," pp. 173, 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> "Uganda Protectorate," vol. ii. See pp. 527, 530; also +coloured frontispiece.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Uganda Protectorate," vol. ii., p. 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "The Religion of the Semites," p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 122, 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, note <i>b</i>, p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 425.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +<h2><a name="Folklore_connected_with_Ulster_Raths_and" id="Folklore_connected_with_Ulster_Raths_and"></a>Folklore connected with Ulster Raths and Souterrains +<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchorchap">[31]</a></h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>A</span></span><span class="firstwords">s</span> the title of this paper I have given "Folklore +connected with Ulster Raths and Souterrains," +but if I used the language of the country-people +I should speak, not of raths and souterrains, +but of forths and coves. In these coves it is +believed the fairies dwell, and here they keep as +prisoners women, children, even men. These subterranean +dwellings may not be known to mortals. +I heard of a lad being kept for several days in the +fort of the Shimna, near Newcastle, Co. Down, and +I was told that the great rath at Downpatrick had +been a very gentle place, meaning one inhabited +by fairies. In neither of these forts is there, as +far as is known, a souterrain, nor is there one in the +old fort at Antrim, a typical rath. In many +cases we do find the entrance to a souterrain is in +a fort. I may mention Ballymagreehan Fort, the +stone fort near Altnadua Lough in Co. Down, and +Crocknabroom, near Ballycastle. Although not in +Ulster, I may also refer to a fine example of a rath +with a souterrain in it, the Mote of Greenmount,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +described by the Rev. J. B. Leslie in his "History +of Kilsaran, Co. Louth."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate8"></a> +<img src="images/plate8.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="520"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate VIII.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">THE OLD FORT, ANTRIM.</p> +</div> + +<p>Many souterrains have no fort above them. +Take, for example, the one near Scollogstown, Co. +Down, with its numerous bridges, which it would +be decidedly unpleasant to face if little men were +behind them shooting arrows. Also Cloughnabrick +Cave, near Ballycastle, which is not built with stones, +but hollowed out of the basaltic rock.</p> + +<p>Fairies are not the only race connected with +raths and souterrains. We have two others, Danes +and Pechts. It is generally believed that the Danes +built the forts; hence we find many of them called +"Danes' forts." I will describe one named from +the townland in which it is situated, Ballycairn +Fort. It stands on a high bank overlooking the +Bann, about a mile north of Coleraine. The entire +height is about twenty-six feet; at perhaps twelve +feet from the ground a flat platform is reached, and +at one end of this the upper part of the fort rises in +a circular form for about fourteen or fifteen feet. +I was told the Danes who built it were short, stout +people, and as they had no wheelbarrows they +carried the earth in their leathern aprons. Here +we seem to come in contact with a very primitive +people, probably wearing the skins of wild animals, +and who are said, like the fairies, to have sandy or +red hair.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>As far as is known no souterrain exists in Ballycairn +Fort, although I was shown a stone at the +side which my guide said might be the entrance +to a "cove"; it appeared to me to be simply a +piece of rock appearing above the sod, or possibly a +boulder. There is a tradition of fairies living in +this fort, as it is said that in "long ago" times the +farmers used to threaten their boys if they were +not doing right, that the fairies would come out of +the fort and carry them away.</p> + +<p>Many of the souterrains in this part of the world +are now blocked up, and of some the entrance is +no longer known, although they have been explored +within living memory; others have been destroyed. +There was a souterrain a short distance from Ballycairn +fort in a field opposite to Cranogh National +School. The master of this school told me that +fifteen or sixteen years ago these underground +buildings existed, but now they have been all +quarried away. He also mentioned a tradition +that there was a subterranean passage under the +Bann.</p> + +<p>On the opposite bank of the river, near Portstewart, +I heard of several of these underground +dwellings.</p> + +<p>One was on the land of an old farmer eighty-four +years of age. He told me he had been in this cave, +but no one could get in now. It had been hollowed +out by man, but the walls were not built of stones. +There were several rooms; you dropped from one +to another through a narrow hole. The rooms were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +large, but low in the roof; in one of them a quantity +of limpet-shells were found. He added that some +said that the Danes had built these caves, others +that the clans made them as places of refuge. He +added that the Danes of those days had sandy hair +and were short people; not like the sturdy Danes +of the present day. These are well known to the +seafaring population of Ulster, and we sometimes +find the old Danes spoken of as a tall, fair race; +probably this is a true description of the medieval +sea-rovers. The short Danes I should be inclined +to identify with the Tuatha de Danann, and I +believe that, notwithstanding the magical portents +which abound in the tales that have come down +to us, we have here a very early people who had +made some progress in the arts.</p> + +<p>This double use of the name Dane seems at times +to have perplexed the older writers. The Rev. +William Hamilton, in his "Letters on the North-East +Coast of Antrim," published towards the end +of the eighteenth century, gives a description of +the coal-mines of Ballycastle<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> and of the very +ancient galleries, with the pillars, left by the prehistoric +miners, supporting the roof, which had been +discovered some twelve years before he wrote. +He tells us that the people of the place ascribed +them to the Danes, but argues that these were +never peaceable possessors of Ireland, and that it is +not "to the tumultuary and barbarous armies of +the ninth and tenth centuries ... we are to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +attribute the slow and toilsome operations of peace." +He mentions how the stalactite pillars found in +these galleries marked their antiquity, and ascribes +them to some period prior to the eighth century, +"when Ireland enjoyed a considerable share of +civilization."</p> + +<p>In the same way John Windele, writing in the +<i>Ulster Journal of Archæology</i> for 1862, speaks of +the mines in Waterford having been worked by the +ancient inhabitants, and adds: "One almost insulated +promontory is perforated like a rabbit-burrow, +and is known as the 'Danes' Island,' the peasantry +attributing these ancient mines, like all other relics +of remote civilisation, to the Danes."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>From my own experience I can corroborate this +statement. An artificial island in Lough Sessiagh, +in Co. Donegal, was shown to me as the work of the +Danes. The forts on Horn Head and at Glenties +are also ascribed to them.</p> + +<p>The use of the souterrains was not confined to +prehistoric times. The one at Greenmount appears +to have been inhabited by the medieval Danes, as +a Runic inscription, engraved on a plate of bronze, +has been discovered in it, the only one as yet found +in Ireland. In 1317 every man dwelling in an +ooan, or caher's souterrain, was summoned to join +the army of Domched O'Brian.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The French +traveller, Jorevin de Rocheford, speaks of sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>terranean +vaults where the peasants assembled to +hear Mass,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> and in still more recent times the +smuggler and the distiller of illicit whisky found +them convenient places of concealment.</p> + +<p>In a former paper I referred to the lost secret +of the heather beer, and the tragic ending of the +last of the Danes.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> As the story was told me near +Ballycairn Fort, the father said: "Give my son the +first lilt of the rope, and I will reveal our secret"; +but when the son was dead the father cried: "Slay +me also, for none shall ever know how the heather +beer was brewed!"</p> + +<p>In a paper read to this club Mr. McKean<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> mentioned +that this story had been told to him in Kerry, +where I, too, heard it. It appears to be almost +universal in Ulster. When visiting Navan Fort, +the ancient Emania, near Armagh, I was told that +on this fort the Danes made heather beer. I asked +if any heather grew in the neighbourhood, but the +answer was, not now. There are variants of the +tale. In some parts of Donegal it is wine, not +beer, that the Danes are said to have made. As +a rule the slaughter is taken for granted, and very +little said about it; but a farmer in Co. Antrim +gave me a full account of the massacre, how at +a great feast a Roman Catholic sat beside each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +Dane, and at a given signal plunged his dirk into +his neighbour's side, until only one man and his son +remained alive; then followed the usual sequel.</p> + +<p>These short Danes are said to have had large +feet, and one man described their arms as so long +that they could pick anything off the ground +without stooping. Long arms are also a characteristic +of the traditional dwarf of Japan, probably +an ancestor of the Aino.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> As I mentioned in +a previous paper,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> large feet are also a traditional +characteristic of the Pechts, who are generally +said to have been clad in skins or in grey clothes. +They have occasionally superhuman attributes +ascribed to them. The same man who spoke of the +long arms of the Danes said the Pechts could creep +through keyholes—they were like "speerits"—and +he evidently regarded both them and the fairies as +evil spirits. At the same time he said they would +thresh corn or work for a man, but if they were +given food, they would be offended, and go away.</p> + +<p>I think the close connection between Danes, +Pechts, and fairies will be apparent to all, although +the fairy has more supernatural characteristics, +and in the banshee assumes a very weird form. +Lady Fanshawe has described the apparition she +saw when staying, in 1649, with the Lady Honora +O'Brien, as a woman in white, with red hair and +ghastly complexion, who thrice cried "Ahone!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +and vanished with a sigh more like wind than +breath. This was apparently the ghost of a murdered +woman, who was said to appear when any +of the family died, and that night a cousin of their +hostess had passed away.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Similar stories, as we +all know, exist at the present day.</p> + +<p>Except in the case of the banshee, fairies rarely +partake of the nature of ghosts, and I should note +that in her description of the apparition Lady +Fanshawe does not use the word "banshee." In +many respects the fairies are akin to mortals—there +are fairy men, fairy women, and fairy children. +Fairies often live under bushes, and I was told in +Co. Armagh that it would be a very serious matter +to cut down a "lone" thorn-bush; those growing +in rows were evidently less sacred. Did the thorn-bush +hide the entrance to the subterranean +dwelling?</p> + +<p>The fairies are quick to revenge an injury or an +encroachment on their territory. A fire which +occurred at Dunree on Lough Swilly was attributed +to the fairies, who were supposed to be angry because +the military had carried the works of their +modern fort too near the fairy rock. In some +places the raths have been cultivated, but, as a +rule, this is looked upon as very unlucky, and sure +to bring dire misfortune on the man who attempts +it. On the other hand, there appears to be no +objection to growing crops on the top of a souter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>rain. +Many are, it is true, afraid to enter these +dark abodes, and others consider it unwise to +carry anything out of them. I have never heard +them spoken of as tombs, and the fairies are regarded, +not as ghosts, but as fallen angels, to +whom no Church holds out a hope of salvation. +Only in one instance did a woman tell me that +as fairies were good to the poor, she thought +there would be hope for them hereafter. The +Irish fairy remains a pagan; the ancient well of +pre-Christian days may be consecrated to the +Christian saint, and patterns held beside it, but +no pious pilgrim prays on the rath or below the +fairy rock.</p> + +<p>We may now ask ourselves the meaning of these +legends. The rath and souterrain are undoubtedly +the work of primitive man, yet here we have the +Sidh, inhabited by the fairy and the Tuatha de +Danann. In the "Colloquy of the Ancients"<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> we +are told it was out of a Sidh, Finn's chief musician, +the dwarf Cnu deiriol came, and from another +Sidh came Blathnait, whom the small man espoused. +It was fairy music which Cnu taught to +the musicians of the Fianna. It was out of a +Sidh in the south that Cas corach, son of the Olave +of the Tuatha de Danann, came to the King of +Ulidia.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>In Derrick's "Image of Ireland," written in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +1578, and published in 1581, the Olympian gods +call upon certain little mountain gods, whom I +should be inclined to identify with the fairies, to +come to their aid:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"Let therefore little Mountain Gods<br></span> +<span class="i0">A troupe (as thei maie spare)<br></span> +<span class="i0">Of breechlesse men at all assaies,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Both leauvie and prepare<br></span> +<span class="i0">With mantelles down unto the shoe<br></span> +<span class="i0">To lappe them in by night;<br></span> +<span class="i0">With speares and swordes and little dartes<br></span> +<span class="i0">To shield them from despight."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a><br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>May I, in conclusion, express my belief that in +the traditions of fairies, Danes, and Pechts the +memory is preserved of an early race or races of +short stature, but of considerable strength, who +built underground dwellings, and had some skill +in music and in other arts? They appear to have +been spread over a great part of Europe. It is +possible that, as larger races advanced, these small +people were driven southwards to the mountains +of Switzerland, westward towards the Atlantic, +and northward to Lapland, where their descendants +may still be found. No doubt there is a large +supernatural element, especially in the stories of +the fairies; but the same may be said of the tales +of witches in the seventeenth century. The witch +was undoubtedly human, yet she was believed, and +sometimes believed herself, to possess superhuman +powers, and to be in communication with un<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>earthly +beings. We must also remember the widespread +belief in local spirits or gods, and a taller +race of invaders might well fear the magic of an +earlier people long settled in the country, even if +the latter were inferior in bodily and mental +characteristics.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Read before the Archæological Section of the Belfast +Naturalists' Field Club, February 12, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Pp. 12-20. Several sections of this rath are given; also +a view showing Greenmount in 1748, and a plan of the same +date—both from Wright's "Louthiana," published in that +year.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Part I., Letter IV., Edition 1822.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Ulster Journal of Archæology</i>, 1861-62, p. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See "Prehistoric Stone Forts of Northern Clare," by +Thomas J. Westropp, M.A., M.R.I.A. (<i>Journal of the Royal +Society of Antiquaries of Ireland</i>, vol. vi., fifth series, 1896).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See "Illustrations of Irish History," by C. Litton Falkiner, +p. 416. He considers it probable that Jorevin de Rochefort +was Albert Jouvin de Rochefort, Trésorier de France.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> See Ulster Fairies, Danes and Pechts, p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> See Annual Report of Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, +1907-08, "A Holiday Trip to West Kerry," p. 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> See Mr. David MacRitchie's "Northern Trolls," read at +the Folklore Congress, Chicago, 1893, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> See Ulster Fairies, Danes and Pechts, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> See "Memoirs of Anne, Lady Fanshawe," edited by +Herbert C. Fanshawe, pp. 57-59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Translated by Mr. S. H. O'Grady in "Silva Gadelica," +volume with translation and notes. (For Cnu and Blathnait, +see pp. 115-117.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 187, 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> P. 38, Edinburgh, 1883; edited by John Small, M.A., +F.S.A.Scot.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +<h2><a name="Traditions_of_Dwarf_Races_in_Ireland_and" id="Traditions_of_Dwarf_Races_in_Ireland_and"></a>Traditions of Dwarf Races in Ireland and in Switzerland +<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchorchap">[45]</a></h2> + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>I</span></span><span class="firstwords">n</span> the traditions alike of Switzerland and of +Ireland we hear of a dwarfish people, dwellers +in mountain caves or in artificial souterrains, who +are gifted with magical powers. The quaint figure +of the Swiss dwarf with his peaked cap has been +made familiar to us by the carvings of the peasantry, +and in Antrim and Donegal the Irish fairy +is said to wear a peaked cap of plaited rushes. +With rushes he also makes a covering for his +feet.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>Closely allied to the fairy is the Grogach, with +his large head and soft body, who appears to have +no bones as he comes tumbling down the hills. +These Grogachs I heard of in North-East Antrim,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +and in them, as in the fairies, the supernatural +characteristics preponderate. I was told that both +were full of magic, and had come from Egypt.</p> + +<p>We have, however, two other small races who +are usually regarded by the peasantry as strictly +human, the Pechts and the Danes.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Two traditions +regarding Danes exist: sometimes we hear +of tall Danes, doubtless the medieval sea-rovers; +sometimes of small Danes, the builders of many of +the raths and souterrains.</p> + +<p>While the Danes are the great builders throughout +Ireland, some of the raths and souterrains, +especially those in North-East Antrim, are said +to have been made by the Pechts. Last summer I +visited one of these, the cave of Finn McCoul. It +is a souterrain situated in Glenshesk, about three +miles from Ballycastle. The ground above it is +perfectly flat, no fort or any inequality to mark the +spot; indeed, the farmer who kindly opened it for +me had at first a difficulty in knowing in what part +of the field to dig, as the entrance had been covered. +On my second visit, however, I found he had discovered +the spot. Entering a narrow passage, I +crept through an opening from one and a half to +two feet high, and found myself in a narrow +chamber eight or nine feet long and little over +four feet in height. The roof was formed of large +flat slabs, which I was told were whinstone (basalt). +At the opposite end of this chamber there was +another narrow opening, leading, I presume, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +a passage. I did not, however, venture farther; +but I understand this artificial cave extends for +about twenty perches underground, and has several +chambers.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:525px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate9"></a> +<img src="images/plate9.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="525" height="700"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate IX.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">GREY MAN'S PATH, FAIR HEAD.</p> +</div> + +<p>I was told that this cave was the hiding-place +of Finn McCoul. His garden was pointed out to me +on rising ground at some little distance, and I was +also informed that about fifty years ago his castle +stood on the hill; but nothing now remains of it, +the stones having been used when roads were made.</p> + +<p>The following story was related to me on the +spot: A Scotch giant came over to fight Finn +McCoul, but was conquered and slain. To celebrate +this victory Finn invited the Grey Man of +the Path to a feast; but as hares and rabbits would +have been too small to furnish a repast for this +giant, Finn took his dog and went out to hunt red +deer. They were unsuccessful, and in anger he +slew his dog Brown,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> which afterwards caused him +much sorrow.</p> + +<p>In the Grey Man of the Path we have, doubtless, +a purely mythical character, an impersonation of +the mists which gather round Benmore,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +Finn McCoul, or MacCumaill, is one of Ireland's +greatest traditional heroes. According to a well-known +legend, he was a giant, and united Scotland +and Ireland by a stupendous mole, of which the +cave at Staffa and the Giant's Causeway are the +two remaining fragments. In Glenshesk he is +only a tall man, between seven and eight feet in +height. Sometimes he is said to have been chief +of the Pechts; sometimes he is spoken of as their +master, and it is said they worked as slaves to +him and the Fians.</p> + +<p>According to tradition, the Pechts were very +numerous, and must have carried the heavy slabs +for the roof of Finn McCoul's cave a distance of +several miles. Although usually looked on as +strictly human, supernatural characteristics are +sometimes attributed to them. Like the Swiss +"Servan," both they and the Grogachs have been +known to thresh corn or do other work for the +farmers.</p> + +<p>I was told at Ballycastle of one man who always +laid out at night the bundles of corn he expected +the Grogach to thresh, and each morning the +appointed task was accomplished. One night he +forgot to lay the corn on the floor of the barn, and +threw his flail on the top of the stack. The poor +Grogach imagined that he was to thresh the +whole, and set to work manfully; but the task was +beyond his strength, and in the morning he was +found dead. The farmer and his wife buried him, +and mourned deeply the loss of their small friend.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Clough-na-murry Fort is said to be a "gentle"<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> +place, yet an old man living near it told me he did +not believe in the Grogachs; he thought it was the +Danes who had worked for the farmers. He said +these Danes were a persevering people, and that +when they were in distress they would thresh corn +for the farmers, if food were left out for them. +Others say that the Danes were too proud to work.</p> + +<p>One does not hear much of Brownies in Ulster; +but I have been told they were hairy people who +did not require clothes, but would thresh or cut +down a field of corn for a farmer. On one occasion, +out of gratitude for the work done, some porridge +was left for them on plates round the fire. They +ate it, but went away crying sadly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"I got my mate an' my wages,<br></span> +<span class="i0">An' they want nae mair o' me."<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Although, according to some, the Grogachs +gladly accept food, others say that they and the +Pechts are offended if it is offered to them, and +leave to return no more.</p> + +<p>I have not often heard of clothes being offered +to the Pechts or Grogachs, but the Rev. John G. +Campbell relates a story of a Brownie in Shetland +who ground grain in a hand-quern at night. He +was rewarded for his labours by a cloak and hood +left for him at the mill. These disappeared in the +morning, and with them the Brownie, who never +came back.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> + +<p>A similar tale is told of a Swiss dwarf. At Ems, +in Canton Valais, a miller engaged the services +of a "Gottwerg," and the little man worked early +and late, sometimes rising in the night to see that +all was in order. The mill produced twice as +much as formerly, and at the end of the year the +dwarf was rewarded by a garment made of the +best wool. He put it on, jumped for joy, and +crying out, "Now I am a handsome man, I have +no more need to grind rye," he disappeared, and +was not seen again.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>In these tales from Ireland, Scotland, and +Switzerland, may there not be a reminiscence of a +conquered race of small stature, but considerable +strength, who worked either as slaves or for some +small gift? No doubt they were badly fed, and +their clothing would be of the scantiest.</p> + +<p>Like the Danes and the Pechts, the fairies live +underground. There is a widespread story of a +fairy woman who begs a cottager not to throw +water out at the doorstep, as it falls down her +chimney. The request is invariably granted.</p> + +<p>Some of these "wee folk" dwell in palaces +under the sea. I heard a story at Ballyliffan, in +Co. Donegal, of men being out in a boat which was +nearly capsized by a heavy sea raised by a fairy. +At last one sailor cried out to throw a nail against +the advancing wave; this was done, and the nail +hit the fairy. That night a woman, skilled in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +healing, received a message calling upon her to +go to the courts below the sea. She consented, +extracted the nail, and cured the fairy woman, +but was careful not to eat any food offered to her. +This fairy is said to have promised a man a pot of +gold if he would marry her, but he refused.</p> + +<p>An old man at Culdaff told me another tale of +the sea. A fishing-boat was nearly overwhelmed, +when a fairy-boat was seen riding on the top of a +great wave, and a voice from it cried: "Do not +harm that boat; an old friend of mine is in it." The +voice belonged to a man who was supposed to be +dead; but he had been carried off by the fairies, +and would not allow them to injure his old friend.</p> + +<p>If the Irish fairy has power over the waves, the +Swiss dwarf can divert the course of the devastating +landslip. I was told by an elderly man in +the Bernese Oberland of the destruction of Burglauenen, +a village near Grindelwald. All the +cottages were overwhelmed by a landslip except +one poor hut, which had given shelter to a dwarf, +who was seen, seated on a stone, directing the +moving mass away from the abode of his friends. +A similar story is told of the destruction of Niederdorf, +in the Simmenthal.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> One Sunday evening +a feeble little man clad in rags came to the village; +he knocked at several houses, praying the inmates +to give him, for the love of God, a night's shelter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +Everywhere he was refused—one hard-hearted +woman telling him to go and break stones—until +he came to a poor basket-maker and his wife, +who gave him the best they had, and when he left +he promised that God would reward them. A +week later the village was destroyed by a terrible +landslip, but here also the dwarf saved the dwelling +of those who had befriended him.</p> + +<p>In this story and in many others the Swiss dwarf +appears as a good Christian, but sometimes a rude +and terrible form of paganism is attributed to +him. In the tale of the "Gotwergini im Lötschental"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +these dwarfs are accused of devouring +children, and are said to have buried an old +woman alive. She was apparently one of themselves. +When they were laying her in the pit she +wept bitterly, and begged that she might go free, +saying she could still cook. But the dwarfs showed +no pity: placing some bread and wine beside her, +they covered in the grave. Is this an instance +of the primitive barbarism of killing those no +longer able to work, which is said still to exist +among the Todas of India, and of which traces +have been found in the customs of Scandinavia +and other countries?<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>The Irish fairy never appears as a Christian.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +He is regarded by the peasant as a fallen angel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +and no Church holds out to him the hope of salvation. +I was told in Inishowen that a priest +walking between Clonmany and Ballyliffan was +surrounded by the "wee folk," who asked anxiously +if they could be saved. He threw his book towards +them, bade them catch it, and he would give them +an answer; but at the sight of the breviary they +scattered and fled.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>The Protestant Bible and hymn-book are equally +dreaded by them, and are used as a spell against +their influence. I was told in the North of Antrim +of a woman who was nearly carried off by the +fairies because her friends had omitted to leave +these books beside her. Luckily her husband, +who was sleeping by the fire, awoke in time to +save her. A pair of scissors, a darning-needle, or +any piece of iron, would have been efficacious as +a charm, so would the husband's trousers, if +thrown across the bed.</p> + +<p>While, as we have seen, the fairies are endowed +with many supernatural qualities, they have much +in common with ordinary mortals; there are fairy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +men, fairy women, and fairy children. I have +more than once heard of a fairy's funeral; they +intermarry with mortals, and I have been told +that those who bear the name of Ferris are descended +from fairies. I presume Ferris is a corruption +of Fir Sidhe. Fairies are never associated +with churchyards, nor are they usually looked on +as the spirits of the departed. The banshee may, +indeed, partake to some extent of a ghostly character. +Lady Wilde speaks of her as the "spirit +of death—the most weird and awful of all the +fairy powers," and adds, "but only certain families +of historic lineage or persons gifted with music and +song are attended by this spirit."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>It has often been stated that the banshee is an +appanage of the great, but this is not the belief +of the peasantry of Ulster: many families in humble +life have a banshee attached to them. When in +a curragh on Lough Sessiagh, in Co. Donegal, the +neighbouring hill of Ben Olla was pointed out to +me, and I was also shown a small cottage in which +a girl named Olla had lived. She was carried off +by the fairies, and her wailing was heard before +the death of her mother, and again before the +death of several members of her family. A farmer, +or even a labourer, may have a banshee attached +to his family—a little white creature was the description +given to me by a woman who said she had +seen one; others say that banshees are like birds.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>To leave these weird apparitions, it will be seen +that the ordinary fairy, the Grogach, the Pecht, +and the Dane, all inhabit underground dwellings, +although the fairy and Grogach are regarded more +in the light of supernatural beings. To cut down +a fairy or a "Skiough" bush is to court misfortune, +sometimes to attempt an impossible task. +In Glenshesk some men tried to cut down +a Skiough bush, but the hatchet broke; after +several failures they gave up, and the bush still +flourishes. Another bush was transplanted, but +returned during the night.</p> + +<p>To the Danes and Pechts the building of all the +raths and souterrains is ascribed, and in North-East +Antrim the Pechts are said to have been so +numerous that, when making a fort, they could +stand in a long line, and hand the earth from one +to another, no one moving a step. A similar story +is told of the Scotch Pechts by the Rev. Andrew +Small in his "Antiquities of Fife" (1823).<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> +Speaking of the Round Tower of Abernethy, "The +story goes," he says, "that it was built by the +Pechts ... and that while the work was going on +they stood in a row all the way from the Lomond +Hill to the building, handing the stones from one +to another.... That it has been built of freestone +from the Lomond Hill is clear to a demonstration, +as the grist or nature of the stone points out the +very spot where it has been taken from—namely,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +a little west, and up from the ancient wood of +Drumdriell, about a mile straight south from +Meralsford." According to popular tradition in +Scotland, these Pechts or Picts were great builders, +and many of the edifices ascribed to them belong +to a comparatively late period. Mr. MacRitchie +suggests that in the erection of some of these the +Picts may have been employed as serfs or slaves.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +He believes the Pechts to be the Picts of history. +Mr. W. C. Mackenzie, on the other hand, has suggested +that they are an earlier dwarf race, the Pets +or Peti, who have been confused by the peasantry +with the Picts.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> This is a matter I must leave to +others to decide; but I may remark in passing that +in an ancient poem on the Cruithnians, preserved +in the book of Lecan, we have a suggestion that +these Cruithnians or Picts were a smaller race than +their enemies, the Tuath Fidga. We are told +how</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"God vouchsafed unto them, in munificence,<br></span> +<span class="i0">For their faithfulness—for their reward—<br></span> +<span class="i0">To protect them from the poisoned arms<br></span> +<span class="i0">Of the repulsive horrid giants."<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a><br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then follows an account of the cure discovered +by the Cruithnian Druid—how he milked thrice +fifty cows into one pit, and bathing in this pit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +appears to have healed the warriors and preserved +them from harm.</p> + +<p>In an article on "The Fairy Mythology of +Europe in its Relation to Early History,"<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> +Mr. A. S. Herbert identifies the early dwarf +race with Palæolithic man, and states that from +such skeletons as have been unearthed "it is +believed that they were a people of Mongolian +or Turanian origin, short, squat, yellow-skinned, +and swarthy."</p> + +<p>Professor J. Kollmann, of Basle, speaking +of dwarf races, describes "the flat, broad face, +with a flat, broad, low nose and large nose +roots."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>Compare these statements with the description +given by Harris in the eighteenth century of the +native inhabitants of the northern and eastern +coasts of Ireland. "They are," he says, "of a +squat sett Stature, have short, broad Faces, thick +Lips, hollow Eyes, and Noses cocked up, and seem +to be a distinct people from the Western Irish, by +whom they are called Clan-galls—<i>i.e.</i>, the offspring +of the Galls. The curious may carry these observations +further. Doubtless a long intercourse and +various mixtures of the natives have much worn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +out these distinctions, of which I think there are +yet visible remains."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>We have, indeed, had in Ireland from very early +times a mingling of various races, but in the North +we are in the home of the Irish Picts or Cruithnians, +and possibly this description of Harris may +indicate that some of the inhabitants in his day +bore marks of a dwarfish ancestry. I have +already drawn attention to a statement in an old +Irish manuscript<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> that the Luchorpan or wee-bodies, +the Fomores and others, were of the race +of Ham. Keating also speaks of the Fomorians +being sea-rovers of the race of Cam (Ham), who +fared from Africa,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> and states that among the +articles of tribute exacted by them from the race +of Neimhidh were two-thirds of the children. +Unless these were all slaughtered, we have here +an intermingling of races, and in the same way +it would be quite possible that Finn McCoul +might be a tall man, and yet the leader of the +small Pechts. The capture of women and children +has been a common practice among savage races, +and this I believe to be the origin of many fairy-tales, +rather than any reference to the abode of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +the dead. Throughout the "Colloquy of the +Ancients," Finn and the Fianna frequently enter +the green sidh—the mound where the Tuatha de +Danann dwell, and from which the fairies derive +their name "fir-sidh." Sometimes they fight as +allies of the inmates; frequently they intermarry +with them.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> Throughout this colloquy the dwellers +in the sidh possess many magical powers, but they +hardly appear as gods of the ancient Irish, and the +verse in Fiacc's hymn referring to the worship +of the Sidis is not among the stanzas regarded as +genuine by Professor Bury.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>We see that both in Ireland and Switzerland +there are many legends of dwarf races who inhabit +underground dwellings. In Switzerland their +skeletons have been found. Those discovered by +Dr. Nuesch at Schweizersbild, near Schaffhausen, +have been minutely described by Dr. J. Kollmann, +Professor of Anatomy at Basle.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> This burial-place +dates from the early Neolithic period; in it +are found skeletons belonging to men of ordinary +height, and in close proximity the graves of dwarfs.</p> + +<p>The neighbourhood of Schaffhausen appears to +be rich in the remains of early man; several +skeletons have been found in the cave of Dachsenbüel, +two of them of small men, "such as in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +Africa would be accounted pygmies."<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Professor +Kollmann mentions several other places in Switzerland +where skeletons of dwarfs have been found, +as also in the Grotte des Enfants on the Bay of +Genoa. He also speaks of dwarf races existing +at the present day in Sicily, Sardinia, Sumatra, +the Philippine Islands, besides the well-known +Veddas of Ceylon, the Andaman Islanders, and +the African pygmies. He believes that these +small people represent the oldest form of human +beings, and that from them the taller races have +been evolved.</p> + +<p>How long did these primitive people continue +to exist in Ireland and in Switzerland? It would +be difficult to say. Tradition ascribes to them a +strong physique, but even if they could hold their +own with the taller races in the Neolithic period, +it must have been hard for them to contend with +those who used weapons of bronze or iron, and, as +we have seen, iron is specially obnoxious to the +fairies. The people, however, who built the large +number of souterrains dotted over Antrim and +Down could not be easily exterminated. Many +of them may have been enslaved or gradually +absorbed in the rest of the population; others +would take refuge in retired spots, such as are still +spoken of as "gentle" or haunted by fairies. If +I might hazard a conjecture, I should say that both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +in Ireland and in Switzerland dwarf races had survived +far into Christian times, perhaps to a comparatively +recent period. The Irish fairy may possibly +represent those who refused to accept the +teaching of St. Patrick and St. Columbkill, while +St. Gall and other Irish monks may have numbered +Swiss dwarfs among their converts. Be +this as it may, we have certainly in Ulster the +tradition of two dwarf races, the small Danes and +the Pechts, who are undoubtedly human. We are +shown their handiwork, and, primitive as are their +underground dwellings, the builders of the souterrains +had advanced far beyond the stage when +man could only find shelter in the caves provided +for him by Nature. How many centuries did he +take to learn the lesson? It is a far-reaching +question, but here fairy-tales and popular legends +are silent. They keep no count of time, although +they may bring to us whispers from long-past ages.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Reprinted from the <i>Antiquary</i>, October, 1909.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> May it not be that Cinderella's glass shoe was really green +and derived its name from the Irish word <i>glas</i>, denoting that +colour, which is familiar to us in place-names? I make this +conjecture with diffidence. I know the usual explanation is +that the shoe was made of a kind of fur called in Old French +vair, and that a transcriber changed this word into <i>verre</i>. +Miss Cox, in her "Cinderella," mentions that she had only +found six instances of a glass shoe. As Littré says in the +article on <i>vair</i> in his Dictionary, a <i>soulier de verre</i> is absurd. +A fur slipper, however, does not appear very suitable for a ball.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> See Ulster Fairies, Danes and Pechts, p. 27 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> This is, no doubt, a corruption of Bran.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> The Grey Man's Path is a fissure on the face of Benmore +or Fair Head, by which a good climber can ascend the cliff. It +has been suggested that this Grey Man is one of the old gods, +possibly Manannan, the Irish sea-god. In the <i>Ulster Journal +of Archæology</i> for 1858, vol. vi., p. 358, there is an account +given of the Grey Man appearing near the mouth of the Bush +River to two youths, who believed they would have seen his +cloven foot had he not been standing in the water. They had +at first mistaken the apparition for an ordinary man.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> A place inhabited by fairies, or "gentlefolk."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland," +p. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Dr. J. Jegerlehner, "Was die Sennen erzählen, Märchen +und Sagen aus dem Wallis," pp. 102, 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> See "Der Untergang des Niederdorfs" in "Sagen und +Sagengeschichten aus dem Simmenthal," vol. ii., pp. 29-44, by +D. Gempeler.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> See "Am Herdfeuer der Sennen, Neue Märchen und Sagen +aus dem Wallis," pp. 26-31, by Dr. J. Jegerlehner.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> See "Folklore as an Historical Science," by Sir G. Laurence +Gomme, pp. 67-78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> I have heard of only one exception.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Patrick Kennedy, in "A Belated Priest," tells how the +"good people" surrounded a priest on a dark night, and asked +him to declare that at the Last Day their lot would not be +with Satan. He replied by the question, "Do you adore and +love the Son of God?" There came no answer but weak and +shrill cries, and with a rushing of wings the fairies disappeared +(see "Fictions of the Irish Celts," p. 89). +</p><p> +In "The Priest's Supper," the good people are anxious to +know if their souls will be saved at the Last Day, but when +an interview with a priest is suggested to them they fly away +(see "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland," +by T. Crofton Croker, pp. 36-42).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> "Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of +Ireland," vol. i., p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> It is quoted by Mr. David MacRitchie in "Testimony of +Tradition," p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "Testimony of Tradition," p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> See "The Picts and Pets" in the <i>Antiquary</i> for May, 1906, +p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> "The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius," +edited, with a translation and notes, by James H. Todd, D.D., +F.T.C. (Dublin, 1848). The verse quoted is given at p. lxix, +additional notes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> See the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, February, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> See "Ein dolichokephaler Schädel aus dem Dachsenbüel +und die Bedeutung der kleinen Menschenrassen für das +Abstammungsproblem der Grossen." His words are: "In +dem platten, breiten Gesicht sitzt dann eine platte, breite, +niedrige Nase, mit breiter Nasenwürzel." He is speaking of +the characteristics of the present dwarf races found throughout +the world, and quotes the authority of Hagen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Sir James Ware's "Antiquities of Ireland," translated, +revised, and improved, with many material additions, by +Walter Harris, Esq., vol. ii., chap. ii., p. 17 (Dublin, 1764). +The above is taken from one of the additional notes by Harris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Quoted by Mr. Standish H. O'Grady in "Silva Gadelica" +(translation and notes), pp. 563, 564. See Ante p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Keating's "History of Ireland," book i., chap. viii. Translation +by P. W. Joyce, LL.D., M.R.I.A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> See Cael's "Wooing of Credhe" in "The Colloquy of the +Ancients"; "Silva Gadelica," by Standish H. O'Grady, volume +with translation and notes, pp. 119-122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See "Life of St. Patrick," p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> See Der Mensch, "Separat-Abzug aus den Denkschriften +der Schweiz Naturforschenden Gesellschaft," Band xxxv, 1896.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> See the paper already referred to, "Ein dolichokephaler +Schädel," etc. Professor J. Kollmann's words are: "Die man +in Africa wohl zu den Pygmäen zählen wurde."</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +<h2><a name="Folklore_from_Donegal72" id="Folklore_from_Donegal72"></a>Folklore from Donegal<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchorchap">[72]</a></h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>T</span></span><span class="firstwords">he</span> stories current among the peasantry are +varied, especially in Donegal, where we hear +of giants and fairies, of small and tall Finns, of +short, stout Firbolgs or Firwolgs, of Danes who made +heather ale, and sometimes of Pechts with their +large feet.</p> + +<p>According to one legend, the fairies were angels +who had remained neutral during the great war in +heaven. They are sometimes represented as kindly, +but often as mischievous. Near Dungiven, in Co. +Derry, I was told of a friendly fairy who, dressed +as an old woman, came one evening to a cottage +where a poor man and his wife lived. She said +to the wife that if the stone at the foot of the +table were lifted she would find something that +would last her all her days. As soon as the visitor +was gone, the wife called to her husband to bring +a crowbar; they raised the stone, and under it +was a crock of gold.</p> + +<p>The old man who related this story to me had +himself found in a bog a crock covered with a +slate. He hoped it might be full of gold, but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +only contained bog butter, which he used for +greasing cart-wheels.</p> + +<p>A carman at Rosapenna told me how the fairies +would lead people astray, carrying one man off to +Scotland. A girl had her face twisted through +their influence, and had to go to the priest to be +cured. "He was," the man added, "one of the +old sort, who could work miracles, of whom there +are not many nowadays." Near Finntown a girl +had offended the fairies by washing clothes in a +"gentle" burn, or stream haunted by the little +people. Her eyes were turned to the back of her +head. She, too, invoked the aid of a priest, and +his blessing restored them to their proper place.</p> + +<p>Donegal fairies appear able to adapt themselves +to modern conditions. I was told at Finntown they +did not interfere with the railway, as they sometimes +enjoyed a ride on the top of the train. +Although usually only seen in secluded spots, they +occasionally visit a fair or market, but are much +annoyed if recognized.</p> + +<p>In the following story we have an illustration +of intercourse between fairies and human beings: +An old woman at Glenties was called upon by a +strange man to give her aid at the birth of a child. +At first she refused, but he urged her, saying it +was not far, and in the end she consented. When +he brought her to his dwelling she saw a daughter +whom she had supposed to be dead, but who was +now the wife of the fairy man. The daughter +begged her not to let it be known she was her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +mother, and, giving her a ring, bade her look on +it at times and she would know when they could +meet. She also added that her husband would certainly +offer a reward, but she implored her mother +not to accept it, but to ask that the red-haired +boy might be given to her. "He will not be +willing to part from him," the daughter added; +"but if you beg earnestly, he will give him to you +in the end." The mother attended her daughter, +and when his child was born the fairy man offered +her a rich reward, but she refused, praying only +that the red-haired boy might be given to her. +At first the father refused, but when she pleaded +her loneliness, he granted her request. The +daughter was well pleased, told her mother they +might meet at the fair on the hill behind Glenties, +but warned her that even if she saw the fairy man +she must never speak to him. The old woman +returned to her home, taking her grandson, the +red-haired boy, with her. She kept the ring +carefully, and it gave her warning when she would +meet her daughter on the hill at Glenties. These +interviews were for a long time a great comfort +to mother and daughter, but one day, in the joy +of her heart, the mother shook hands with and +spoke to the fairy man. He turned to her angrily +asking how she could see him, and with that he +blew upon her eyes, so that she could no longer +discern fairies. The precious ring also disappeared, +and she never again saw her daughter.</p> + +<p>Variants of this story were told to me by an old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +woman at Portstewart, and by a man whom I +met near Lough Salt during the Rosapenna Conference +of Field Clubs. In these versions there is +no mention of the red-haired boy, nor of the old +woman being the mother of the fairy man's wife; +she is simply called in to attend to her. When +rubbing ointment on the infant, she accidentally +draws her hand across one of her eyes and acquires +the power of seeing the fairies. Shortly afterwards +she meets the fairy man at a market or fair, +and inquires for his wife. He is annoyed at being +recognized, asks with which eye she sees him, +blows upon it, and puts it out.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> + +<p>In another Donegal legend the fairies gain possession +of a bride, and would have kept her in captivity +had not their plans been frustrated by a +mortal. This is the story as told to me near +Gweedore, and also at Kincasslagh, a small seaport +in the Rosses. Owen Boyle lived with his +mother near Kincasslagh, and worked as a carpenter. +One Hallow Eve, on his return home, he +found a calf was missing, and went out to look +for it. He was told it was behind a stone near +the spink or rock of Dunathaid, and when he got +there he saw the calf, but it ran away and disappeared +through an opening in the rock. Owen +was at first afraid to follow, but suddenly he was +pushed in, and the door closed behind him. He +found himself in a company of fairies, and heard +them saying: "This is good whisky from O'Donnel's +still. He buried a nine-gallon keg in the +bog; it burst, the hoops came off, and the whisky +has come to us." One of the fairies gave Owen +a glass, saying he might be useful to them that +night. They asked if he would be willing to go +with them, and, being anxious to get out of the +cave, he at once consented. They all mounted +on horses, and away they went through Dungloe, +across the hills to Dochary, then to Glenties, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +through Mount Charles to Ballyshannon, and +thence to Connaught. They came to a house +where great preparations were being made for a +wedding. The fairies told Owen to go in and +dance with any girl who asked him. He was much +pleased to see that he was now wearing a good suit +of clothes, and gladly joined in the dance. After a +time there was a cry that the bride would choose +a partner, and the partner she chose was Owen +Boyle. They danced until the bride fell down in +a faint, and the fairies, who had crept in unseen, +bore her away. They mounted their horses and +took the bride with them, sometimes one carrying +her and sometimes another. They had ridden thus +for a time when one of the fairies said to Owen: +"You have done well for us to-night." "And +little I have got for it," was the reply; "not even +a turn of carrying the bride." "That you ought +to have," said the fairy, and called out to give the +bride to Owen. Owen took her, and, urging his +horse, outstripped the fairies. They pursued him, +but at Bal Cruit Strand he drew with a black +knife a circle round himself and the bride, which +the fairies could not cross. One of them, however, +stretched out a long arm and struck the bride on +the face, so that she became deaf and dumb. When +the fairies left him, Owen brought the girl to his +mother, and in reply to her questions, said he had +brought home one to whom all kindness should be +shown. They gave her the best seat by the fire; she +helped in the housework, but remained speechless.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>A year passed, and on Hallow Eve Owen went +again to Dunathaid. The door of the cave was +open. He entered boldly, and found the fairies +enjoying themselves as before. One of them +recognized him, and said: "Owen Boyle, you +played us a bad trick when you carried off that +woman." "And a pretty woman you left with me! +She can neither hear nor speak!" "Oh!" said +another, "if she had a taste of this bottle, she +could do both!" When Owen heard these words +he seized the bottle, ran home with it, and, pouring +a little into a glass, gave it to the poor girl to +drink. Hearing and speech were at once restored. +Owen returned the bottle to the fairies, and, +before long, he set out for Connaught, taking the +girl with him to restore her to her parents. When +he arrived, he asked for a night's lodging for +himself and his companion. The mother, although +she said she had little room, admitted them, and +soon Owen saw her looking at the girl. "Why are +you gazing at my companion?" he asked. "She +is so like a daughter of mine who died a twelvemonth +ago." "No," replied Owen; "she did not +die; she was carried off by the fairies, and here +she is." There was great rejoicing, and before +long Owen was married to the girl, the former +bridegroom having gone away. He brought her +home to Kincasslagh, and not a mile from the +village, close to Bal Cruit Strand, may be seen +the ring which defended her and Owen from the +fairies. It is a very large fairy ring, but why the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +grass should grow luxuriantly on it tradition does +not say.</p> + +<p>During the Field Club Conference at Rosapenna +a variant of this story was told me by a lad on +the heights above Gortnalughoge Bay. Here the +man who rode with the fairies was John Friel, +from Fanad. They went to Dublin and brought +away a young girl from her bed, leaving something +behind, which the parents believed to be their +dead daughter. Meanwhile the young girl was +taken northwards by the fairies. As they drew +near to Fanad, John Friel begged to be allowed to +carry her, and quickly taking her to his own +cottage, kept her there with his mother. The girl +was deaf and dumb, but there was no mention of +the magic circle or of the blow from the fairy's +hand. At the end of the year John Friel, like +Owen Boyle, pays another visit to the fairies, +overhears their conversation, snatches the bottle, +and a few drops from it restore speech and hearing +to the girl. He takes her to Dublin. Her parents +cannot at first believe that she is truly their +daughter, but the mother recognizes her by a mark +on the shoulder, and the tale ends with great rejoicing.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>In these stories we see the relations between +fairies and mortals. The fairy man marries a +human wife; he appears solicitous for her health,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +and is willing to pay a high reward to the nurse, +but the caution his wife gives to her mother shows +her fear of him, and when the latter forgets this +warning and speaks to the husband, he effectively +stops all intercourse between her and her daughter.</p> + +<p>In another story we see that it was the living +girl who was carried off, and only a false image left +to deceive her parents.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> It is true that, through +the magic of the fairies, she becomes deaf and dumb, +but when this is overcome, she returns home safe +and sound. The black knife used by Owen Boyle +was doubtless an iron knife, that metal being +always obnoxious to the fairies.</p> + +<p>Stories of children being carried off by fairies +are numerous. There was a man lived near +Croghan Fort, not far from Lifford, who was short, +and had a cataract—or, as the country-people call +it, a pearl—on his eye. He was returning home +after the birth of his child, when he met the fairies +carrying off the infant. They were about to change +a benwood into the likeness of a child, saying:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"Make it wee, make it short;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Make it like its ain folk;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Put a pearl in its eye;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Make it like its Dadie."<br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Here the man interrupted them, throwing up +sand, and exclaiming: "In the name of God, this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +to youse and mine to me!" They flung his own +child at him, but it broke its hinch, or thigh, and +was a cripple all its days.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate10"></a> +<img src="images/plate10.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="520"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate X.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">TORMORE, TORY ISLAND.</p> +</div> + +<p>It is not often that fairies are associated with +the spirits of the departed, but in Tory Island and +in some other parts of Donegal it is believed that +those who are drowned become fairies. In Tory +Island I also heard that those who exceeded in +whisky met the same fate.</p> + +<p>According to the inhabitants of this island, +fairies can make themselves large or small; their +hair may be red, white, or black; but they dress +in black—a very unusual colour for fairies to appear +in. It may perhaps be explained by remembering +that Tory Island, or Toirinis, was a stronghold of +the Fomorians, whom Keating describes as "sea +rovers of the race of Cam, who fared from Africa."<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +I need hardly add that "Cam" is an old name +for "Ham." I should infer that the fairies of +Tory Island represent a dark race.</p> + +<p>King Balor, it is true, is not of diminutive +stature. I heard much of this chieftain with the +eye at the back of his head, which, if uncovered, +would kill anyone exposed to its gaze. He knew +it had been said in old times that he should die by +the hand of his daughter's son, and he determined +his daughter should remain childless. He shut her +up in Tormore, with twelve ladies to wait on her. +Balor had no smith on the island, but at Cloghanealy, +on the mainland, there lived a smith who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +had the finest cow in the world, named Glasgavlen. +He kept a boy to watch it, but, notwithstanding +this precaution, two of Balor's servants carried off +the cow. When the herd-boy saw it was gone, he +wept bitterly, for the smith had told him his head +would be taken off if he did not bring her back. +Suddenly a fairy, Geea Dubh, came out of the rock, +and told the boy the cow was in Tory, and if he +followed her advice he would get it back. She +made a curragh for him, and he crossed over to Tory, +but he did not get the cow. The tale now becomes +confused. We hear of twelve children, and how +Balor ordered them all to be drowned, but his +daughter's son was saved. The fairy told the herd-boy +that, if the child were taken care of, it would +grow up like a crop which, when put into the earth +one day, sprouts up the next.</p> + +<p>The boy took service under Balor, and the child +was sent to the ladies, who brought him up for +three years. At the end of that time the herd boy +took him to the mainland, where he grew up a strong +youth, and worked for the smith. On one occasion +Balor sent messengers across to the mainland, +but the lad attacked them and cut out their +tongues. The maimed messengers returned to +Tory, and when Balor saw them he knew that he +who had done this deed was the dreaded grandson. +He set out to kill him; but when the youth +saw Balor approaching the forge, he drew the poker +from the fire and thrust it into the eye at the +back of the King's head.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>The wounded Balor called to his grandson to +come to him, and he would leave him everything. +The youth was wise; he did not go too near Balor, +but followed him from Falcarragh to Gweedore. "Are +you near me?" was the question put by the King as +he walked along, water streaming from his wounded +eye; and this water formed the biggest lough in the +world, three times as deep as Lough Foyle.</p> + +<p>I have given this story as it was told to me by +an elderly man in a cottage on Tory Island.</p> + +<p>A version of it is related by the late Most Rev. +Dr. MacDevitt in the "Donegal Highlands." It is referred +to by Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., in "Highways +and Byways in Donegal and Antrim," and a very +full narrative is given by Dr. O'Donovan in a note +in his edition of the "Annals of the Four Masters."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +Dr. O'Donovan states that he had the story from +Shane O'Dugan, whose ancestor is said to have +been living in Tory in the time of St. Columbkille. +Here we read of the stratagem by which Balor, +assuming the shape of a red-haired little boy, +carried off the famous cow Glasgavlen from the +chieftain MacKineely, and it is not the herdboy, +but the chieftain himself, who is wafted across to +Tory Island and introduced to Balor's daughter. +Three sons are born; Balor orders them all to be +drowned, but the eldest is saved by the friendly +banshee and taken to his father, who places him +in fosterage under his brother, the great smith +Gavida. After a time MacKineely falls a victim to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +the vengeance of Balor, and is beheaded on the +stone Clough-an-neely, where the marks of his +blood may still be seen.</p> + +<p>Balor now deems himself secure. He often visits +the forge of Gavida, and one day, when there, boasts +of his conquest of MacKineely. No sooner has he +uttered the proud words than the young smith +seizes a glowing rod from the furnace and thrusts +it through Balor's basilisk eye so far that it comes +out at the other side of his head.</p> + +<p>It will be noted that in this version Balor's +death is instantaneous; nothing is said about the +deep lough formed by the water from his eye.</p> + +<p>According to O'Flaherty's "Ogygia," Balor was +killed at the second battle of Moyture "by a stone +thrown at him by his grandson by his daughter +from a machine called Tabhall (which some assert +to be a sling)."<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>If Balor is the grim hero of Tory Island, on the +mainland we hear much of Finn McCoul. I was +informed that he had an eye at the back of his +head, and was so tall his feet came out at the door +of his house. How large the house was, tradition +does not say. The island of Carrickfinn opposite +to Bunbeg is said to have been a favourite hunting-ground +of Finn McCoul. When crossing over to +this island, I was told by the boatman that the +Danes were stout, small, and red-haired, and that +they lived in the caves. The Finns, he said, were +even smaller, dark yellow people.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>Near Loughros Bay I saw the Cashel na Fian, +but whether it was built by tall or small Finns I +do not know. Part of the wall was standing, built +in the usual fashion with stones without mortar.</p> + +<p>This cashel was on a height, and near it I was +shown some old fields, the ridges farther apart than +those of the present day, and I was told they might +be the fields of those who built the cashel, or perhaps +of the Firbolgs. The old man who acted as +my guide softened the <i>b</i> in the Irish manner, and +spoke of those people as the Firwolgs; he said they +were short and stout, and cultivated the lands +near the sea.</p> + +<p>To the Danes are ascribed the kitchen-middens +on Rosguill, and the lad I met above Gortnalughoge +Bay, told me they lived and had their houses on +the water, I should infer after the fashion of the +lake-dwellers. He could not tell me the height of +these Danes, but those who built the forts and +cashels have often been described to me as short +and red-haired. As I have stated on former occasions, +I should be inclined to identify these short +Danes with the Tuatha de Danann. I visited one +of their cashels above Dungiven, under which there +is a souterrain, and I also went to one on a hill +above Downey's pier at Rosapenna. I believe it is +the Downey's Fort marked on the Ordnance Survey +map. It appeared to be regarded as an uncanny +spot; treasure is said to be hidden under it, and I +had a difficulty in getting anyone to take me to +it. A little girl, however, acted as guide, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +young farmer, who had at first refused, joined me +on the top. I took some very rough measurements +of this cashel. From the outer circumference it +was about 60 by 60 feet; the walls had fallen +inwards, so it was impossible to say how thick they +had been originally, but the space free from stones +in the centre measured about 25 by 25 feet.</p> + +<p>The young farmer told me of some rocks at a +place he called Dooey, on which crosses were inscribed. +I believe that near Mevagh, in addition +to the spiral markings, which were visited by many +members of the Conference, there is another rock +on which crosses are also inscribed.</p> + +<p>Firbolgs, Danes, Finns, and Pechts, of whom I +have spoken on former occasions, are all strictly +human; and if the fairy has been more spiritualized, +I think, in many of the traditions, we may see +how closely he is allied to ancient and modern +pygmies.</p> + +<p>Fairies intermarry freely with the human race; +they are not exempt from death, and sometimes +come to a violent end. At Kincasslagh a graphic +story was told me by an old woman of how two +banshees attacked a man when he was crossing the +"banks" at Mullaghderg. His faithful dog had +been chained at home, but, knowing the danger, +escaped, saved his master, and killed one of the +banshees. Her body was found next morning in +the sand: she had wonderful eyes, small legs, and +very large feet. I may mention that large feet are +characteristic of the Pechts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>It is true that those who are drowned may become +fairies, but if a fisherman be missing, who shall say +whether he lies at the bottom of the ocean or has +been carried captive to a lonely cave. In later times, +when the fairies were associated with fallen angels, +one who had not received the last rites of the Church +might naturally be supposed to become a fairy.</p> + +<p>In the tales of the giants we are brought face to +face with beings of great strength, but in a low +stage of civilization. Balor, we have seen, had no +smith on Tory Island, and in a story of the fight +between the giant Fargowan and a wild boar, his +sister Finglas goes to his assistance with her apron +filled with stones. Misled by the echo, she jumps +backwards and forwards across Lough Finn until at +last her long hair becomes entangled and she is +drowned. It is believed that her coffin was found +when the railway was being made; the boards were +14 feet long. Sometimes the works of Nature are +ascribed to the giants; we have all heard of Finn +McCoul as the artificer of the Giant's Causeway, +and near Glenties I was shown perched blocks, +which had been thrown by the giants. On the +other hand, these giants, with all their magic, are +often very human; perhaps we are listening to the +tales of a small race, who exaggerated the feats of +their large but savage neighbours. Writing in +1860, J. F. Campbell, in his introduction to the +"Tales of the West Highlands," says: "Probably, +as it seems to me, giants are simply the nearest +savage race at war with the race who tell the tales.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +If they performed impossible feats of strength, +they did no more than Rob Roy, whose putting-stone +is now shown to Saxon tourists ... in the +shape of a boulder of many tons."<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Turning to +fairies, the same writer says: "I believe there was +once a small race of people in these islands, who are +remembered as fairies.... They are always represented +as living in green mounds. They pop up +their heads when disturbed by people treading on +their houses. They steal children. They seem to +live on familiar terms with the people about them +when they treat them well, to punish them when +they ill-treat them.... There are such people now. +A Lapp is such a man; he is a little flesh-eating +mortal, having control over the beasts, and living +in a green mound, when he is not living in a tent or +sleeping out of doors, wrapped in his deerskin shirt."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>Since these words were written, our knowledge +of dwarf races has been greatly increased; their +skeletons have been found in Switzerland and other +parts of Europe. We are all familiar with the +pygmies of Central Africa, and the members of this +Club will remember the interesting photographs of +them shown by Sir Harry Johnston. Besides the +Andamnan Islanders, we have dwarf races in +various parts of Asia, and doubtless we have all +read with interest the account of the New Guinea +dwarfs, sent by the members of the British Expedition, +who are investigating that Island under many +difficulties.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>Dr. Eric Marshall describes these pygmies as +"averaging four feet six inches to four feet eight +inches in height, wild, shy, treacherous little devils; +these little men wander over the heavy jungle-clad +hills, subsisting on roots and jungle produce, hunting +the wallaby, pig, and cassowary, and fishing in the +mountain torrents.... The only metal tool they +possessed was a small, wedge-shaped piece of iron, one +inch by two inches, inserted into a wooden handle, +and answering the purpose of an axe, and with this +the whole twenty-acre clearing had been made. None +but those who have worked and toiled in this dense +jungle can really appreciate the perseverance and +patience necessary to accomplish this, for many of +the trees are from twelve to fifteen feet in circumference."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>Throughout Donegal we find many traces of the +primitive belief that men or women can change +themselves into animals. At Rosapenna I was +told of a hare standing on its hind-legs like an old +woman and sucking a cow, the inference being +plainly that the witch had transformed herself +into a hare. I heard similar stories at Glenties. +Here I was told of a man who killed a young seal, +but was startled when the mother, weeping, cried +out in Irish: "My child, my child!" Never again +did he kill a seal.</p> + +<p>A story illustrating the same belief is told by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +John Sweeney, an inspector of National Schools, +who wrote about forty years ago a series of letters +describing Donegal and its inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> In his +account of Arranmore he says: "Until lately +the islanders could not be induced to attack a +seal, they being strongly under the impression +that these animals were human beings metamorphosed +by the power of their own witchcraft. +In confirmation of this notion, they used to +repeat the story of one Rodgers of their island, +who, being alone in his skiff fishing, was overtaken +by a storm, and driven on the shore of +the Scotch Highlands. Having landed, he approached +a house which was close to the beach, +and on entering it was accosted by name. Expressing +his surprise at finding himself known in a +strange country, and by one whom he had never +seen, the old man who addressed him bared his +head, and, pointing to a scar on his skull, reminded +Rodgers of an encounter he had with a seal in one +of the caves of Arranmore. 'I was,' he said, 'that +seal, and this is the mark of the wound you inflicted +on me. I do not blame you, however, for you were +not aware of what you were doing.'"</p> + +<p>I fear I have lingered too long over these +old-world stories. To me they point to a far-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>distant +past, when Ulster was covered with forests, +in which the red deer and perhaps the Irish elk +roamed, and inhabited by rude tribes, some of them +of dwarfish stature, others tall; but these giants +were apparently even less civilized than their +smaller neighbours. Wars were frequent; the +giant could hurl the unwieldy mass of stone, and +the dwarfish man could send his arrow tipped with +flint. Even more common was the stealthy raid, +when women and children were carried off to the +gloomy souterrain. How long did these rude +tribes survive? It would be difficult to say; possibly +until after the days of St. Patrick and St. Columkill.</p> + +<p>I will not, however, indulge in a fancy sketch. +The pressing need is not to interpret but to collect +these old tales. The antiquary of the future, with +fuller knowledge at his command, may be better +able to decipher them; but if they are allowed to +perish, one link with the past will be irretrievably +lost.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Read before the Archæological Section of the Belfast +Naturalists' Field Club, February 8, 1911.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> In "Celtic Folklore," vol. i., p. 210 <i>et seq.</i>, Sir John +Rhys relates a similar story. Here the woman is brought to +a place which appears to her to be the finest she has ever seen. +When the child is born the father gives her ointment to anoint +its eyes, but entreats her not to touch her own with it. Inadvertently +she rubs her finger across her eye, and now she +sees that the wife is her former maidservant Eilian, and that +she lies on a bundle of rushes and withered leaves in a cave. +Not long afterwards the woman sees the husband in the +market at Carnarvon, and asks for Eilian. He is angry, and, +inquiring with which eye she sees him, puts it out with a +bulrush. +</p><p> +From Palestine we have another variant of this story. The +Rev. J. E. Hanauer, in "Folklore of the Holy Land," pp. 210 +<i>et seq.</i>, tells of a woman at El Welejeh who had spoken unkindly +to a frog. The next night, on waking, she found herself in a +cave surrounded by strange, angry-looking people; one of +these "Jân" reproached her bitterly, saying that the frog was +his wife, and threatening her with dire consequences unless +a son were born. She assisted at the birth of the child, who +was fortunately a boy, and was given a <i>mukhaleh</i> or <i>kohl</i> +vessel, and was bidden to rub some of this <i>kohl</i> on the infant's +eyes. When she had done this, she rubbed some on one of +her own eyes, but before she had time to put any on the other +the vessel was angrily taken from her. She was rewarded with +onion-leaves, which in the morning turned to gold. Some +time afterwards this woman was shopping at El Kuds, when +she saw the Jennizeh pilfering from shop to shop. She spoke +to her and kissed the baby, but the other answered fiercely, +and, poking her finger into the woman's eye, put it out.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> In "Guleesh na Guss Dhu," Dr. Douglas Hyde gives us a +similar tale from Co. Mayo. See "Beside the Fire," pp. 104-128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> In "Folk Tales from Breffny," by B. Hunt, there is a +story (pp. 99-103), "The Cutting of the Tree," which tells of +how the fairies, when baffled in their endeavour to carry off +the mistress of the house, left in the kitchen a wooden image +"cut into the living likeness of the woman of the house."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Pp. 18-21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> "Ogygia," part iii., chap. xii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Pp. xcix, c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Pp. c, ci.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> See <i>Morning Post</i>, December 28, 1910. In his work, +"Pygmies and Papuans," which gives the results of this expedition, +Mr. A. F. R. Wollaston also describes these pygmies +(see especially pp. 159-161).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> I was shown a MS. copy of some of these letters by a +relative of the writer at Burtonport. I believe they were +written for a newspaper, and were afterwards republished in +"The Derry People," under the title "The Rosses Thirty Years +Ago." They contain much interesting information in regard +to the traditions current among the peasantry.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +<h2><a name="Giants_and_Dwarfs83" id="Giants_and_Dwarfs83"></a>Giants and Dwarfs<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchorchap">[83]</a></h2> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>T</span></span><span class="firstwords">he</span> population of Ulster is derived from many +sources, and in its folklore we shall find traces +of various tribes and people. I shall begin with a tale +which may have been brought by English settlers.</p> + +<p>In "Folklore as an Historical Science" Sir G. +Laurence Gomme has given several variants of the +story of the Pedlar of Swaffham and London +Bridge. Most of these come from England, Scotland, +and Wales, but among them there are also a +Breton and a Norse version. I have found a local +variant in Donegal. An elderly woman told me +that at Kinnagoe a "toon" or small hamlet about +three miles from Buncrana, there lived a man +whose name, she believed, was Doherty. He +dreamt one night that on London Bridge he should +hear of a treasure. He set out at once for London, +and when he came there walked up and down the +bridge until he was wearied. At last a man accosted +him and asked him why he loitered there. +In reply, Doherty told his dream, upon which the +other said: "Ah, man! Do you believe in drames? +Why, I dreamt the other night that at a place called +Kinnagoe a pot of gold is buried. Would I go to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +look for it? I might loss my time if I paid attention +to drames." "That's true," answered Doherty, +who now hurried home, found the pot of gold, +bought houses and land, and became a wealthy man.</p> + +<p>Whether this story embodies an earlier Irish +legend I do not know, but I should say that the +mention of London Bridge points to its having +been brought over by English settlers. Sir G. L. +Gomme tells us that "the earliest version of this +legend is quoted from the manuscripts of Sir Roger +Twysden, who obtained it from Sir William Dugdale, +of Blyth Hall, in Warwickshire, in a letter +dated January 29, 1652-53. Sir William says of +it that 'it was the tradition of the inhabitants, as +it was told me there.'"</p> + +<p>May not some of the planters brought over by +the Irish Society have carried this legend from +their English home, giving it in the name Kinnagoe +a local habitation?</p> + +<p>Most of our folklore comes, however, from a very +early period. Our Irish fairy, although regarded +as a fallen angel, is not the medieval elf, who could +sip honey from a flower, but a small old man or +woman with magical powers, swift to revenge an +injury, but often a kindly neighbour. No story is +told more frequently than that of the old fairy +woman who borrows a "noggin" of meal, repays it +honestly, and rewards the peasant woman by saying +that her kist will never be empty, generally adding +the condition as long as the secret is kept. The +woman usually observes the condition until her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +husband becomes too inquisitive. When she +reveals the secret the kist is empty.</p> + +<p>Another widespread tale is that of the fairy +woman who comes to the peasant's cottage, sometimes +to beg that water may not be thrown out at +the door, as it comes down her chimney and puts +out the fire; sometimes to ask, for a similar reason, +that the "byre," or cowhouse, may be removed to +another site. In some tales it is a fairy man who +makes the request. If it is refused, punishment +follows in sickness among the cattle; if complied +with, the cows flourish and give an extra supply of +milk. In one instance the "wee folk" provided +money to pay a mason to build the new cowhouse. +We may smile, and ask how the position of the cowhouse +could affect the homes of the fairies; but if +these small people lived in the souterrains, as tradition +alleges, we may even at the present day find +these artificial caves under inhabited houses. At +a large farmhouse on the border of Counties Antrim +and Londonderry I was told one ran under the +kitchen. At another farm near Castlerock, Co. +Londonderry, the owner opened a trapdoor in +his yard, and allowed me to look down into a +souterrain. At Finvoy, Co. Antrim, I was shown +one of these caves over which a cottage formerly +stood. A souterrain also runs under the Glebe +House at Donaghmore, Co. Down. The following +extract is from a work<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> in preparation, by the +Rev. Dr. Cowan, Rector of the parish, who, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +describing this souterrain, writes: "The lintel to +the main entrance is the large stone which forms +the base of the old Celtic cross, which stands a few +yards south of the church. Underneath the cross +is the central chamber, which is sixty-two feet long, +three feet wide and upwards of four feet high, with +branches in the form of transepts about thirty feet in +length. From these, again, several sections extend +... one due north terminating at the Glebe House +(a distance of two hundred yards) underneath the +study, where, according to tradition, some rich old +vicar in past times fashioned the extreme end into +the dimensions of a wine-cellar."</p> + +<p>According to another tradition—an older one, no +doubt—this chamber under the study was the +dressing-room of the small Danes, who after their +toilet proceeded through the underground passages +to church. They had to pass through many little +doors, down stairs, through parlours, until they +came to the great chamber under the cross where +the minister held forth. I shall not attempt to +guess to what old faith this minister or priest +belonged, or what were the rites he celebrated; +but the stairs probably represent the descent from +one chamber to another, and the little doors the +bridges found in some souterrains, and, I believe, +at Donaghmore, where one stone juts out from the +floor, and a little farther on another comes down +from the roof, leaving only a narrow passage, so that +one must creep over and under these bridges to +get to the end of the cave.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>The Danes are regarded by the country people +as distinctly human, and yet there is much in them +that reminds us of the fairies; indeed, I was told +by two old men—one in Co. Antrim, and the other +in Co. Derry—that they and the wee-folk are much +the same. In a former paper<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> I referred to the +difference in dress ascribed to the fairies in various +parts of the country. I am inclined to believe that +this indicates a variety of tribes among the aboriginal +inhabitants. In the fairies who dress in +green may we not have a tradition of people who +stained themselves with woad or some other +plant? These fairies are chiefly heard of in North-East +Antrim. In some parts of that county they +are said to wear tartan, but in other parts of Ulster +the fairies are usually, although not universally, +described as dressing in red. Do these represent a +people who dyed themselves with red ochre, or +who simply went naked? In Tory Island I was +told the fairies dressed in black; and Keating +informs us that the Fomorians, who had their +headquarters at Toirinis, or Tory Island, were +"sea-rovers of the race of Cam, who fared from +Africa."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>Stories of the fairies or wee-folk are to be found +everywhere in Ulster, and the Danes are also universally +known; but one hears of the Pechts, +chiefly in the north-east of Antrim, where the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +Grogach is also known. The following story was +told to me in Glenariff, Co. Antrim:</p> + +<p>A Grogach herded the cattle of a farmer, and +drove them home in the evening. He was about +the size of a child, and was naked. A fire was left +burning at night so that he might warm himself, +and after a time the daughter of the house made +him a shirt. When the Grogach saw this he +thought it was a "billet" for him to go, and, crying +bitterly, he took his departure, and left the shirt +behind him. As I pointed out on a former occasion,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> +in many respects the Grogach resembles the +Swiss dwarf. The likeness to the Brownie is also +very marked. At Ballycastle I was told the Grogach +was a hairy man about four feet in height, +who could bear heat or cold without clothing.</p> + +<p>Patrick Kennedy has described a Gruagach as a +giant, and states that the word "Gruagach" has for +root <i>gruach</i>—"hair," giants and magicians being +<a name="tn_pg_123"></a><!-- TN: Quote added before "furnished"-->"furnished with a large provision of that appendage."<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +This Gruagach was closely related to the +fairies, and, indeed, we shall find later in a Donegal +story a giant ogress spoken of as a fairy woman. +In Scotland, as well as in the South of Ireland, the +name is Gruagach, but in Antrim I heard it pronounced +"Grogach." I was also told near Cushendall +that the Danes were hairy people.</p> + +<p>One does not hear so much about giants in An<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>trim +as in Donegal, but in Glenariff I was told of +four, one of whom lifted a rock at Ballycastle and +threw it across the sea to Rathlin—a distance of five +or six miles. Great as this feat was, a still greater was +reported to me near Armoy,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> where I was shown a +valley, and was told the earth had been scooped +out and thrown into the sea, where it formed the +Island of Rathlin.</p> + +<p>The grave of the giant Gig-na-Gog is to be seen +some miles from Portrush on the road to Beardiville.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> +I could not, however, hear anything of +Gig-na-Gog, except that he was a giant.</p> + +<p>In the stories of giants we no doubt often have +traditions of a tall race, who are sometimes represented +as of inferior mental capacity. At other +times we appear to be listening to an early interpretation +of the works of Nature. The Donegal +peasant at the present day believes that the perched +block on the side of the hill has been thrown by the +arm of a giant. In the compact columns of the +Giant's Causeway and of Fingal's Cave at Staffa +primitive man saw a work of great skill and ingenuity, +which he attributed to a giant artificer; +and Finn McCoul is credited with having made a +stupendous mole, uniting Scotland and Ireland. +This Finn McCoul has many aspects. He does not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +show to much advantage in the following legend, +which I heard on the banks of Lough Salt in +Donegal: Finn was a giant but there was a bigger +giant named Goll, who came to fight Finn, and +Finn was afraid. His wife bade him creep into +the cradle, and she would give an answer to Goll. +When the latter appeared, he asked where was +Finn. The wife replied he was out, and she was +alone with the baby in the cradle. Goll looked at +the child, and thought, if that is the size of Finn's +infant, what must Finn himself be? and without +more ado he turned and took his departure.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> +This Finn had an eye at the back of his head, and +was so tall his feet came out at the door of his +house. We are not told, however, what was the +size of the house.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate11"></a> +<img src="images/plate11.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="504"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate XI.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">VALLEY NEAR ARMOY, WHENCE, ACCORDING TO LEGEND, EARTH WAS TAKEN TO FORM RATHLIN.</p> +</div> + +<p>In this tale Finn shows little courage, but as a +rule he is represented as a noted hero. I was told +a long story at Glenties in Donegal of the three +sons Finn had by the Queen of Italy. He had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +seen her bathing in Ireland, and he stole her +clothes, so she had to stay until she could get them +back. After a time she found them, and returned +to her own country, where she gave birth to three +sons—Dubh, Kian, and Glasmait. When they +were fourteen years of age the King of Italy sent +them away that they might go to their father Finn.</p> + +<p>They arrived in Ireland, and when Finn saw +them he said: "If those three be the sons of a +King, they will come straight on; if not, they will +ask their way." The lads came straight on, knelt +before Finn, and claimed him as their father. He +asked them who was their mother, and when they +said the Queen of Italy, Finn remembered the +stolen clothes, and received them as his sons.</p> + +<p>One day the followers of Finn could not find his +dividing knife, and Dubh determined to go in search +of it. He put a stick in the fire, and said he would +be back before the third of it was burnt out. He +followed tracks, and came to a house where there +was a great feast. He sat down among the men, +and saw they were cutting with Finn's knife. It +was passed from one to another until it came to +Dubh, who, holding it in his hand, sprang up and +carried it off.</p> + +<p>When Dubh got home he wakened Kian and +said: "My third of the stick is burnt, and now do +you see what you can do." Kian followed the +tracks, and got to the same place. He found the +men drinking out of a horn. One called for +whisky, another for wine, and whatever was asked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +the horn gave. Kian heard them say it was Finn's +horn, and that his knife had been carried off the +previous night. Kian waited, and when the horn +came he grasped it tightly and ran off home, where +he found his third of the stick was burnt. He +waked Glasmait, and told him two-thirds of the +night had passed, and it was now his turn to go out. +Glasmait followed the same tracks, but when he +came to the house blood was flowing from the door, +and, looking in, he saw the place full of corpses. +One man only remained alive. He told Glasmait +how they had all been drinking when someone ran +off with Finn McCoul's horn. "One man blamed +another," he said; "they quarrelled and fought +until everyone was killed except myself. Now I +beseech you throw the ditch<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> upon me and bury +me. I do not wish to be devoured by the fairy +woman, who will soon be here. She is an awful +size, and upon her back is bound Finn McCoul's +sword of light,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> which gives to its possessor the +strength of a hundred men." The man gave Glasmait +some hints to aid him in the coming fight, +and added: "Now I have told you all, bury me +quick."</p> + +<p>Glasmait threw the ditch upon him, and hid +himself in a corner. The Banmore, or large woman, +now came in, and began her horrible repast. She +chose the fat men; three times she lifted Glasmait,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +but rejected him as too young and lean. At last +she lay down to sleep. Glasmait followed the +advice he had received. He touched her foot, but +jumped aside to avoid the kick. He touched her +hand, but jumped aside to avoid her slap. When +she was again asleep, he drew his sword and cut +the cords which bound the sword of light to her +back, and seized upon it. She roused herself, and +for two hours they fought, until in the end Glasmait +ripped open her body, when, behold, three red-haired +boys sprang out and attacked him. He +slew two of them, but the third escaped. Glasmait +returned home with the sword of light, and found +his third of the stick burnt.</p> + +<p>The three sons now presented their father with +the dividing knife, the drinking horn, and the +sword of light, and there was great rejoicing that +these had been recovered.</p> + +<p>Some time after this a red-haired boy appeared, +and begged to be taken into Finn's service for a +twelvemonth, saying he could kill birds and do any +kind of work. When asked what wages he looked +for, he replied that he hoped when he died, Finn +and his men would put his body in a cart, which +would come for it, and bury him where the cart +stopped.</p> + +<p>The red-haired boy worked well, but at the end +of the year he suddenly died. A cart drawn by a +horse appeared, and Finn and his men tried to +place the body in it; but it could not be moved +until the horse wheeled round and did the work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +itself, starting immediately afterwards with its +load. Finn and his men followed, but a great mist +came on, so that they could not see clearly. At +last they arrived at an old, black castle standing +in a glen. Here they found the table laid, and sat +down to eat, but before long the red-haired boy +appeared alive, and cried vengeance upon Finn and +his sons. The men tried to draw their swords, but +found them fastened to the ground, and the red-haired +boy cut off fifty heads.</p> + +<p>Now, however, the great Manannan appeared. +He bade the red-haired boy drop his sword, or he +would give him a slap that would turn his face to +the back of his head. He also bade him replace +the heads on the fifty men. The red-haired boy +had to submit, and after that he troubled Finn no +more. Manannan dispelled the mist, and brought +Finn and his men back to their own home, where +they feasted for three days and three nights.</p> + +<p>This somewhat gruesome story contains several +points of interest. The stealing of the clothes is +an incident which occurs with slight variations in +many folk-tales. In "The Stolen Veil"<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Musäus +tells us how the damsel of fairy lineage was detained +when her veil was carried off, and it was only after +she had recovered it that she was able, in the guise +of a swan, to return to her home.</p> + +<p>We have read, too, of how the Shetlander cap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>tured +the sealskin of the Finn woman, without +which she could not return as a seal to her husband.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> +It should also be noted that the fairy +ogress is a large woman, apparently a giantess, +while her three sons have the red hair so often +associated with the fairies. At the end of the tale +Finn and his men are saved by Manannan, the +Celtic god of the sea, who has given his name to +the Isle of Man. In Balor of Tory Island the great +Fomorian chief, we have another giant, with an +eye at the back of his head, which dealt destruction +to all who encountered its gaze. I was told in +Tory Island that when Balor was mortally wounded +water fell so copiously from his eye that it formed +the biggest lough in the world, deeper even than +Lough Foyle.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p>These giants belonged to an olden time and a +very primitive race. They have passed away, and +are no longer like the fairies—objects of fear or +awe.</p> + +<p>The fairies, being believed to be fallen angels, +are especially dreaded on Hallow Eve night. In +some places oatmeal and salt are put on the heads +of the children to protect them from harm. I first +heard of this custom in the valley of the Roe, +where there are a large number of forts said to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +be inhabited by the fairies. The neighbourhood +of Dungiven on that river is rich in antiquities. +I was told there was a souterrain under the +Cashel or "White Fort," said to have been built +by the Danes. There is another under Carnanban +Fort, and not far from this there are the stone +circles at Aghlish. An old woman of ninety-six +showed them to me, and said it was a very gentle<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +place, and it would not be safe to take away one +of the stones.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:.5em;padding-top:.25em;"><a name="plate12"></a> +<img src="images/plate12.jpg" border="1" alt="" title="" width="700" height="477"> +<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Plate XII.</span> <span class="alignright">[R. Welch, Photo.</span></p> +<p class="captioncenter">FLINT SPEARHEAD AND BASALT AXES FOUND UNDER FORT IN LENAGH TOWNLAND.</p> +</div> + +<p>Here we have an instance of the strong belief +that to interfere in any way with stone, tree, or +fort, belonging to the fairies is certain to bring +disaster. About sixty-five years ago, when the +railway was being made between Belfast and Ballymena, +an old fort with fairy bushes in the townland +of Lenagh stood on the intended track, and had +to be removed. The men working on the line +were most unwilling to meddle with either fort or +bushes. One, however, braver than the rest began +to cut down a thorn, when he met with an accident +which strengthened the others in their refusal. In +the end the fort had to be blown up, I believe by +the officials of the railway, and underneath it a +very fine spearhead and other implements were +found.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>A fort near Glasdrumman, Co. Down, was demolished +by the owner, but the country-people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +noted that the man who struck the first blow was +injured and died soon afterwards, while the owner +himself became a permanent invalid. A woman +living near this fort related that in the evening +after the work was begun she heard an awful +screech from the fort; presumably the fairies were +leaving their home.</p> + +<p>A curious story was told me by an old woman in +the Cottage Hospital at Cushendall. A man at +Glenravel named M'Combridge went out one evening +to look for his heifer, but could not find it. He +saw a great house in one of his fields, where no +house had been before, and, wondering much at +this, he went in. An old woman sat by the fire, +and soon two men came in leading the heifer. +They killed it with a blow on the head and put it +into a pot. M'Combridge was too much afraid to +make any objection; he rose, however, to leave +the house, but the old woman said: "Wait; you +must have some of the broth of your own heifer." +Three times she made him partake of the broth, +and he was then unable to leave the house. She +put him to bed, and the man gave birth to a +son. He fell asleep, but was wakened by something +touching his ear, and found himself on the +grass near his home, and the heifer close to his +ear.</p> + +<p>This fantastic story no doubt represents a dream, +but does it contain a reminiscence of the couvade, +where, after the birth of the child, the father goes +to bed? Sir E. B. Tylor, in the "Early History<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +of Mankind," has shown how widespread this +custom was both in the Old and the New +World.</p> + +<p>In these stories, drawn from various parts of +Ulster, we seem to hear echoes of a very distant +past. The giants often appear as savages of low +intelligence. In the fairies, I think, we may plainly +see a tradition of a dwarf race, although it is true +that the country-people do not regard them as +human beings; indeed, I was told in Co. Tyrone +that when the fairies were annoying a man he +threw his handkerchief at them, and asked if +among them all they could show one drop of blood. +This, being spirits, they could not do. In the +Grogach the human element is more pronounced, +and both Danes and Pechts are usually regarded +as men and women like ourselves, although of +smaller stature. It will thus be seen that in Ulster +we have traditions of giants, fairies, Grogachs, +Danes, and Pechts; and in Donegal I was also told +of a small race of yellow Finns. Can we identify +any of these with the prehistoric races of the +British Isles and of Europe?</p> + +<p>It has been held by many that the relics of +Palæolithic man do not occur in Ireland, but the +Rev. Frederick Smith has found his implements, +some of them glaciated, at Killiney<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>; and Mr. Lewis +Abbott, who has made the implements of early +man a special study, believes that Palæolithic man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +lived and worked in Ireland. In a letter to me he +states that this opinion is based on material in his +possession. "I have," he writes, "the Irish collection +of my old friend, the late Professor Rupert +Jones; in this there are many immensely metamorphosed, +deeply iron-stained (and the iron, again, +in turn further altered), implements of Palæolithic +types.... They are usually very lustrous or +highly 'patinated,' as it is called." In his recent +paper, "On the Classification of the British Stone +Age Industries,"<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> in describing the club studs, Mr. +Abbott writes: "I have found very fine examples +in the Cromer Forest bed, and under and in +various glacial deposits in England and Ireland." +How long Palæolithic man survived in Ireland it +would be difficult to say, but in such characters as +the fairy ogress we are brought face to face with +a very low form of savagery. It will be noted that +her sons are red-haired. Now, I have often found +red hair ascribed to fairies and Danes, but not to +Pechts. This persistent tradition has led me to +ask whether red was the colour of the hair in some +early races of mankind. The following passage in +Dr. Beddoe's Huxley Lecture<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> favours an affirmative +answer: "There are, of course, facts, or reported +facts, which would lead one to suspect that +red was the original hair colour of man in Europe—at +least, when living in primitive or natural con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>ditions +with much exposure, and that the development +of brown pigment came later, with subjection +to heat and malaria, and other influences +connected with what we call 'civilisation.'"</p> + +<p>We have seen that the implements of early man +are found in spots sacred to the fairies. The Rev. +Gath Whitley considers the Piskey dwarfs the +earliest Neolithic inhabitants of Cornwall, and describes +them as a small race who hunted the elk +and the deer, and perhaps, like the Bushmen, +danced and sang to the light of the moon.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> Our +traditional Irish fairies bear a strong resemblance +to these Piskey dwarfs of Cornwall, and also to the +Welsh fairies of whom Sir John Rhys writes that +when fairyland is cleared of its glamour there seems +to be disclosed "a swarthy population of short, +stumpy men, occupying the most inaccessible districts +of our country.... They probably fished +and hunted and kept domestic animals, including, +perhaps, the pig, but they depended largely on what +they could steal at night or in misty weather. +Their thieving, however, was not resented, as their +visits were believed to bring luck and prosperity."<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +This description might apply to our Ulster fairies, +who in many of the stories appear as a very primitive +people. In some of the tales, however, the +fairies are represented in a higher state of civilisation. +They can spin and weave; they inhabit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +underground but well-built houses, and in the Irish +records they are closely associated with the Tuatha +de Danann.</p> + +<p>I believe these Tuatha de Danann are the small +Danes, who, according to tradition, built the raths +and souterrains. The late Mr. John Gray<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> would +ascribe a Mongoloid origin to them. In a letter +written to me shortly before his death he stated +his belief that the Danes and Pechts "were of the +same race, and were identical with a short, round-headed +race which migrated into the British Isles +about 2,000 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> at the beginning of the Bronze Age.... +The stature of these primitive Danes and +Pechts was five feet three inches, and they must +have looked very small men to the later Teutonic +invaders of an average stature of five feet eight +and a half inches."</p> + +<p>In his papers, "Who built the British Stone +Circles?"<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> and "The Origin of the Devonian +Race,"<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Mr. Gray has fully described this round-headed +race, who buried in short cists, and whom +he believes to have been a colony from Asia Minor +of Akkadians, Sumerians, or Hittites, who migrated +to England by sea in order to work the Cornish +tin-mines and the Welsh copper-mines.</p> + +<p>For a fuller exposition of these views I must refer +the reader to Mr. Gray's very interesting articles.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>In regard to the Tuatha de Danann, according to +Keating,<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> they came from Greece by way of Scandinavia. +This might lead us to infer a northern +origin, or, at least, that they had taken a different +route from those who came by the Mediterranean +to the West of Europe. They appear to have +known the use of metals and to have ploughed the +land.</p> + +<p>Dr. O'Donovan, in writing of these Tuatha de +Danann, says: "From the many monuments +ascribed to this colony by tradition and in ancient +Irish historical tales, it is quite evident that they +were a real people, and from their having been considered +gods and magicians by the Gaedhil or +Scoti who subdued them, it may be inferred that +they were skilled in arts which the latter did not +understand." Referring to the colloquy between +St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain, Dr. O'Donovan +says that it appears from this ancient Irish text +that "there were very many places in Ireland +where the Tuatha de Dananns were then supposed +to live as sprites or fairies." He adds: "The inference +naturally to be drawn from these stories is +that the Tuatha de Dananns lingered in the country +for many centuries after their subjugation by the +Gaedhil, and that they lived in retired situations, +which induced others to regard them as magicians."<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + +<p>What is here averred of the Tuatha de Danann +may be true of other primitive races who may have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +survived long in Ireland. It is difficult to exterminate +a people, and they could not be driven +farther west.</p> + +<p>It appears to me that in the traditions of the +Ulster peasantry we see indications of a tall, +savage people, and of various races of small men. +Some were in all probability veritable dwarfs, like +those whose skeletons have been found in Switzerland, +near Schaffhausen. Others may have been +of the stature of the round-headed race described +by Mr. John Gray, but in tradition they all—fairy, +Grogach, Pecht, and Dane—appear as little people. +In these tales we have not a clear outline—the +picture is often blurred—but as we see the red-haired +Danes carrying earth in their aprons to build +the forts, the Pechts handing from one to another +the large slabs to roof the souterrains, and the Grogachs +herding cattle, we catch glimpses of the life +of those who in long past ages inhabited Ireland.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Reprinted from the <i>Antiquary</i>, August, 1913.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> "An Ancient Irish Parish, Past and Present."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> See Ulster Fairies, Danes, and Pechts, <a href="#Page_27">p. 27</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Keating, "History of Ireland," book i., chap. viii. (translation +by P. W. Joyce, LL.D., M.R.I.A.). See <i>ante</i>, p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> See Traditions of Dwarf Races in Ireland and in Switzerland, +pp. <a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts," second edition, +p. 123 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> A village about six miles from Ballycastle, where there is +a round tower.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> It is referred to in the "Guide to Belfast and the Adjacent +Counties," by the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 1874, +pp. 205, 206; also by Borlase in "Dolmens of Ireland," vol. i., +p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> A similar tale, but with more details, is related of Finn by +William Carleton. It was first published in Chambers' <i>Edinburgh +Journal</i> in January, 1841, with the title, "A Legend of +Knockmary," and was reprinted in Carleton's collected works +under the title "A Legend of Knockmany." It is given by +Mr. W. B. Yeates in his "Irish Fairy and Folk Tales." In +Carleton's tale Finn's opponent is not Goll, but Cuchullin. In +the notes first published in Chambers' <i>Journal</i> reference is, +however, made to Scotch legends about Finn McCoul and +Gaul, the son of Morni, whom I take to be the same as Goll. +A version of the story is also given by Patrick Kennedy in +"Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts," under the title +"Fann MacCuil and the Scotch Giant," pp. 179-181. This +Scotch giant is named Far Rua, and the fort to which he +journeys is in the bog of Allen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> In Ireland "ditch" is used for an earth fence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Claive Solus was the name given to it by the old woman, +who narrated the story, and she translated it "sword of +light."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> See J. K. A. Musäus, "Volksmährchen der Deutschen," +edited by J. L. Klee (Leipzig, 1842); "Der geraubte Schleier," +pp. 371-429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> See "The Testimony of Tradition" (London, 1890, +pp. 1-25), by Mr. David MacRitchie, F.S.A.Scot.; also by the +same author, "The Aberdeen Kayak and its Congeners." Proceedings +of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. xlvi. +(1911-12), pp. 213-241. Mr. MacRitchie believes that the +magic sealskin was a Kayak.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> See <a href="#Page_75">p. 75</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Fairy-haunted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> This spearhead is in the possession of Mr. Robert Bell, a +member of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, from whom I +heard this narrative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> "The Stone Age in North Britain and Ireland," by the +Rev. Frederick Smith, Appendix, p. 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> See <i>Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute</i>, vol. xli., +1911, p. 462.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> "Colour and Race," delivered before the Anthropological +Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, October 31, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> "Footprints of Vanished Races in Cornwall," by the +Rev. D. Gath Whitley, published in the <i>Journal of the Royal +Institution of Cornwall</i>, 1903, vol. xv., part ii., p. 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> "Celtic Folklore," vol. ii., chap. xii., pp. 668, <a name="tn_pg_142"></a><!-- TN: Period added after "669"-->669.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Treasurer to the Anthropological Institute.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Read before Section H of the British Association at the +Dublin Meeting, September, 1908, published in <i>Nature</i>, +December 24, 1908, pp. 236-238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Published in <i>London Devonian Year-Book</i>, 1910.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> "History of Ireland," book i., chap. x.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> See "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i., note at p. 24.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +<h2><a name="The_Rev_William_Hamilton_DD109" id="The_Rev_William_Hamilton_DD109"></a>The Rev. William Hamilton, D.D.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchorchap">[109]</a></h2> + +<p class="chapsub">An Early Exponent of the Volcanic Origin of the +Giant's Causeway</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"Here, hapless Hamilton, lamented name!<br></span> +<span class="i0">To fire volcanic traced the curious frame,<br></span> +<span class="i0">And, as his soul, by sportive fancy's aid,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Up to the fount of time's long current strayed,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Far round these rocks he saw fierce craters boil,<br></span> +<span class="i0">And torrent lavas flood the riven soil:<br></span> +<span class="i0">Saw vanquished Ocean from his bounds retire,<br></span> +<span class="i0">And hailed the wonders of creative Fire."<br></span> +<span class="i0" style="text-align:right; margin-right:20%;"><span class="smcap">Drummond.</span></span> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="firstLetter"><span>T</span></span><span class="firstwords">hese</span> lines are taken from a poem, "The +Giant's Causeway," written in 1811, when +the nature of the basaltic rocks was regarded as +doubtful, and many held that their origin was to +be traced to the action of water rather than fire. +Hamilton is rightly brought forward as a champion +of the volcanic theory. In his "Letters concerning +the Northern Coast of Antrim," published towards +the close of the eighteenth century, he +adduces strong reasons to show that the Giant's +Causeway is no isolated freak of Nature, but part +of a vast lava field which covered Antrim and +extended far beyond the Scottish islands. Nor +does he confine his attention to geology, but fulfils<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +the promise on the title page, giving an account of +the antiquities, manners, and customs of the +country. To those who care to read of this part of +the world before the days of railroads and electric +tramways, when Portrush was a small fishing +village, and the lough which divides Antrim from +Down bore the name of the ancient city of Carrickfergus, +this old volume will possess many attractions. +Three copies lie before me; two belong to +editions published in the author's lifetime; the +third was printed in Belfast in 1822, and contains +a short memoir and a portrait of Dr. Hamilton. +The latter is taken from one of those black silhouettes +by which, before the art of photography +was known, our grandfathers strove to preserve an +image of those they loved. In this imperfect likeness +we can see below the wig a massive forehead, +and features which betoken no small determination +of character. We can well believe that we are +gazing on the face of a scholar, a man of science, a +divine, of one who believed that death, even in +the tragic form in which it came to him, was but +the laying aside of a perishable machine, the casting +away of an instrument no longer able to perform +its functions.</p> + +<p>William Hamilton was born in December, 1757, +in Londonderry, where the family had resided for +nearly a century, his grandfather having been +one of the defenders of the city during the famous +siege. Little is known of his boyhood. Before he +was fifteen he entered the University of Dublin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +and after a distinguished career obtained a fellowship +in 1779. It was while continuing his theological +and literary studies that his attention was +drawn to the new sciences of chemistry and mineralogy. +We can imagine the ardent student +attracting around him a band of kindred spirits, +who, meeting on one evening of the week under the +name of Palæosophers, studied the Bible and ancient +writings bearing on its interpretation, and the next, +calling themselves Neosophers, discussed the phenomena +of Nature, and the discoveries of Cavendish, +or the views of Buffon and Descartes. Nor did +his marriage in 1780 to Sarah Walker interrupt +these pursuits.</p> + +<p>Hamilton was one of the founders of the Royal +Irish Academy, and dedicated his "Letters concerning +the Coast of Antrim" to the Earl of Charlemont, +the first president of that body. The book +opens with an account of his visit to the Island of +Raghery or Rathlin, where he was charmed with +the primitive manners of the people and the friendly +relations existing between them and their landlord. +He examined the white cliffs, the dark basaltic +columns, and the ruins of the old castle, where +Robert Bruce is said to have made a gallant defence +against his enemies. Here he found cinders embedded +in the mortar, showing that the lime used +in building the walls had been burnt with coal. +This is adduced as a proof that the coal-beds near +Fair Head had been known at an early period, possibly +at a time anterior to the Danish incursions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +the ninth and tenth centuries—a view confirmed +by the discovery of an ancient gallery extending +many hundred yards underground, and in which the +remains of the tools and baskets of the prehistoric +miners were found.</p> + +<p>In a later letter a history is given of the Giant's +Causeway, and of the various opinions which have +been held regarding its origin. Beginning with the +old tradition<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> that the stones had been cut and +placed in position by the giant, Fin McCool or +Fingal, when constructing a mighty mole to unite +Ireland to Scotland, Hamilton alludes to the crude +notions exhibited in some papers published in the +early Transactions of the Royal Society. He +criticizes severely "A True Prospect of the Giant's +Causeway," printed in 1696 for the Dublin Society, +showing how the imagination of the artist had +planted luxuriant forest-trees on the wild bay of +Port Noffer, and transformed basaltic rocks into +comfortable dwelling-houses. The two beautiful +paintings made by Mrs. Susanna Drury in 1740 +are referred to in very different language, and anyone +who has seen engravings of these will endorse +his opinion, and feel that this lady has depicted, +with almost photographic accuracy, the Causeway +and the successive galleries of basaltic columns, +which lend a weird and peculiar grandeur to the +headlands of Bengore.</p> + +<p>A large portion of Hamilton's work is occupied +with a minute investigation of these headlands, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +of the lofty promontory of Fair Head. A description +is given of the jointed columns of the Causeway, +whose surface presents a regular and compact +pavement of polygon stones; we are told that +this basaltic rock contains metallic iron, and that +he has himself observed how, in the semicircular +Bay of Bengore, the compass deviates greatly from +its meridian, and each pillar or fragment of a pillar +acts as a natural magnet. He also points out that +columnar rocks are found in many parts of Antrim, +and traces the basaltic plateau from the shores of +Lough Foyle to the valley of the Lagan; nay more, +he bids us extend our gaze, and remember "that +whatever be the reasonings that fairly apply to +the formation of the basaltes in our island, the same +must be extended with little interruption over the +mainland and western isles of Scotland, even to +the frozen island of Iceland, where basaltic pillars +are to be found in abundance, and where the flames +of Hecla still continue to blaze."<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>Hamilton argues, in opposition to the views of +many of his contemporaries, that the vicinity of +the Giant's Causeway to the sea has nothing what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>ever +to do with the peculiar structure of its jointed +columns, which he ascribes to their having been +formed by the crystallization of a molten mass. +The following are his words:</p> + +<p>"Since, therefore, the basaltes and its attendant +fossils<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> bear strong marks of the effects of fire, it +does not seem unlikely that its pillars may have +been formed by a process, exactly analogous to +what is commonly denominated crystallization by +fusion.... For though during the moments of +an eruption nothing but a wasteful scene of tumult +and disorder be presented to our view, yet, when +the fury of those flames and vapours, which have +been struggling for a passage, has abated, everything +then returns to its original state of rest; and +those various melted substances, which, but just +before, were in the wildest state of chaos, will now +subside and cool with a degree of regularity utterly +unattainable in our laboratories."<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>It is true that modern geologists would not apply +the term "crystallization" to the process by which +the basaltic columns have been formed, but all +would agree that they have assumed their peculiar +shape during the slow cooling of the molten lava +of which they consist; thus Professor James Thomson<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +states that the division into prisms has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +arisen "by splitting, through shrinkage, of a very +homogeneous mass in cooling."</p> + +<p>It would be tedious to repeat the reasoning by +which Hamilton, following in the steps of the +French geologists, Desmarest and Faujas de St. +Fond, establishes the volcanic origin of the basalt. +It is true, he assumes the position of an impartial +narrator, and brings forward at considerable length +the objections which had been urged against this +theory, but only to show that each one of them +admits of a full and complete answer. Thus he +states that the absence of volcanic cones does not +embarrass the advocates of the system: "According +to them, the basaltes has been formed under the +earth itself and within the bowels of those very +mountains where it could never have been exposed +to view until, by length of time or some violent +shock of nature, the incumbent mass must have +undergone a very considerable alteration, such as +should go near to destroy every exterior volcanic +feature. In support of this, it may be observed that +the promontories of Antrim do yet bear very evident +marks of some violent convulsion, which has left +them standing in their present abrupt situation, +and that the Island of Raghery and some of the +western isles of Scotland do really appear like the +surviving fragments of a country, great part of +which might have been buried in the ocean."<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>We thus see that Hamilton clearly perceived that +great changes, sufficient to sweep away lofty moun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>tains, +had taken place since those old lava streams +had flowed over the land. It is true that science +has advanced since his day with gigantic strides. +Some things which he regarded as doubtful have +become certain, and others which he regarded as +certain have become doubtful, yet I trust that the +preceding extracts will show that his account of +the basaltic rocks of Antrim may still be read with +interest and profit.</p> + +<p>As an antiquarian, Hamilton touches on the evidences +of early culture in Ireland. He mentions +the large number of exquisitely wrought gold ornaments +found in the bogs, and translates for us a +poem of St. Donatus, which, although doubtless a +fancy sketch, shows the reputation enjoyed by the +island in the ninth century.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0a">"Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame<br></span> +<span class="i0">By nature bless'd, and Scotia is her name,<br></span> +<span class="i0">An island rich—exhaustless is her store<br></span> +<span class="i0">Of veiny silver and of golden ore;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Her fruitful soil for ever teems with wealth,<br></span> +<span class="i0">With gems her waters, and her air with health.<br></span> +<span class="i0">Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Her waving furrows float with bearded corn,<br></span> +<span class="i0">And arms and arts her envy'd sons adorn.<br></span> +<span class="i0">No savage bear with lawless fury roves,<br></span> +<span class="i0">No rav'ning lion thro' her sacred groves;<br></span> +<span class="i0">No poison there infects, no scaly snake<br></span> +<span class="i0">Creeps through the grass, nor frog annoys the lake.<br></span> +<span class="i0">An island worthy of its pious race,<br></span> +<span class="i0">In war triumphant, and unmatch'd in peace."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a><br></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In referring to the doctrines and practices of the +ancient Irish Church, Hamilton enters on the field<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +of controversy. It shows how widely his book was +known when we find the <i>Giornale Ecclesiastico</i> of +Rome taking exception to some of his views. This +criticism led to the insertion in the second edition +of the work, of a letter<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> dealing more fully with +ecclesiastical matters. The reasoning, even when +supported by the high authority of Archbishop +Ussher, may possibly fail to convince us of the +identity of the Church of St. Patrick and St. +Columba with the Church of the Reformation; but +we shall find abundant proof of the vigour and +independence which characterized not only the +early monks, but the Irish schoolmen of the Middle +Ages.</p> + +<p>Before this letter was published, Hamilton had +accepted the living of Clondevaddock in Donegal, +and had taken up his abode amid the wild but +beautiful scenery surrounding Mulroy Bay. Here +he expected to spend a tranquil life, watching over +the education of his large family, and combining +with his clerical duties the pursuit of science and +literature. In a favourable situation for observing +variations of temperature and the action of rain, +wind, and tide, he pursued the investigation of a +subject which had already engaged his attention +before leaving Dublin. In a memoir<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> published +after his death he suggests that the cutting down +of the forests may have affected a sensible change +in the climate of Ireland, and gives several instances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +of the encroachment of the sea sand on fertile and +inhabited land. Perhaps the most striking is that +of the town of Bannow in Wexford. It was a +flourishing borough in the early part of the seventeenth +century, while in his day the site was marked +only by a few ruins, appearing above heaps of +barren sand, and where at the time of an election +a fallen chimney was used as the council table of +that ancient and loyal corporation.</p> + +<p>When we read the closing pages of this paper it +is difficult to believe that troubled times were so +near at hand; and even when he wrote his "Letters +on the French Revolution," Hamilton could not +have foreseen that he was soon to fall before the +same spirit of wild vengeance, which claimed so +many noble victims on the banks of the Seine and +the Loire.</p> + +<p>He acted as magistrate as well as clergyman, and +during nearly seven years he was treated with +respect and confidence by the people among whom +he lived. No doubt the majority of them did not +regard him as their pastor, but they appreciated his +efforts for their temporal welfare; we are told +that the country was advancing in industry and +prosperity, and remained tranquil when other parts +of Ulster were greatly disturbed. At last, however, +the revolutionary wave reached this remote district, +and a trivial incident inflamed the minds of the +inhabitants against Dr. Hamilton.</p> + +<p>On Christmas night, 1796, while the memorable +storm which in the south drove the French fleet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +from Bantry Bay was at its height, a brig, laden +with wine from Oporto, was shipwrecked on the +coast of Fanet, not far from Dr. Hamilton's dwelling. +In those days the peasantry regarded whatever +was brought to them by the sea as lawful +booty, and were little disposed to brook the interference +of magistrate or clergyman. We are told +"that Dr. Hamilton's active exertions on this +melancholy occasion gave rise to feelings of animosity +on the part of some of his parishioners." +This animosity was fomented by popular agitators. +A stormy period ensued. One evening a band of +insurgents surrounded the parsonage demanding +the release of some prisoners, and for more than +twenty-four hours the house was closely besieged. +Two of the servants made their way with difficulty +to the beach, hoping to escape by sea and bring +succour from Derry, but they found holes had been +bored in the boats, which rendered them unserviceable. +Dr. Hamilton acted with much +courage and coolness. He refused to accede to the +demands of his assailants, saying he was not to be +intimidated by men acting in open violation of the +laws; at the same time, by repressing the ardour +of the guard of soldiers, he showed his anxiety to +prevent bloodshed. In company with a naval +officer, he undertook the perilous task of passing in +disguise through the rebel cordon, and returned +with a body of militia. On seeing this reinforcement, +the peasantry lost courage, and, throwing +away their arms, dispersed quickly to their homes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +so that the victory was achieved without loss of +life.</p> + +<p>The country now became apparently more tranquil, +and in early spring Dr. Hamilton paid a visit +to the Bishop of the diocese at Raphoe. He was +returning to his parish, when the roughness of the +weather delayed his crossing Lough Swilly, and he +turned aside to see a brother clergyman near +Fahan. He was easily prevailed upon to pass the +night in the hospitable rectory of Sharon, and no +doubt the visit of an old college friend was hailed +with delight by the crippled Dr. Waller, whose +infirmities obliged him to lead a secluded life. +Probably the conversation turned on the state of +the country; Dr. Waller, his wife, and her niece +would inquire about the perils from which their +guest had recently escaped. Perhaps they would +congratulate themselves on the security of their +neighbourhood compared with the wilder parts of +Donegal. Suddenly the tramp of a band of men +was heard. It is said that Dr. Hamilton's quick +ear first caught the sound, and knew it to be his +death-knell; but he was not the only victim—his +hostess fell before him. Let us hear the story of +that terrible tragedy as it was reported to the Irish +House of Commons. Speaking on March 6, 1797, +four days after the event, Dr. Brown said:</p> + +<p>"As that gentleman (Dr. Hamilton) was sitting +with the family in Mr. Waller's house, several shots +were fired in upon them, the house was broken open, +and Mrs. Waller, in endeavouring to protect her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +helpless husband by covering him with her body, +was murdered. Mr. Hamilton, from the natural +love of life, had taken refuge in the lower apartments. +Thence they forced him, and as he endeavoured +to hold the door they held fire under +his hand until they made him quit his hold. They +then dragged him a few yards from the house, and +murdered him in the most inhuman and barbarous +manner."<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>From a letter written by Dr. Hall to the <i>Gentleman's +Magazine</i> (March, 1797), we learn that the +assassins retired unmolested and undiscovered. +Nor were any of them ever brought to justice, +although popular tradition, among both Catholics +and Protestants, says that misfortune dogged their +footsteps, and each one of them came to an untimely +end. Dr. Hamilton's body remained exposed during +the night, and was only removed the following +morning, when it was taken to Londonderry +and interred in the Cathedral graveyard. Here his +name is recorded on the family tombstone; and in +1890 his descendants erected a tablet to his memory +in the chancel of the Cathedral.</p> + +<p>Hamilton obtained the degree of Doctor of +Divinity in 1794, and shortly before his death he +was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal +Society of Edinburgh. We have seen how he was +cut off in the full vigour of mind and body—his last +memoir unprinted—and surely we may echo the +lament of his contemporaries, and feel that he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +one who had conferred honour on his native land. +Yet, while they mourned his loss as a public +calamity, his friends would recall his words, and +remember that to him death was but the entrance +to a new life—the casting away of a covering which +formed no part of his true self.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 style="margin-top:.5em;">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Reprinted from the <i>Sun</i>, May, 1891.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> See Letter I., part ii., edition 1822.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Letter VI., part ii., pp. 183, 184. Compare with this passage +the following enunciation of the results of modern geological +investigation. "A marked feature of this period in Europe +was the abundance and activity of its volcanoes.... From +the south of Antrim, through the west coast of Scotland, +the Faröe Islands and Iceland, even far into Arctic Greenland, +a vast series of fissure eruptions poured forth successive floods +of basalt, fragments of which now form the extensive volcanic +plateaux of these <a name="tn_pg_156"></a><!-- TN: Period and quote added after "regions"-->regions." (Sir A. Geikie, "Geological Sketches +at Home and Abroad," pp. 347, 348).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Hamilton uses this word in its old meaning of rock or +stone. He expressly states that basalt does not contain the +slightest trace of animal or vegetable remains.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Letter VII., part ii., pp. 187, 188, 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> See "Collected Papers," p. 430, edited by Sir Joseph +Larmor, Sec. R.S., M.P., and James Thomson, M.A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Letter VII., part ii., p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Letter IV., part i., p. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Letter V, part i.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> See Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. vi., +p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> See report in the <i>Belfast Newsletter</i>, March 6-10, 1797.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<p class="indexstart">Abbott, W. J. Lewis, F.G.S., <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></p> +<p class="index">Abernethy Round Tower, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></p> +<p class="index">Aino, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></p> +<p class="index">Antrim, old fort at, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></p> +<p class="index">Ardtole souterrain, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a></p> +<p class="index">Armoy, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></p> +<p class="index">Arranmore, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Backaderry souterrain, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></p> +<p class="index">Ballycairn Fort, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></p> +<p class="index">Ballycastle, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> +<p class="index">Ballyginney Fort and Souterrain, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></p> +<p class="index">Ballyliffan, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></p> +<p class="index">Ballymagreehan Fort and Souterrain, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p> +<p class="index">Balor, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> +<p class="index">Banshee, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></p> +<p class="index">Beddoe, Dr., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> +<p class="index">Bell, Robert, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p> +<p class="index">Boyle, Owen, saves bride from fairies, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_71">71</a></p> +<p class="index">Bridget, Eve of St., <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p> +<p class="index">Brownie, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></p> +<p class="index">Burglauenen, destruction of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> +<p class="index">Bury, Professor, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Cailleagh, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></p> +<p class="index">Campbell, J. F., <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></p> +<p class="index">Castlewellan, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></p> +<p class="index">Chope, R. Pearse, B.A., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></p> +<p class="index">"Churn," <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></p> +<p class="index">Cinderella, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></p> +<p class="index">Clark, Miss Jane, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></p> +<p class="index">Coal-mines, ancient, near Ballycastle, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a></p> +<p class="index">Columbkill, St., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p> +<p class="index">Cowan, Rev. Dr., <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p> +<p class="index">Cruithnians, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></p> +<p class="index">Culdaff, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> +<p class="index">Culnady, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></p> +<p class="index">Cushendall, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Danes, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a name="tn_pg_157"></a><!-- TN: Period removed after "104"--><a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> +<p class="index">Derrick's Image of Ireland, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p> +<p class="index">Donaghmore, Co. Down, souterrain at, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p> +<p class="index">Donatus, St., poem describing Scotia or Ireland, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></p> +<p class="index">Downpatrick, rath at, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></p> +<p class="index">Drumcrow, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></p> +<p class="index">Drury, Mrs. Susanna, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> +<p class="index">Dunglady Fort, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></p> +<p class="index">Dunloe, Gap of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Emania, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Fair Head, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> +<p class="index">Fairies, capture of women and children by, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with African pygmies, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">a dwarf race, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">dwelling under sea, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">inhabit forts and souterrains, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">intermarriage with the human race, <a href="#Page_65">65 <i>et seq.</i></a></span></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">vanish, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span></p> +<p class="index">Fanshawe, Lady, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></p> +<p class="index">Fargowan, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> +<p class="index">Fiacc's hymn, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="index">Finglas, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> +<p class="index">Finn McCoul, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></p> +<p class="index"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>Finn, Lough, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> +<p class="index">Finns, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></p> +<p class="index">Finntown, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></p> +<p class="index">Finvoy, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></p> +<p class="index">Frazer, J. G., D.C.L., <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></p> +<p class="index">Friel, John, saves young girl from the fairies, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Gempeler, D., <a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> +<p class="index">Giants, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> +<p class="index">Giant's Causeway, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a></p> +<p class="index">Glasdrumman Fort, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p> +<p class="index">Glenties, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> +<p class="index">Goll, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></p> +<p class="index">Gomme, Sir G. L., <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></p> +<p class="index">Gottwerg and Gottwergini, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></p> +<p class="index">Gray, John, B.Sc., <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> +<p class="index">Greenmount, Mote at, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></p> +<p class="index">Grey Man of the Path, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></p> +<p class="index">Grogach, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> +<p class="index">Gweedore, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Ham, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> +<p class="index">Hamilton, Rev. W., D.D., F.T.C.D., <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a></p> +<p class="index">Hanauer, Rev. J. E., <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> +<p class="index">Harbison, Mann, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></p> +<p class="index">Harris, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></p> +<p class="index">Harvest knots, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></p> +<p class="index">Heather ale, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></p> +<p class="index">Herd (David), <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> +<p class="index">Herman's Fort and Souterrain, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></p> +<p class="index">Hobson, Mrs., <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></p> +<p class="index">Hunt, <a name="tn_pg_158"></a><!-- TN: Period added after "B"-->B., <a href="#Page_72">72</a></p> +<p class="index">Hyde, Dr. Douglas, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Infant carried off by fairies, but saved by father, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Jegerlehner, Dr. J., <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></p> +<p class="index">Johnston, Sir Harry, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Keating, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></p> +<p class="index">Killelagh Church, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></p> +<p class="index">Kilrea, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></p> +<p class="index">Kincasslagh, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></p> +<p class="index">Knockdhu, souterrain at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></p> +<p class="index">Kollmann, Professor Julius, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Lenagh Townland, fort blown up, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p> +<p class="index">Leprechaun, Lupracan, Luchorpan, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></p> +<p class="index">Leslie, Rev. J. B., <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></p> +<p class="index">London Bridge legend, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></p> +<p class="index">Luchter, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p> +<p class="index">Lurach, St., church of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></p> +<p class="index">Lytle, S. D., <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Maghera, Co. Down, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></p> +<p class="index">Maghera, Co. Londonderry, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_23">23</a></p> +<p class="index">Manannan, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p> +<p class="index">McKean, E. J., B.A., <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></p> +<p class="index">McKenna, Daniel, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p> +<p class="index">MacKenzie, W. C., F.S.A.Scot., <a href="#Page_58">58</a></p> +<p class="index">MacRitchie, David, F.S.A.Scot., <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p> +<p class="index">Marshall, Dr. Eric, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></p> +<p class="index">Mortar, cemented with the blood of bullocks, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></p> +<p class="index">Mourne Mountains, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></p> +<p class="index">Munro, Dr., <a href="#Page_12">12</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Neosophers, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> +<p class="index">New Guinea, pygmies in, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></p> +<p class="index"><a name="tn_pg_158a"></a><!-- TN: "Niederdorff" changed to "Niederdorf"-->Niederdorf, destruction of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></p> +<p class="index">Nuesch, Dr., <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">O'Donovan, Dr., <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></p> +<p class="index">O'Grady, Standish H., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="index">O'Neill, Phelim, castle of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></p> +<p class="index">Oughter, Lough, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Palæolithic man, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></p> +<p class="index">Palæosophers, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> +<p class="index">Patrick, St., <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p> +<p class="index">Pechts, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> +<p class="index">Pennant, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></p> +<p class="index">Piskey Dwarfs of Cornwall, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> +<p class="index">Portstewart, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Rathlin Island, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></p> +<p class="index">Red hair ascribed to fairies and Danes, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></p> +<p class="index"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">possibly the original hair colour in Europe, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></span></p> +<p class="index">Rhys, Sir John, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> +<p class="index">Rochefort, Jorevin de, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></p> +<p class="index">Roe, Valley of the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p> +<p class="index"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>Rosapenna, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></p> +<p class="index">Roughan Castle, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></p> +<p class="index">Rowan tree, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></p> +<p class="index">Rush crosses, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Schaffhausen, skeletons of dwarfs discovered near, <a href="#Page_v">v</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></p> +<p class="index">Seals, belief that human beings could change into, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> +<p class="index">Sealskin of Finn woman, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p> +<p class="index">Sea sand, encroachment on land, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></p> +<p class="index">Smith, Dr. Robertson, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></p> +<p class="index">Smith, Rev. Frederick, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></p> +<p class="index">Sidh, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="index">Sidis, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="index">Silva Gadelica, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> +<p class="index">Souterrains, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-<a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p> +<p class="index">Spy, men of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> +<p class="index">Staffa, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></p> +<p class="index">Stone circles at Aghlish, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p> +<p class="index">Stranocum, souterrain at, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></p> +<p class="index">Sweeney, John, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p> +<p class="index">Sword of light, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Thomson, Professor James, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></p> +<p class="index">Tobermore, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></p> +<p class="index">Todas, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></p> +<p class="index">Tormore, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></p> +<p class="index">Tory Island, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></p> +<p class="index">Tuatha de Danann, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></p> +<p class="index">Tullamore Park, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></p> +<p class="indexstart">Wee, wee man, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> +<p class="index">Whitley, Rev. Gath, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></p> +<p class="index">Windele, John, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><p class="index"> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top:2em;">THE END</p> + +<hr style="width: 50%;margin-bottom:.2em;margin-top:1em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-size:.7em;padding-top:.2em;">ELLIOT STOCK, 7, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> + +<div style="border: dashed 1px;margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;margin-top:2em;"> +<div style="margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;"> +<h2 style="padding-top:.75em;">Transcriber's Note</h2> + +<p>Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies have been retained in spelling, hyphenation and grammar, except +where indicated in the list below:</p> + +<div style="margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%;"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_15">"FAIRHEAD" changed to "FAIR HEAD"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_36">Period added after "inches"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_49">Bracket added after "1854"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_49a">Period changed to comma after "304"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_63">Comma changed to period after "1906"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_123">Quote added before "furnished"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_142">Period added after "669"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_156">Period and quote added after "regions"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_157">Period removed after "104"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_158">Period added after "B"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_pg_158a">"Niederdorff" changed to "Niederdorf"</a></li> +</ul> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ulster Folklore, by Elizabeth Andrews + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ULSTER FOLKLORE *** + +***** This file should be named 37187-h.htm or 37187-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/8/37187/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Linda Hamilton, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/37187-h/images/image006.png b/37187-h/images/image006.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..844c387 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/image006.png diff --git a/37187-h/images/image30.png b/37187-h/images/image30.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc14973 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/image30.png diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate1.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..953401f --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate1.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate10.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a31c573 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate10.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate11.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26e8f9f --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate11.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate12.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..70c51bd --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate12.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate2.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4d0390 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate2.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate3.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bda917 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate3.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate4.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0dd2a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate4.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate5.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fb8ae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate5.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate6.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..14bed8a --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate6.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate7.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43d2c97 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate7.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate8.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38bbbca --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate8.jpg diff --git a/37187-h/images/plate9.jpg b/37187-h/images/plate9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67c7660 --- /dev/null +++ b/37187-h/images/plate9.jpg |
