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diff --git a/43974-8.txt b/43974-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index daf0bf1..0000000 --- a/43974-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8525 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, -Second Series, by Lady Gregory - -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/license - - -Title: Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, Second Series - -Author: Lady Gregory - -Annotator: W. B. Yeats - -Release Date: October 18, 2013 [EBook #43974] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VISIONS AND BELIEFS (2/2) *** - - - - -Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Barbara Tozier, Bill -Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - - - _By Lady Gregory_ - - - DRAMA - - Seven Short Plays - Folk-History Plays, 2 vols. - New Comedies - The Image - The Golden Apple - Our Irish Theatre. A Chapter of Autobiography - - IRISH FOLK LORE AND LEGEND - - Visions and Beliefs, 2 vols. - Cuchulain of Muirthemne - Gods and Fighting Men - Saints and Wonders - Poets and Dreamers - The Kiltartan Poetry Book - -[Illustration: Ballylee Castle - -From a sepia drawing by Robert Gregory] - - - - - VISIONS AND BELIEFS IN - THE WEST OF IRELAND - COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY - LADY GREGORY: WITH TWO ESSAYS - AND NOTES BY W.B. YEATS - - - "_There's no doubt at all but that there's the same - sort of things in other countries; but you hear - more about them in these parts because the Irish - do be more familiar in talking of them._" - - - - - _SECOND SERIES_ - - - - - - G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS - NEW YORK AND LONDON - =The Knickerbocker Press= - - 1920 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1920 - - BY - - LADY GREGORY - - =The Knickerbocker Press, New York= - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - I.--HERBS, CHARMS, AND WISE WOMEN 3 - - II.--ASTRAY, AND TREASURE 29 - - III.--BANSHEES AND WARNINGS 45 - - IV.--IN THE WAY 65 - - V.--THE FIGHTING OF THE FRIENDS 77 - - VI.--THE UNQUIET DEAD 89 - - VII.--APPEARANCES 111 - - VIII.--BUTTER 189 - - IX.--THE FOOL OF THE FORTH 195 - - X.--FORTHS AND SHEOGUEY PLACES 205 - - XI.--BLACKSMITHS 239 - - XII.--MONSTERS AND SHEOGUEY BEASTS 245 - - XIII.--FRIARS AND PRIEST CURES 281 - - SWEDENBORG, MEDIUMS, AND THE DESOLATE PLACES 295 - - NOTES 343 - - - - - I - - HERBS, CHARMS, AND WISE WOMEN - - - - - I - - HERBS, CHARMS, AND WISE WOMEN - - -_There is a saying in Irish, "An old woman without learning, it is -she will be doing charms"; and I have told in "Poets and Dreamers" -of old Bridget Ruane who came and gave me my first knowledge of the -healing power of certain plants, some it seemed having a natural and -some a mysterious power. And I said that she had "died last winter, -and we may be sure that among the green herbs that cover her grave -there are some that are good for every bone in the body and that are -very good for a sore heart."_ - -_As to the book she told me of that had come from the unseen and -was written in Irish, I think of Mrs. Sheridan's answer when I asked -in what language the strange unearthly people she had been among had -talked: "Irish of course--what else would they talk?" And I remember -also that when Blake told Crabb Robinson of the intercourse he had had -with Voltaire and was asked in what tongue Voltaire spoke he said, "To -my sensations it was English. It was like the touch of a musical key. -He touched it probably in French, but to my ear it became English."_ - - -_I was told by her:_ - -There is a Saint at the Oratory in London, but I don't know his name, -and a girl heard of him in London, and he sent her back to Gort, and -he said, "There's a woman there that will cure you," and she came to -me, and I cured her in two days. And if you could find out the name -of that Saint through the Press, he'd tell me his remedies, and all -the world would be cured. For I can't do all cures though there are -a great many I can do. I cured Pat Carty when the doctor couldn't do -it, and a woman in Gort that was paralysed and her two sons that were -stretched. For I can bring back the dead with the same herbs our Lord -was brought back with--the _slanlus_ and the _garblus_. But there are -some things I can't do. I can't help anyone that has got a stroke -from the Queen or the Fool of the Forth. - -I know a woman that saw the Queen one time, and she said she looked -like any Christian. I never heard of any that saw the Fool but one -woman that was walking near Gort, and she called out, "There's the -Fool of the Forth coming after me." So her friends that were with -her called out though they could see nothing, and I suppose he went -away at that for she got no harm. He was like a big strong man, and -half-naked--that's all she said about him. - -It was my brother got the knowledge of cures from a book that was -thrown down before him on the road. What language was it written in? -What language would it be but Irish. Maybe it was God gave it to him, -and maybe it was the _other people_. He was a fine strong man, and -he weighed twenty-five stone--and he went to England, and then he -cured all the world, so that the doctors had no way of living. So one -time he got on a ship to go to America, and the doctors had bad men -engaged to shipwreck him out of the ship; he wasn't drowned but he -was broken to pieces on the rocks, and the book was lost along with -him. But he taught me a good deal out of it. So I know all herbs, -and I do a good many cures, and I have brought a great many children -home, home to the world--and never lost one, or one of the women that -bore them. I was never away myself, but I am a cousin of Saggarton, -and his uncle was away for twenty-one years. - - * * * * * - -This is _dwareen_ (knapweed) and what you have to do with this is to -put it down, with other herbs, and with a bit of threepenny sugar, and -to boil it and to drink it for pains in the bones, and don't be afraid -but it will cure you. Sure the Lord put it in the world for curing. - -And this is _corn-corn_ (small aromatic tansy); it's very good for -the heart--boiled like the others. - -This is _atair-talam_ (wild camomile), the father of all herbs--the -father of the ground. This is very hard to pull, and when you go for -it, you must have a black-handled knife. - -And this is _camal-buide_ (loosestrife) that will keep all bad things -away. - -This is _cuineul-Muire_ (mullein), the blessed candle of our Lady. - -This is _fearaban_ (water buttercup) and it's good for every bone of -your body. - -This is _dub-cosac_ (lichen), that's good for the heart, very good -for a sore heart. Here are the _slanlus_ (plantain) and the _garblus_ -(dandelion) and these would cure the wide world, and it was these -brought our Lord from the Cross, after the ruffians that was with the -Jews did all the harm to Him. And not one could be got to pierce His -heart till a dark man came and said, "Give me the spear, and I'll -do it," and the blood that sprang out touched his eyes and they got -their sight. - -And it was after that, His Mother and Mary and Joseph gathered their -herbs and cured His wounds. These are the best of the herbs, but they -are all good, and there isn't one among them but would cure seven -diseases. I'm all the days of my life gathering them, and I know them -all, but it isn't easy to make them out. Sunday evening is the best -time to get them, and I was never interfered with. Seven "Hail Marys" -I say when I'm gathering them, and I pray to our Lord and to St. -Joseph and St. Colman. And there may be _some_ watching me, but they -never meddled with me at all. - - -_Mrs. Quaid:_ - -Monday is a good day for pulling herbs, or Tuesday, not Sunday. A -Sunday cure is no cure. The _cosac_ (lichen) is good for the heart, -there was Mineog in Gort, one time his heart was wore to a silk -thread, and it cured him. The _slanugad_ (rib-grass) is very good, -and it will take away lumps. You must go down when it's growing on -the scraws, and pull it with three pulls, and mind would the wind -change when you are pulling it or your head will be gone. Warm it on -the tongs when you bring it and put it on the lump. The _lus-mor_ -(mullein) is the only one that's good to bring back children that are -away. But what's better than that is to save what's in the craw of a -cock you'll kill on St. Martin's Eve and put it by and dry it, and -give it to the child that's away. - -There's something in green flax I know, for my mother often told me -about one night she was spinning flax, before she was married and she -was up late. And a man of the faeries came in. She had no right to -be sitting up so late, they don't like that. And he told her to go -to bed, for he wanted to kill her, and he couldn't touch her while -she was handling the flax. And every time he'd tell her to go to bed, -she'd give him some answer, and she'd go on pulling a thread of the -flax, or mending a broken one, for she was wise, and she knew that at -the crowing of the cock he'd have to go. So at last the cock crowed, -and he was gone, and she was safe then, for the cock is blessed. - - -_Mrs. Ward:_ - -As to the _lus-mor_, whatever way the wind is blowing when you begin to -cut it, if it changes while you're cutting it, you'll lose your mind. -And if you're paid for cutting it, you can do it when you like, but if -not _they_ mightn't like it. I knew a woman was cutting it one time, -and a voice, an enchanted voice, called out, "Don't cut that if you're -not paid, or you'll be sorry." But if you put a bit of this with every -other herb you drink, you'll live for ever. My grandmother used to put -a bit with everything she took, and she lived to be over a hundred. - - -_An Old Man on the Beach:_ - -I wouldn't give into those things, but I'll tell you what happened -to a son of my own. He was as fine and as stout a boy as ever you -saw, and one day he was out with me, and a letter came and told of -the death of some one's child that was in America, and all the island -gathered to hear it read. And all the people were pressing to each -other there. And when we were coming home, he had a bit of a kippeen -in his hand, and getting over a wall he fell, and some way the -kippeen went in at his throat, where it had a sharp point and hurt -the palate of his mouth, and he got paralysed from the waist up. - -There was a woman over in Spiddal, and my wife gave me no ease till I -went to her, and she gave me some herb for him. He got better after, -and there's no man in the island stronger and stouter than what he is -but he never got back the use of his left hand, but the strength he -has in the other hand is equal to what another man would have in two. -Did the woman in Spiddal say what gave him the touch? Oh well, she -said all sorts of things. But I wouldn't like to meddle too much with -such as her, for it's by witchcraft I believe it's done. There was a -woman of the same sort over in Roundstone, and I knew a man went to -her about his wife, and first she said the sickness had nothing to -do with _her_ business, but he said he came too far to bring back an -answer like that. So she went into a little room, and he heard her -call on the name of all the devils. So he cried out that that was -enough, and she came out then and made the sign of the Cross, but he -wouldn't stop in it. - -But a priest told me that there was a woman in France used to cure -all the dumb that came to her, and that it was a great loss and a -great pity when she died. - - -_Mrs. Cloonan:_ - -I knew some could cure with herbs; but it's not right for any one -that doesn't understand them to be meddling with them. There was a -woman I knew one time wanted a certain herb I knew for a cure for her -daughter, and the only place that herb was to be had was down in the -bottom of a spring well. She was always asking me would I go and get -it for her, but I took advice, and I was advised not to do it. So -then she went herself and she got it out, a very green herb it was, -not watercress, but it had a bunch of green leaves. And so soon as -she brought it into the house, she fell as if dead and there she lay -for two hours. And not long after that she died, but she cured the -daughter, and it's well I didn't go to gather the herb, or it's on me -all the harm would have come. - -I used to be gathering an herb one time for the Bishop that lived at -Loughmore, dandelion it was. There are two sorts, the white that has -no harm in it, that's what I used to be gathering, and the red that -has a _pishogue_ in it, but I left that alone. - - -_Old Heffernan:_ - -The best herb-doctor I ever knew was Conolly up at Ballyturn. He -knew every herb that grew in the earth. It was said that he was away -with the faeries one time, and when I knew him he had the two thumbs -turned in, and it was said that was the sign they left on him. I had -a lump on the thigh one time and my father went to him, and he gave -him an herb for it but he told him not to come into the house by the -door the wind would be blowing in at. They thought it was the evil -I had, that is given by _them_ by a touch, and that is why he said -about the wind, for if it was the evil, there would be a worm in it, -and if it smelled the herb that was brought in at the door, it might -change to another place. I don't know what the herb was, but I would -have been dead if I had it on another hour, it burned so much, and I -had to get the lump lanced after, for it wasn't the evil I had. - -Conolly cured many a one. Jack Hall that fell into a pot of water -they were after boiling potatoes in, and had the skin scalded off him -and that Doctor Lynch could do nothing for, he cured. - -He boiled down herbs with a bit of lard, and after that was rubbed on -three times, he was well. - -And Pat Cahel that was deaf, he cured with the _rib-mas-seala_, that -herb in the potatoes that milk comes out of. His wife was against -him doing the cures, she thought that it would fall on herself. And -anyway, she died before him. But Connor at Oldtown gave up doing -cures, and his stock began to die, and he couldn't keep a pig, and -all he had wasted away till he began to do them again; and his son -does cures now, but I think it's more with charms than with herbs. - - -_John Phelan:_ - -The _bainne-bo-bliatain_ (wood anemone) is good for the headache, if -you put the leaves of it on your head. But as for the _lus-mor_ it's -best not to have anything to do with that. - - -_Mrs. West:_ - -Dandelion is good for the heart, and when Father Prendergast was curate -here, he had it rooted up in all the fields about, to drink it, and see -what a fine man he is. _Garblus_; how did you hear of that? That is the -herb for things that have to do with the faeries. And when you'd drink -it for anything of that sort, if it doesn't cure you, it will kill you -then and there. There was a fine young man I used to know and he got -his death on the head of a pig that came at himself and another man at -the gate of Ramore, and that never left them, but was at them all the -time till they came to a stream of water. And when he got home, he took -to his bed with a headache, and at last he was brought a drink of the -_garblus_ and no sooner did he drink it than he was dead. I remember -him well. Biddy Early didn't use herbs, but let people say what they -like, she was a sure woman. There is something in flax, for no priest -would anoint you without a bit of tow. And if a woman that was carrying -was to put a basket of green flax on her back, the child would go from -her, and if a mare that was in foal had a load of flax put on her, the -foal would go the same way. - - -_Mrs. Allen:_ - -I don't believe in faeries myself, I really don't. But all the people -in Kildare believe in them, and I'll tell you what I saw there one -time myself. There was a man had a splendid big white horse, and he -was leading him along the road, and a woman, a next-door neighbour, -got up on the wall and looked at him. And the horse fell down on his -knees and began to shiver, and you'd think buckets of water were -poured over him. And they led him home, but he was fit for nothing, -and everyone was sorry for the poor man, and him being worth ninety -pounds. And they sent to the Curragh and to every place for vets, but -not one could do anything at all. And at last they sent up in to the -mountains for a faery doctor, and he went into the stable and shut -the door, and whatever he did there no one knows, but when he came -out he said that the horse would get up on the ninth day, and be as -well as ever. And so he did sure enough, but whether he kept well, I -don't know, for the man that owned him sold him the first minute he -could. And they say that while the faery doctor was in the stable, -the woman came to ask what was he doing, and he called from inside, -"Keep her away, keep her away." And a priest had lodgings in the -house at the same time, and when the faery doctor saw him coming, -"Let me out of this," says he, and away with him as fast as he could. -And all this I saw happen, but whether the horse only got a chill or -not I don't know. - - -_James Mangan:_ - -My mother learned cures from an Ulster woman, for the Ulster women -are the best for cures; but I don't know the half of them, and what -I know I wouldn't like to be talking about or doing, unless it might -be for my own family. There's a cure she had for the yellow jaundice; -and it's a long way from Ennistymon to Creevagh, but I saw a man come -all that way to her, and he fainted when he sat down in the chair, -he was so far gone. But she gave him a drink of it, and he came in a -second time and she gave it again, and he didn't come a third time -for he didn't want it. But I don't mind if I tell you the cure and it -is this: take a bit of the dirt of a dog that has been eating bones -and meat, and put it on top of an oven till it's as fine as powder -and as white as flour, and then pound it up, and put it in a glass of -whiskey, in a bottle, and if a man is not too far gone with jaundice, -that will cure him. - -There was one Carthy at Imlough did great cures with charms and his -son can do them yet. He uses no herbs, but he'll go down on his knees -and he'll say some words into a bit of unsalted butter, and what -words he says, no one knows. There was a big man I know had a sore -on his leg and the doctor couldn't cure him, and Doctor Moran said -a bit of the bone would have to come out. So at last he went to Jim -Carthy and he told him to bring him a bit of unsalted butter the next -Monday, or Thursday, or Saturday, for there's a difference in days. -And he would have to come three times, or if it was a bad case, he'd -have to come nine times. - -But I think it was after the third time that he got well, and now he -is one of the head men in Persse's Distillery in Galway. - - -_A Slieve Echtge Woman:_ - -The wild parsnip is good for gravel, and for heartbeat there's nothing -so good as dandelion. There was a woman I knew used to boil it down, -and she'd throw out what was left on the grass. And there was a fleet -of turkeys about the house and they used to be picking it up. And at -Christmas they killed one of them, and when it was cut open they found -a new heart growing in it with the dint of the dandelion. - -My father went one time to a woman at Ennis, not Biddy Early, but one -of her sort, to ask her about three sheep he had lost. - -And she told him the very place they were brought to, a long path -through the stones near Kinvara. And there he found the skins, and he -heard that the man that brought them away had them sold to a butcher in -Loughrea. So he followed him there, and brought the police, and they -found him--a poor looking little man, but he had £60 within in his box. - -There was another man up near Ballylee could tell these things too. -When Jack Fahy lost his wool, he went to him, and next morning there -were the fleeces at his door. - -Those that are _away_ know these things. There was a brother of my -own took to it for seven years--and we at school. And no one could -beat him at the hurling and the games. But I wouldn't like to be -mixed with that myself. - - * * * * * - -There was one Moyra Colum was a great one for doing cures. She was -called one time to see some sick person, and the man that came for -her put her up behind him, on the horse. And some youngsters began -to be humbugging him, and humbugging is always bad. And there was a -young horse in the field where the youngsters were and it began to -gallop, and it fell over a stump and lay on the ground kicking as if -in a fit. And then Moyra Colum said, "Let me get down, for I have -pity for the horse." And she got down and went into the field, and -she picked a blade of a herb and put it to the horse's mouth and in -one minute it got up well. - -Another time a woman had a sick cow and she sent her little boy to -Moyra Colum, and she gave him a bottle, and bade him put a drop of -what was in it in the cow's ear. And so he did and in a few minutes -he began to feel a great pain in his foot. So when the mother saw -that, she took the bottle and threw it out into the street and broke -it, and she said, "It's better to lose the cow than to lose my son." -And in the morning the cow was dead. - - * * * * * - -The herbs they cure with, there's some that's natural, and you could -pick them at all times of the day; there's a very good cure for -the yellow jaundice I have myself, and I offered it to a woman in -Ballygrah the other day, but some people are so taken up with pride -and with conceit they won't believe that to cure that sickness you -must take what comes from your own nature. She's dead since of it, -I hear. But I'll tell you the cure, the way you'll know it. If you -are attending a funeral, pick out a few little worms from the earth -that's thrown up out of the grave, few or many, twenty or thirty if -you like. And when you go home, boil them down in a sup of new milk -and let it get cold; and believe me, that will cure the sickness. - - * * * * * - -There's one woman I knew used to take a bit of tape when you'd go to -her, and she'd measure it over her thumb like this; and when she had -it measured she'd know what was the matter with you. - - * * * * * - -For some sicknesses they use herbs that have no natural cure, and -those must be gathered in the morning early. Before twelve o'clock? -No, but before sunrise. And there's a different charm to be said over -each one of them. It is for any sort of pain these are good, such as -a pain in the side. There's the _meena madar_, a nice little planteen -with a nice little blue flowereen above on it, that's used for a -running sore or an evil. And the charm to be said when you're picking -it has in it the name of some old curer or magician, and you can say -that into a bit of tow three times, and put it on the person to be -cured. That is a good charm. You might use that yourself if it was -any one close to you was sick, but for a stranger I'd recommend you -not do it. _They_ know all things and who are using it, and where's -the use of putting yourself in danger? - - -_James Mangan:_ - -My mother learned to do a great many cures from a woman from the -North (Note 1) and some I could do myself, but I wouldn't like to be -doing them unless for those that are nearest me; I don't want to be -putting myself in danger. - -For a swelling in the throat it's an herb would be used, or for the -evil a poultice you'd make of herbs. But for a pain in the ribs or in -the head, it's a charm you should use, and to whisper it into a bit -of tow, and to put it on the mouth of whoever would have the pain, -and that would take it away. There's a herb called _rif_ in your own -garden is good for cures. And this is a good charm to say in Irish: - - A quiet woman. - A rough man. - The Son of God. - The husk of the flax. - - -_The Old Man on the Beach:_ - -In the old times all could do _druith_--like free-masonry--and the -ground was all covered with the likeness of the devil; and with -_druith_ they could do anything, and could put the sea between you -and the road. There's only a few can do it now, but all that live in -the County Down can do it. - - -_Mrs. Quaid:_ - -There was a girl in a house near this was pining away, and a travelling -woman came to the house and she told the mother to bring the girl -across to the graveyard that's near the house before sunrise and to -pick some of the grass that's growing over the remains. And so she did, -and the girl got well. But the mother told me that when the woman had -told her that, she vanished away, all in a minute, and was seen no more. - - * * * * * - -I have a charm myself for the headache, I cured many with it. I used to -put on a ribbon from the back of the head over the mouth, and another -from the top of the head under the chin and then to press my hand on -it, and I'd give them great relief and I'd say the charm. But one time -I read in the Scriptures that the use of charms is forbidden, so I had -it on my conscience, and the next time I went to confession I asked -the priest was it any harm for me to use it, and I said it to him in -Irish. And in English it means "Charm of St. Peter, Charm of St. Paul, -an angel brought it from Rome. The similitude of Christ, suffering -death, and all suffering goes with Him and into the flax." And the -priest didn't say if I might use it or not, so I went on with it, for -I didn't like to turn away so many suffering people coming to me. - -I know a charm a woman from the North gave to Tom Mangan's mother, -she used to cure ulcers with it and cancers. It was with unsalted -butter it was used, but I don't know what the words were. - - -_John Phelan:_ - -If you cut a hazel rod and bring it with you, and turn it round about -now and again, no bad thing can hurt you. And a cure can be made for -bad eyes from the ivy that grows on a white-thorn bush. I know a boy -had an ulcer on his eye and it was cured by that. - - -_Mrs. Creevy:_ - -There was Leary's son in Gort had bad eyes and no doctor could cure -him. And one night his mother had a dream that she got up and took -a half-blanket with her, and went away to a blessed well a little -outside Gort, and there she saw a woman dressed all in white, and she -gave her some of the water, and when she brought it to her son he got -well. So the next day she went there and got the water, and after -putting it three times on his eyes, he was as well as ever he was. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman here used to do cures with herbs--a midwife she -was. And if a man went for her in a hurry, and on a horse, and he'd -want her to get up behind him, she'd say, "No," that she was never -on horseback. But no matter how fast he'd go home, there she'd be -close after him. - - * * * * * - -There was a child was sick and it was known itself wasn't in it. And -a woman told the mother to go to a woman she told her of, and not to -say anything about the child but to say, "The calf is sick" and to -ask for a cure for it. So she did and the woman gave her some herb, -and she gave it to the child and it got well. - - * * * * * - -There was a man from Cuillean was telling me how two women came from -the County Down in his father's time, mother and daughter, and they -brought two spinning wheels with them, and they used to be in the -house spinning. But the milk went from the cow and they watched and -saw it was through charms. And then all the people brought turf and -made a big fire outside, and stripped the witch and the daughter to -burn them. And when they were brought out to be burned the woman -said, "Bring me out a bit of flax and I'll show you a pishogue." So -they brought out a bit of flax and she made two skeins of it, and -twisted it some way like that (interlacing his fingers) and she put -the two skeins round herself and the daughter, and began to twist it, -and it went up in the air round and round and the two women with it, -and the people all saw them going up, but they couldn't stop them. -The man's own father saw that himself. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman from the County Down was living up on that mountain -beyond one time, and there was a boy in the house next to mine that -had a pain in his heart, and was crying out with the pain of it. And -she came down, and I was in the house myself and I saw her fill the -bowl with oatenmeal, and she tied a cloth over it, and put it on the -hearth. And when she took it off, all the meal was gone out of one -side of the bowl, and she made a cake out of what was left on the -other side, and ate it. And the boy got well. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman in Clifden did many cures and knew everything. And -I knew two boys were sent to her one time, and they had a bottle of -poteen to bring her, but on the road they drank the poteen. But they -got her another bottle before they got to the house, but for all that -she knew well, and told them what they had done. - - * * * * * - -There's some families have a charm in them, and a man of those -families can do cures, just like King's blood used to cure the evil, -but they couldn't teach it to you or to me or another. - - * * * * * - -There's a very good charm to stop bleeding; it will stop it in a -minute when nothing else can, and there's one to take bones from the -neck, and one against ulcers. - - -_Kevin Ralph:_ - -I went to Macklin near Loughrea myself one time, when I had an ulcer -here in my neck. But when I got to him and asked for the charm, he -answered me in Irish, "The Soggarth said to me, any man that will use -charms to do cures with will be damned." I persuaded him to do it -after, but I never felt that it did me much good. Because he took no -care to do it well after the priest saying that of him. But there's -some will only let it be said in an outhouse if there's a cure to be -done in the house. - - -_A Woman in County Limerick:_ - -It is twenty year ago I got a pain in my side, that I could not -stoop; and I tried Siegel's Syrup and a plaster and a black blister -from the doctor, and every sort of thing and they did me no good. -And there came in a man one day, a farmer I knew, and he said, "It's -a fool you are not to go to a woman living within two miles of you -that would cure you--a woman that does charms." So I went to her nine -times, three days I should go and three stop away, and she would -pass her hand over me, and would make me hold on to the branch of -an apple tree up high, that I would hang from it, and she would be -swinging me as you would swing a child. And she laid me on the grass -and passed her hands over me, and what she said over me I don't know. -And at the end of the nine visits I was cured, and the pain left me. -At the time she died I wanted to go lay her out but my husband would -not let me go. He said if I was seen going in, the neighbours would -say she had left me her cures and would be calling me a witch. She -said it was from an old man she got the charm that used to be called -a wizard. My father knew him, and said he could bring away the wheat -and bring it back again, and that he could turn the four winds of -heaven to blow upon your house till they would knock it. - - -_A Munster Midwife:_ - -Is it true a part of the pain can be put on the man? It is to be sure, -but it would be the most pity in the world to do it; it is a thing I -never did, for the man would never be the better of it, and it would -not take any of the pain off the woman. And shouldn't we have pity upon -men, that have enough troubles of their own to go through? - - -_Mrs. Hollaran:_ - -Did I know the pain could be put on a man? Sure I seen my own mother -that was a midwife do it. He was such a Molly of an old man, and he -had no compassion at all on his wife. He was as if making out she had -no pain at all. So my mother gave her a drink, and with that he was -on the floor and around the floor crying and roaring. "The devil take -you," says he, and the pain upon him; but while he had it, it went -away from his wife. It did him no harm after, and my mother would -not have done it but for him being so covetous. He wanted to make out -that she wasn't sick. - - -_Mrs. Stephens:_ - -At childbirth there are some of the old women are able to put a part -of the pain upon the man, or any man. There was a woman in labour -near Oran, and there were two policemen out walking that night, and -one of them went into the house to light his pipe. There were two -or three women in it, and the sick woman stretched beyond them, and -one of them offered him a drink of the tea she had been using, and -he didn't want it but he took a drink of it, and then he took a coal -off the hearth and put it on his pipe to light it and went out to -his comrade. And no sooner was he there than he began to roar and to -catch hold of his belly and he fell down by the roadside roaring. But -the other knew something of what happened, and he took the pipe, and -it having a coal on it, and he put it on top of the wall and fired a -shot of the gun at it and broke it; and with that the man got well of -the pain and stood up again. - - * * * * * - -No woman that is carrying should go to the house where another woman -is in labour; if she does, that woman's pain will come on her along -with her own pain when her time comes. - - * * * * * - -A child to come with the spring tide, it will have luck. - - - - - II - - ASTRAY, AND TREASURE - - - - - II - - ASTRAY, AND TREASURE - - -_Mr. Yeats in his dedication of "The Shadowy Waters" says of some of -our woods:_ - - "_Dim Pairc-na-tarav where enchanted eyes - Have seen immortal mild proud shadows walk; - Dim Inchy wood that hides badger and fox - And martin-cat, and borders that old wood - Wise Biddy Early called the wicked wood._" - -_I have heard many stories of people led astray in these by invisible -power, though I myself, although born at midnight, have lived many -hours of many years in their shades and shelters, and as the saying -is have "never seen anything worse than myself."_ - -_Last May a friend staying with us had gone out early in the -afternoon, and had not come back by eight o'clock dinner-time. As -half-hours passed we grew anxious and sent out messengers riding and -on foot, searching with lanterns here and there in the woods and on -Inchy marsh, towards which he had been seen going. It was not till -long after the fall of darkness that he returned, tired out with so -many hours of wandering, and with no better explanation than "Yeats -talks of the seven woods of Coole, but I say there are seventy times -seven." It was in dim Inchy and the wicked wood it borders he had -gone astray; and many said that was natural, for they have a bad -name, and May is a month of danger. Yet some unbelievers may carry -their credulity so far as to believe that the creator of Father -Keegan's dreams may himself have dreamed the whole adventure._ - - -_I was told by An Army Man who had been through the Indian Mutiny:_ - -It's only yesterday I was talking to a man about _the others_, and he -told me that the castle of Ballinamantane is a great place for them, -for it's there a great stand was made long ago in one of their last -fights. And one night he was making his way home, and only a field -between him and his house, when he found himself turned around and -brought to another field, and then to another--seven in all. And he -remembered the saying that you should turn your coat and that they'd -have no power over you, and he did so, but it did him no good. For -after that he was taken again, and found himself in the field over -beyond. And he had never a one drop taken, but was quite sober that -night. - -What did they do it for? It might be that he had trespassed on one of -their ways; but it's most likely that there was some sort of a rogue -among them that turned and did it for sport. - - -_Mrs. Cloonan:_ - -The other evening I was milking the cow over in Inchy, and a -beggar-woman came by, with a sack of potatoes and such things on her -back. She makes her living selling ballads in Gort, and then begging -afterwards. So she sat down beside me, and she said "I don't like to -go on through the wood." So I asked did she ever see anything there. -"I did," says she, "three years ago, one night just where the old -house is the Dooleys used to live in. There came out of the end of it -a woman all in white, and she led me astray all the night, and drove -me that I had no time to turn my clothes--and my feet were black with -the blows she gave me, and though it was three years ago, I feel the -pain in them yet." - - -_Mrs. Coniffe_ says: - -I was in Inchy the other day late, and I met an old beggarman, and -I asked him was he ever led astray there. And he said, "Not in this -wood, but in the wood beyond, Garryland. It was one night I was -passing through it, and met a great lot of them--laughing they were -and running about and drinking wine and wanting me to drink with -them. And they had cars with them, and an old woman sitting on a sort -of an ass-car. And I had a scapular round my neck, and I thought that -would make me independent, but it did not, for it was on the highroad -outside I found myself put at last." - - -_A Mason:_ - -My father was led astray one time, when he was coming home from a -neighbour's house, and he was led here and there till he didn't know -what way he was going. And then the moon began to shine out and he -saw his shadow, and another shadow along with it ten feet in length. -So with that he ran, and when he got to the wood of Cloon he fell -down in a faint. - - * * * * * - -And I was led astray one night, going across to a neighbour's -house--just the length of a field away, and where I could find my way -blindfolded. Into the ditch I was led, and to some other field, and I -put my hand to the ground, and it was potato ground, and the drills -made, but the seed not put in. And if it wasn't at last that I saw a -light from Scalp, it's away I'd have been brought altogether. - - -_John Rivers:_ - -Once I was led astray in that field and went round and round and -could find no way out--till at last I thought of the old Irish -fashion of turning my waistcoat, and did so. And then I got out the -gate in one minute. - - * * * * * - -And one night I was down at the widow Hayley's--I didn't go much -there--she used to have the place full of loafers, and they playing -cards. But this night I stopped a bit, and then I went out. And the -way I was put I could not say, but I found myself in the field with -an eight-foot wall behind me--and there I had to stop till some of -the men came and found me and brought me out. - - -_A Girl of the Feeneys:_ - -One time my brother when he was coming home late one evening was -put asleep in spite of himself, on the grass, at this corner -we're passing. None of the boys like to be coming home late, from -card-playing or the like, unless there's two or three of them -together. And if they go to a wake, they wouldn't for all the world -come home before the cock crows. There were many led astray in that -hollow beyond, where you see the haycocks. Old Tom Stafford was led -astray there by something like a flock of wool that went rolling -before him, and he had no power to turn but should follow it. Michael -Barrett saw the coach one time driving across Kiltartan bog, and it -was seen to many others besides. - -As to Michael Barrett, I believe it's mostly in his own head they -are. But I know this that when he pulled down the chimney where he -said that the piper used to be sitting and playing, he lifted out -stones, and he an old man, that I could not have lifted myself when I -was young and healthy. - - -_A Clare Woman:_ - -As to treasure, there was a man here dreamt of some buried things--of -a skeleton and a crock of money. So he went to dig, but whether he -dreamed wrong or that he didn't wait for the third dream, I don't -know, but he found the skeleton, skull and all, but when he found -the crock there was nothing in it, but very large snail-shells. So -he threw them out in the grass, and next day when he went to look -at them they were all gone. Surely there's something that's watching -over that treasure under ground. - -But it doesn't do to be always looking for money. There was Whaney the -miller, he was always wishing to dream of money like other people. And -so he did one night, that it was hid under the millstone. So before it -was hardly light he went and began to dig and dig, but he never found -the money, but he dug till the mill fell down on himself. - -So when any one is covetous the old people say, "Take care would you -be like Whaney the miller." - - * * * * * - -Now I'll tell you a story that's all truth. There was a farmer man -living there beyond over the mountains, and one day a strange man -came in and asked a night's lodging. "Where do you come from?" says -the farmer. "From the county Mayo," says he, and he told how he had a -dream of a bush in this part of the world, and gave a description of -it, and in his dream he saw treasure buried under it. "Then go home, -my poor man," said the farmer, "for there's no such place as that -about here." So the man went back again to Mayo. But the bush was all -the time just at the back of the house, and when the stranger was -gone, the farmer began to dig, and there, sure enough, he found the -pot of gold, and took it for his own use. - -But all the children he had turned silly after that; there was one -of them not long ago going about the town with long hair over his -shoulders. - -And after that, a poor scholar, such as used to be going about in -those times, came to the house, and when he had sat down, the lid of -the pot the gold was found in was lying by the fire. And he took it -up and rubbed it, and there was writing on it, in Irish, that no one -had ever been able to read. And the poor scholar made it out, "This -side of the bush is no better than the other side." So he went out to -dig, and there he found another pot on the other side just the same -as the first pot and he brought it away with him, and what became of -him after is unknown. - - -_John Phelan:_ - -There was a man in Gort, Anthony Hynes, he and two others dreamed of -finding treasure within the church of Kilmacduagh. But when they got -there at night to dig, something kept them back, for there's always -something watching over where treasure is buried. I often heard -that long ago in the nursery at Coole, at the cross, a man that was -digging found a pot of gold. But just as he had the cover took off, -he saw old Richard Gregory coming, and he covered it up, and was -never able again to find the spot where it was. - -But there's dreams and dreams. I heard of a man from Mayo went to -Limerick, and walked two or three times across the bridge there. And -a cobbler that was sitting on the bridge took notice of him, and -knew by the look of him and by the clothes he wore that he was from -Mayo, and asked him what was he looking for. And he said he had a -dream that under the bridge of Limerick he'd find treasure. "Well," -says the cobbler, "I had a dream myself about finding treasure, but -in another sort of a place than this." And he described the place -where he dreamed it was, and where was that, but in the Mayo man's -own garden. So he went home again, and sure enough, there he found a -pot of gold with no end of riches in it. But I never heard that the -cobbler found anything under the bridge at Limerick. - - * * * * * - -I met a woman coming out one day from Cloon, and she told me that -when she was a young girl, she went out one day with another girl to -pick up sticks near a wood. And she chanced to lay hold on a tuft -of grass, and it came up in her hand and the sod with it. And there -was a hole underneath full of half-crowns, and she began to fill her -apron with them, and as soon as she had the full of her apron she -called to the other girl, and the minute she came there wasn't one to -be seen. But what she had in her apron she kept. - - -_A Travelling Man:_ - -There was a sister of mine, Bridget her name was, dreamed three -nights of treasure that was buried under the bush up there, by -the chapel, a mile to the east; you can see the bush there, blown -slantwise by the wind from the sea. So she got three men to go along -with her and they brought shovels to dig for it. But it was the woman -should have lifted the first sod and she didn't do it, and they saw, -coming down from the mountains of Burren, horses and horses, bearing -horse-soldiers on them, and they came around the bush, and the -soldiers held up their shovels, and my sister and the men that were -with her made away across the field. - -The time I was in America, I went out to the country to see Tom -Scanlon, my cousin, that is a farmer there and had any amount of land -and feeding for the cows, and we went out of the house and sat down -on a patch of grass the same as we're sitting on now. And the first -word he said to me was, "Did Bridget, your sister, ever tell you of -the dream she had, and the way we went digging at the bush, for I was -one of the men that was along with her?" "She did often," says I. -"Well," says he, "all she told you about it was true." - - * * * * * - -There were two boys digging for razor fish near Clarenbridge, and -one of them saw, as he was digging, a great lot of gold. So he said -nothing, the way the other boy would know nothing about it. But when -he came back for it it was gone. - - * * * * * - -There was another boy found gold under a flagstone he lifted. But -when he went back next day to get it, all the strength he had -wouldn't lift the flag. - - -_The Army Man:_ - -There was a forth sometime or other there inside the gate, and one -Kelly told me that he was coming by it one night and saw all the hollow -spread with gold, and he had not the sense to take it up, but ran away. - - * * * * * - -A friend I had near Athenry had more sense. He saw the ground spread -with gold and he took up the full of his pockets and paid his rent next -day and prospered ever after, as everyone does that gets the faery gold. - - * * * * * - -Another man I knew of had a dream of a place where there was three -crocks of gold. And in the morning he went to dig and found the -crocks sure enough, and nothing in them but oyster shells. That was -because he went to dig after the first dream. He had a right to wait -till he had dreamed of it three times. - - * * * * * - -A girl the same way dreamt of gold hid in a rock and did not wait for -the third dream, but went at once, and all she found was the full of an -ass-cart near of sewing needles, and that was a queer thing to find in -a rock. No, they don't always hinder you, they help you now and again. - - * * * * * - -There was a working man used to be digging potatoes for me, and -whenever he was in want of money, he found it laid on his window-sill -in the night. But one day he had a drop of drink taken, he told -about it, and never a penny more did he find after that. - - * * * * * - -Sure, there's an old castle beyond Gort, Fiddane it's called, and -there you'd see the gold out bleaching, but no one would like to go -and take it. And my mother told me one time that a woman went up in -the field beyond where the liss is, to milk the cow, and there she -saw on the grass a crock full of gold. So she left the bit she had -for holding the cow beside it, and she ran back to the house for to -tell them all to come out and see it. But when they came the gold was -nowhere to be seen, but had vanished away. But in every part of the -field there was a bit of rope like the one she left beside the crock, -so that she couldn't know what spot it was in at all. - -She had a right to have taken it, and told no one. They don't like to -have such things told. - - -_Mrs. Coniffe:_ - -That bush you took notice of, the boy told me that it is St. -Bridget's bush, and there is a great lot of money buried under it; -they know this from an old woman that used to be here a long time -ago. Three men went one time to dig for it and they dug and dug all -the day and found nothing and they went home and to bed. And in the -night whatever it was came to them, they never got the better of -it, but died within a week. And you'd be sorry to see--as the boy -did--the three coffins carried out of the three houses. And since -then no other person has ever gone to look for the money. - -That's no wonder for you to know a faery bush. It grows a different -shape from a common one, and looks different someway. - - * * * * * - -As to hidden gold, I knew a man, Patrick Connell, dreamed he found it -beneath a bush. But he wasn't willing to go look for it, and his sons -and his friends were always at him to tell where it was, but he would -tell them nothing. But at last his sons one day persuaded him to go -with them and to dig for it. So they took their car, and they set -out. But when they came to a part of the road where there's a small -little ditch about a foot wide beside it, he was walking and he put -his foot in it and they had to bring him home, for his leg was broke. -So there was no more digging for treasure after that. - - -_A Neighbour:_ - -There's crocks of gold in all the forths, but there's cats and things -guarding them. And if any one does find the gold, he doesn't live -long afterwards. But sometimes you might see it and think that it was -only a heap of dung. It's best to leave such things alone. - - - - - III - - BANSHEES AND WARNINGS - - - - - III - - BANSHEES AND WARNINGS - - -"_Then Cuchulain went on his way, and Cathbad that had followed him -went with him. And presently they came to a ford, and there they -saw a young girl, thin and white-skinned and having yellow hair, -washing and ever washing, and wringing out clothing that was stained -crimson red, and she crying and keening all the time. 'Little Hound,' -said Cathbad, 'Do you see what it is that young girl is doing? -It is your red clothes she is washing, and crying as she washes, -because she knows you are going to your death against Maeve's great -army.'_"--"Cuchulain of Muirthemne." - - * * * * * - -_From Cuchulain's day, or it may be from a yet earlier time, that -keening woman of the Sidhe has been heard giving her lamentable -warning for those who are about to die. Rachel had not yet been heard -mourning for her children when the white-skinned girl whose keening -has never ceased in Ireland washed red clothes at the ford. It was -she or one of her race who told King Brian he was going to meet his -death at Clontarf; though after the defeat of the old gods that -warning had often been sent by a more radiant messenger, as when -Columcille at the dawn of the feast of Pentecost "lifted his eyes and -saw a great brightness and an angel of God waiting there above him." -And Patrick himself had his warning through his angel, Victor, who -met him on the road at midday and bade him go back to the barn where -he had lodged the night before, for it was there he had to die. Such -a messenger may have been at hand at the death of that Irish born -mystic, William Blake, when he "burst out into singing of the things -he saw in Heaven, and made the rafters ring." And a few years ago -the woman of a thatched house at the foot of Echtge told me "There -were great wonders done in the old times; and when my father that -worked in the garden there above was dying, there came of a sudden -three flashes of light into the room, the brightest light that ever -was seen in the world; and there was an old man in the room, one -Ruane, and I leaned back on him for I had like to faint. And people -coming the road saw the light, and up at Mick Inerney's house they -all called out that our house was in flames. And when they came and -heard of the three flashes of light coming into the room and about -the bed they all said it was the angels that were his friends that -had come to meet him." When Raftery died, the blind poet who wandered -through our townlands a hundred years ago, some say there were flames -about the house all through the night, "and those were the angels -waking him." Yet his warning had not been sent through these white -messengers but through a vision that had come to him once in Galway, -when Death himself had appeared "thin, miserable, sad and sorrowful; -the shadow of night upon his face, the tracks of the tears down his -cheeks" and had told him he had but seven years to live. And though -Raftery spoke back to him in scornful verse, there are some who say -he spent those last seven years in praying and in making his songs -of religion. To some it is a shadow that brings the warning, or a -noise of knocking or a dream. At the hour of a violent death nature -itself will show sympathy; I have been told on a gloomy day that it -had darkened because there was a man being hanged; and a woman who -had travelled told me that once at Bundoran she had "seen the waves -roaring and turning" and she knew later it was because at that very -time two young girls had been drowned._ - - -_I was told by Steve Simon:_ - -I will tell you what I saw the night my wife died. I attended the -neighbours up to the road, for they had come to see her, but she said -there was no fear of her, and she would not let them stop because she -knew that they were up at a wake the night before. - -So when I left them I was going back to the house, and I saw the -shadow of my wife on the road before me, and it was as white as -drifted snow. And when I came into the house, there she was dying. - - -_Mrs. Curran:_ - -My cousin Mary that lives in the village beyond told me that she was -coming home yesterday week along the road, and she is a girl would -not be afraid to walk the whole world with herself. And it was late, -and suddenly there was a man walking beside her, inside the field, on -the other side of the wall. - -And at first she was frightened, but then she felt sure it was her -cousin John that was dying, and then she wasn't afraid, for she knew -her cousin would do her no harm. And after a while he was gone, and -when she got near home and saw the lights she was frightened, and -when she got into the house she was in a sort of a faint. And next -day, this day week, her cousin was dead. - - -_Old Simon:_ - -I heard the Banshee crying not long ago, and within three days a boy -of the Murphy's was killed by his own horse and he bringing his cart -to Kinvara. And I heard it again a few nights ago, but I heard of no -death since then. What is the Banshee? It is of the nature of the -Hyneses. Six families it cries for, the Hyneses and the Fahys and I -forget what are the others. - - * * * * * - -I heard her beside the river at Ballylee one time. I would stand -barefooted in the snow listening to the tune she had, so nice and so -calm and so mournful. - - * * * * * - -I would yield to dreams because of some things were dreamed to me -in my lifetime and that turned out true. I dreamed one time that I -saw my daughter that was in America dead, and stretched and a table -laid out with the corpse. She came home after, and at the end of five -months she wasted and died. And there I saw her stretched as in the -dream, and it was on my own table. - - * * * * * - -One time I was walking the road and I heard a great crying and -keening beside me, a woman that was keening, and she conveyed me -three miles of the road. And when I got to the door of the house I -looked down and saw a little woman, very broad and broad faced--about -the bigness of the seat of that table--and a cloak about her. I -called out to her that was my first wife--the Lord be with her--and -she lighted a candle and I came in weak and lay upon the floor, and I -was till 12 o'clock that night lying in the bed. - -A man I was talking to said it was the Banshee, and it cries for -three families, the Fahys and the O'Briens and another I forget -which. My grandmother was a Fahy, and I suppose, father or mother, it -follows the generations. I heard it another time and my daughter from -America coming into the house that night. It was the most mournful -thing ever you heard, keening about the house for the same term as -before, till 12 o'clock of night. And within five months my daughter -from America was dead. - - -_John Cloran:_ - -There was a man near us that was ploughing a field, and he found an -iron box, and they say there was in it a very old Irish book with all -the knowledge of the world in it. Anyway, there's no question you -could ask him he couldn't answer. And what he says of the Banshee is, -that it's Rachel mourning still for every innocent of the earth that -is going to die, like as she did for our Lord when the king had like -to kill Him. But it's only for them that's sprung from her own tribe -that she'll raise her voice. - - -_Mrs. Smith:_ - -As for the Banshee, where she stops is in the old castle of -Esserkelly on the Roxborough estate. Many a one has seen her there -and heard her wailing, wailing, and she with a red petticoat put -about her head. There was a family of the name of Fox in Moneen, and -never one of that family died but she'd be heard keening them. - - -_The Spinning Woman:_ - -The Banshee is all I ever saw myself. It was when I was a slip of a -girl picking potatoes along with the other girls, we heard crying, -crying, in the graveyard beyond at Ryanrush, so we ran like foals to -see who was being buried, and I was the first, and leaped up on the -wall. And there she was and gave me a slap on the jaw, and she just -like a countrywoman with a red petticoat. Often they hear her crying -if any one is going to die in the village. - - -_A Seaside Woman:_ - -One time there was a man in the village was dying and I stood at the -door in the evening, and I heard a crying--the grandest cry ever you -heard--and I said "Glynn's after dying and they're crying him." And -they all came to the door and heard it. But my mother went out after -that and found him gasping still. - -Sure enough it was the Banshee we heard that evening. - -And out there where the turf-boat is lying with its sail down, -outside Aughanish, there the Banshee does always be crying, crying, -for some that went down there some time. - - * * * * * - -At Fiddoon that strip of land between Tyrone and Duras something -appears and cries for a month before any one dies. A great many are -taken away sudden there; and they say that it's because of that thing. - - * * * * * - -The Banshee cries every time one of the Sionnacs dies. And when the -old Captain died, the crows all left the place within two days, and -never came back for a year. - - -_A Connemara Woman:_ - -There was a boy from Kylemore I met in America used to be able to -tell fortunes. He used to be telling them when the work would be -done, and we would be having afternoon tea. He told me one time I -would soon be at a burying, and it would be a baby's burying, and I -laughed at that. But sure enough, my sister's baby, that was not born -at the time, died about a month after, and I went to its burying. - - -_A Herd:_ - -Crying for those that are going to die you'd hear of often enough. -And when my own wife was dying, the night she went I was sitting by -the fire, and I heard a noise like the blow of a flail on the door -outside. And I went to see what it was, but there was nothing there. -But I was not in any way frightened, and wouldn't be if she came back -in a vision, but glad to see her I would be. - - -_A Miller:_ - -There was a man that was out in the field and a flock of stares -(starlings) came about his head, and it wasn't long after that he died. - - * * * * * - -There's many say they saw the Banshee, and that if she heard you -singing loud she'd be very apt to bring you away with her. - - -_A Connemara Woman:_ - -One night the clock in my room struck six and it had not struck for -years, and two nights after--on Christmas night--it struck six again, -and afterwards I heard that my sister in America had died just at -that hour. So now I have taken the weights off the clock, that I -wouldn't hear it again. - - -_Mrs. Huntley:_ - -It was always said that when a Lord ---- died, a fox was seen about the -house. When the last Lord ---- lay dying, his daughter heard a noise -outside the house one night, and opened the hall-door, and then she -saw a great number of foxes lying on the steps and barking and running -about. And the next morning there was a meet at some distant covert--it -had been changed there from hard by where it was to have taken place -on account of his illness--and there was not a single fox to be found -there or in any other covert. And that day he died. - - -_J. Hanlon:_ - -There was one Costello used to be ringing the bell and pumping water -and such things at Roxborough, and one day he was at the fair of -Loughrea. And as he started home he sent word to my grandfather "Come -to the corner of the old castle and you'll find me dead." So he set -out, and when he got to the corner of the castle, there was Costello -lying dead before him. - - * * * * * - -And once going to a neighbour's house to see a little girl, I saw her -running along the path before me. But when I got to the house she was -in bed sick, and died two days after. - - -_Pat. Linskey:_ - -Well, the time my own wife died I had sent her into _Cloon_ to get -some things from the market, and I was alone in the house with the -dog. And what do you think but he started up and went out to the hill -outside the house, and there he stood a while howling, and it was -the very next day my wife died. - -Another time I had shut the house door at night and fastened it, and -in the morning it was standing wide open. And as I knew by the dates -afterwards that was the very night my brother died in India. - -Sure I told Stephen Green that, when he buried his mother in England, -and his father lying in Kilmacduagh. "You should never separate," -says I, "in death a couple that were together in life, for sure as -fate, the one'll come to look for the other." - -And when there's one of them passing in the air you might get a blast -of holy wind you wouldn't be the better of for a long time. - - -_Mrs. Curran:_ - -I was in Galway yesterday, and I was told there that the night before -those four poor boys were drowned, there were four women heard crying -out on the rocks. Those that saw them say that they were young, and -they were out of this world. And one of those boys was out at sea all -day, the day before he was drowned. And when he came in to Galway in -the evening, some boy said to him "I saw you today standing up on the -high bridge." And he was afraid and he told his mother and said "Why -did they see me on the high bridge and I out at sea?" And the next -day he was drowned. And some say there was not much at all to drown -them that day. - - -_A Man near Athenry:_ - -There is often crying heard before a death, and in that field beside -us the sound of washing clothes with a beetle is sometimes heard -before a death. - -I heard crying in that field near the forth one night, and not long -after the man it belonged to died. - - -_An Aran Man:_ - -I remember one morning, St. Bridget's Eve, my son-in-law came into -the house, where he had been up that little road you see above. And -the wife asked him did he see any one, and he said "I saw Shamus -Meagher driving cattle." And the wife said, "You couldn't see him, -for he's out laying spillets since daybreak with two other men." And -he said, "But I did see him, and I could have spoke with him." And -the next day--St. Bridget's Day--there was confessions in the little -chapel below and I was in it, and Shamus Meagher, and it was he that -was kneeling next to me at the Communion. But the next morning he -and two other men that had set the spillets went on in their canoe -to Kilronan for salt, for they had come short of salt and had a good -deal of fish taken. And that day the canoe was upset, and the three -of them were drowned. - - -_A Piper:_ - -My father and my mother were in the bed one night and they heard a -great lowing and a noise of the cattle fighting one another, that -they thought they were all killed, and they went out and they were -quiet then. But they went on to the next house where they heard a -lowing, and all the cattle of that house were fighting one another, -and so it was at the next. And in the morning a child, one Gannon, -was dead--or taken he was. - - -_An Old Man in Aran:_ - -When I was in the State of Maine, I knew a woman from the County -Cork, and she had a little girl sick. And one day she went out behind -the house and there she saw the fields full of _those_--full of them. -And the little girl died. - -And when I was in the same State, I was in the house where there -was a child sick. And one night I heard a noise outside, as if of -hammering. And I went out and I thought it came from another house -that was close by that no one lived in, and I went and tried the door -but it was shut up. - -And I went back and said to the woman, "This is the last night you'll -have to watch the child." And at 12 o'clock the next evening it died. - - * * * * * - -They took my hat from me one time. One morning just at sunrise I was -going down to the sea, and a little storm came, and took my hat off -and brought it a good way, and then it brought it back and returned -it to me again. - - -_An Old Midwife:_ - -I do be dreaming, dreaming. I dreamt one night I was with my daughter -and that she was dead and put in the coffin. And I heard after, the -time I dreamt about her was the very time she died. - - -_A Woman near Loughrea:_ - -There are houses in Cloon, and Geary's is one of them, where if the -people sit up too late the warning comes; it comes as a knocking at -the door. Eleven o'clock, that is the hour. It is likely it is some -that lived in the house are wanting it for themselves at that time. -And there is a house near the Darcys' where as soon as the potatoes -are strained from the pot, they must put a plateful ready and leave -it for the night, and milk and the fire on the hearth, and there is -not a bit left at morning. Some poor souls that come in, looking for -warmth and for food. - - * * * * * - -There is a woman seen often before a death sitting by the river and -racking her hair, and she has a beetle with her and she takes it and -beetles clothes in the river. And she cries like any good crier; you -would be sorry to be listening to her. - - -_Old King:_ - -I heard the Banshee and saw her. I and six others were card playing in -the kitchen at the big house, that is sunk into the ground, and I saw -her up outside of the window. She had a white dress and it was as if -held over her face. They all looked up and saw it, and they were all -afraid and went back but myself. Then I heard a cry that did not seem -to come from her but from a good way off, and then it seemed to come -from herself. She made no attempt to twist a mournful cry but all she -said was, "Oh-oh, Oh-oh," but it was as mournful as the oldest of the -old women could make it, that was best at crying the dead. - -Old Mr. Sionnac was at Lisdoonvarna at that time, and he came home a -few days after and took to the bed and died. It is always the Banshee -has followed the Sionnacs and cried them. - - -_Mrs. King:_ - -There was a boy of the Naughtons died not far from this, a fine young -man. And I set out to go to the burying, and Mrs. Burke along with -me. But when we came to the gate we could hear crying for the dead, -and I said "It's as good for us wait where we are, for they have -brought the corp out and are crying him." So we waited a while and -no one came, and so we went on to the house, and we had two hours to -wait before they brought out the corp for the burying, and there had -been no crying at all till he was brought out. We knew then who it -was crying, for if the boy was a Naughton, it is in a house of the -Kearns he died, and the Banshee always cries for the Kearns. - - -_A Doctor:_ - -There's a boy I'm attending now, and the first time I went to him, -the mother came out of the house with me and said "It's no use to do -anything for him, I'm going to lose him." And I asked her why did she -say that, and she said "Because the first night he took ill I heard -the sound of a chair drawing over to the fire in the kitchen, and it -empty, and it was the faeries were coming for him." The boy wouldn't -have had much wrong with him, but his brother had died of phthisis, -and when he got a cold he made sure he would die too, and he took to -the bed. And every day his mother would go in and cry for an hour -over him, and then he'd cry and then the father would cry, and he'd -say "Oh, how can I leave my father and my mother! Who will there be -to mind them when I'm gone?" One time he was getting a little better -they sent him over on a message to Scahanagh, and there's a man there -called Shanny that makes coffins for the people. And the boy saw -Shanny looking at him, and he left his message undone and ran home -and cried out "Oh, I'm done for now! Shanny was looking at me to see -what size coffin I'd take!" And he cried and they all cried and all -the village came in to see what was the matter. - - -_The Old Army man:_ - -As to the invisible world, I hear enough about it, but I have seen -but little myself. One night when I was at Calcutta I heard that -one Connor was dead--a man that I had been friendly with--so I went -to the house. There was a good many of us there, and when it came to -just before midnight, I heard a great silence fall, and I looked from -one to another to see the silence. And then there came a knock at -the window, just as the clock was striking twelve. And Connor's wife -said, "It was just at this hour last night there came a knock like -that and immediately afterwards he died." And the strange thing is, -it was a barrack-room and on the second story, so that no one could -reach it from the street. - - * * * * * - -In India, before Delhi, there was an officer's servant lodged in the -same house as me, and was thrown out of his cot every night. And as -sure as midnight came, the dogs couldn't stop outside but would come -shrinking and howling into the house. Yes indeed, I believe the faeries -are in all countries, all over the world; but the banshee is only in -Ireland, though sometimes in India I would think of her when I'd hear -the hyenas laughing. Keening, keening, you can hear her, but only for -the old Irish families, but she'll follow them even as far as Dublin. - - - - - IV - - IN THE WAY - - - - - IV - - IN THE WAY - - -_An old Athenry man who had been as a soldier all through the Indian -Mutiny and had come back to end his days here as a farmer said to me -in speaking of "The Others" and those who may be among them: "There's -some places of their own we should never touch such as the forths; and -if ever we cross their pathways we're like to know it soon enough, for -some ill turn they'll do us, and then we must draw back out of their -way.... And we should above all things leave the house clean at night, -with nothing about that would offend them. For we must all die some -day, but God knows we're not all fit for heaven just on the minute; and -what the intermediate state may be, or what friends we may want there, -I don't know. No one has come back to tell us that."_ - - -_I was told by John Donovan:_ - -Before I came here I was for two years in a house outside Cloon. And -no one that lived there ever prospered but all they did went to loss. -I sowed seeds and put in the crop each year, and if I'd stopped there -I wouldn't have had enough to keep trousers to my back. _In the way_ -the place must be. I had no disturbance in the house, but some nights -I could hear the barrel rolling outside the door, back and forwards, -with a sort of a warning to me. - -I knew another house in Clare where the front door is always shut up -and they only use the back door, but when I asked them the reason -they said if they opened the front door a sudden blast would come in, -that would take the roof off the house. And there's another house in -Clare built in a forth, a new one, shut up and the windows closed, -for no one can live in it. - - -_Andrew Lee:_ - -"In the way?" Yes that's a thing that often happens. Sure going into -Clough, you might see a house that no man ever yet kept a roof on. -Surely it's in the way of their coming and going. And Doctor Nolan's -father began to build a barn one time, and whatever was built in the -day, in the night it would be pulled down, so at last they gave over. -It was only labour and wages wasted. - - -_Mrs. Cloran:_ - -No, I never heard or felt anything since I came here. The old people -used to tell many things, they know more than what the youngsters do. -My mother saw many a thing, but they did her no harm. No, I remember -none of the stories; since my children died and a weight came on my -heart all those things went from me. Yes, it's true Father Boyle -banished the dog; and there was a cousin of my own used to live in -the house at Garryland, and she could get no sleep for what she used -to feel at night. But Father Boyle came and whatever he did, "You'll -feel them no more," says he, and she never did, though he was buried -before her. - -That was a bad, bad place we lived in near the sea. The children -never felt anything, but often in the night I could hear music -playing and no one else in the house could hear it. But the children -died one by one, passing away without pain or ache. - -All they saw was twice; the two last little girls I had were beside -the door at night talking and laughing and they saw a big dark man -pass by, but he never spoke. Some old thing out of the walls he must -have been. And soon after that they died. - -One time when I was there a strange woman came in, and she knew -everything and told me everything. "I'd give you money if I had it," -said I. "I know well you haven't much of it," says she; "but take my -word and go away out of this house to some other place, for you're -_in the way_." She told me to tell no one she came, and that shows -there was something not right about her; and I never saw her any more. - -But if I'd listened to her then, and if I knew then what she meant -by the house being _in the way_ I wouldn't have stopped in it, and -my seven fine children would be with me now. Took away they were by -_them_ and without ache or pain. I never had a sign or a vision from -them since, but often and often they come across me in my sleep. - - -_Her Husband:_ - -The woman that came to give my wife the warning, I didn't see her, -and she knew all that was in the house and all about me and what -money I had, and that I would grow very poor. And she said that -before I'd die, I'd go to the strand and come back again. And we -couldn't know what she meant, and we thought it must mean that I'd go -to America. But we knew it at last. For one day I was washing sheep -down at Cahirglissane, and there is said to be the deepest water in -the world in one part of that lake. And as I was standing by it, a -sheep made a run and went between my two legs, and threw me into the -water, and I not able to swim. And I was brought on the top of the -water safe and sound to land again; and I knew well who it was helped -me, and saved my life. She that had come before to give advice that -would save my children, it's she that was my friend over there. To -say a Mass in the house? No use at all that would have been, living -in the place we did. - - * * * * * - -But they're mostly good neighbours. There was a woman they used to -help, one of them used to come and help her to clean the house, but -she never came when the husband was there. And one day she came and -said they were going to move now, to near Clifden. And she bid the -woman follow them, and whenever she'd come to a briar turned down, -with a thorn stuck in the earth, to build a house there. - - -_A Travelling Man:_ - -I was sleeping at a house one time and _they_ came in--the fallen -angels. They were pulling the clothes off me, ten times they did -that, and they were laughing like geese--just the very sound of -geese--and their boots were too large for their feet and were -clapping, clapping on the floor. I suppose they didn't like me to be -in it, or that the house was built in one of their passages. - -My father was driven out of the little garden house at Castleboy one -time he went to sleep in it. In the way, I suppose it must have been. - -And I knew of a herd's house, where five or six herds went one after -another and every one of them died, and their dogs and their cow. And -the gentleman that owned the place came to ask another one to go in -it, and his wife said she wouldn't go, for there was some bad luck -about it. But she went after, and she was a very clean woman, not -like some of them that do have the house dirty. Well, one day a woman -came to the door and asked for a dish of oaten meal, and she took -it from the shelf, and gave it to her. "I'll bring it back to you -tomorrow," says she, "it'll be easy getting it then when it's market -day." "Do not," says the woman of the house, "for if you do I won't -take it." "Well," says the stranger, "you'll have luck after this; -only one thing I tell you, keep that door at the back shut, and if -you want any opening there, let you open the window." Well, so she -did, and by minding that rule, and keeping the house so clean, she -was never troubled but lived there all her life. - - -_An Island Woman:_ - -There are some houses that never bring luck. There is one over there, -out of this village, and two or three died in it, and one night it -blazed up and burned down, those that were out in the fishing boats -could see it, but it was never known how it happened. - -There was a house over in the other village and a woman living in it -that had two forths of land. And she had clever children, but the -most of them died one after another, boys and girls, and then the -husband died. And after that one of the boys that had died came to -her and said "You'd best leave this house or you'll be as we are, -and we are all now living in the Black Rock at the gable end of the -house. And two of the McDaraghs are with us there." - -So after that she left the house--you can cut grass now in the -place where it was, and it's green all through the summer and the -winter--and she went up to the north side and she married a young man -up there, for she was counted a rich woman. She had but two daughters -left, and one of them was married, and there was a match to be made -for the other, but the stepfather wouldn't allow her to give any of -the land to her, so she said she'd go to America, and the priest drew -up a stamped paper for her, that they'd keep a portion of money for -her every year till she'd come back. It wasn't long after that the -stepfather was out in one of the fields one day and two men came and -knocked him down and gave him a beating. And it was his belief it was -the father of the girl and one of the brothers that came to beat him. - -And one of the neighbours that went to the house one night saw one -of the brothers standing at the window, plump and plain. And a first -cousin of theirs--a Donovan--was near the Black Rock one night, and -he saw them playing ball there, the whole of them that had gone, and -others with them. And when they saw him they whistled to make fun of -him, and he went away. - -The stepfather died after that, and the woman herself died, and was -buried a week yesterday. And she had one son by the second husband and -he was always silly-like, and the night she died he went into the room -where she was, to the other side of the bed, and he called out, and -then he came out walking crooked, and his face drawn up on one side; -and so he is since, and a neighbour taking care of him. And you'd -hardly mind what a poor silly creature like him would say, but what he -says is that it was some of the boys that were gone that were in it. -And now there's no one to take up the land that so many were after; the -girl in America wouldn't for all the world come back to that place. - - - - - V - - THE FIGHTING OF THE FRIENDS - - - - - V - - THE FIGHTING OF THE FRIENDS - - -_"One time on Hy, one Brito of Columcille's brotherhood was dying, -and Columcille gave him his blessing but would not see him die, -and went out into the little court of the house. And he had hardly -gone out when the life went from Brito. And Columcille was out in -the little court, and one of the monks saw him looking upward, and -wonder on him, and he asked what was it he saw. And Columcille said, -'I have seen just at this moment the holy angels fighting in the air -against the power of the enemy, and I gave thanks to Christ, the -Judge, because the winning angels have carried to heaven the soul -of this stranger that is the first to have died among us in this -island. And do not tell his secret to any person in my lifetime,' he -said."_--"Saints and Wonders." - - * * * * * - -_"With that King Arthur entereth into a great forest adventurous, and -rideth the day long until he cometh about evensong into the thick of -the forest. And he espied a little house beside a little chapel, and -it well seemed to him to be a hermitage.... And it seemed to him that -there was a strife in the chapel. The ones were weeping so tenderly -and sweetly as it were angels, and the others spake so harshly as -it were fiends.... The voices ceased as soon as he was within. He -marvelleth how it came that this house and hermitage were solitary, -and what had become of the hermit that dwelt therein. He drew nigh -the altar of the chapel, and beheld in front thereof a coffin all -discovered, and he saw the hermit lying therein all clad in his -vestments, and his hands crossed upon his breast, and he had life in -him yet, but he was nigh his end, being at the point of death.... The -King departed and so returned back into the little house, and sate -him down on a seat whereon the hermit wont to sit. And he heareth -the strife and the noise begin again within the chapel, and the ones -he heareth speaking high and the others low, and he knoweth well by -the voices that the ones are angels and the others devils. And he -heareth that the devils are distraining on the hermit's soul, and -that judgment will presently be given in their favour, whereof make -they great joy. King Arthur is grieved in his heart when he heareth -that the angels' voices are stilled. And while he sitteth thus, -stooping his head toward the ground, full of vexation and discontent, -he heareth in the chapel the voice of a Lady that spake so sweet -and clear that no man in this earthly world, were his grief and -heaviness never so sore, but and he had heard the sweet voice of her -pleading would again have been in joy.... The devils go their way all -discomfit and aggrieved; and the sweet Mother of our Lord God taketh -the soul of the hermit.... And the angels take it and begin to sing -for joy 'Te Deum Laudamus.' And the Holy Lady leadeth them and goeth -her way along with them."_--"The High History of the Holy Grail." -Translated by Sebastian Evans. - - * * * * * - -_Before I had read this old story from "The High History of the Holy -Grail" I had heard on our own roads of the fighting at the hour of -death, and how the friends of the dying among the dead come and use -their strength on his side, and I had been shown here and there a house -where such a fight had taken place. In the old days it was a king or -saint who saw and heard this unearthly battle; but now it is not those -who live in palaces who are aware of it, and it is not around the roof -of a fair chapel the hosts of good and evil gather in combat for the -parting soul, but around the thatched and broken roof of the poor._ - - -_I was told by An Islander:_ - -There are more of the Sheogue in America than what there are here, and -more of other sort of spirits. There was a man from there told me that -one night in America he had brought his wife's niece that was sick back -from the hospital, and had put her in an upper room. And in the evening -they heard a scream from her and she called out "The room is full of -them, and my father is with them, and my aunt." And he drove them away -and used the devil's name and cursed them. And she was left quiet that -night, but the next day she said "I'll be destroyed altogether tonight -with them." And he said he'd keep them out, and he locked the door of -the house. And towards midnight he heard them coming to the door and -trying to get in, but he kept it locked and he called to them by way -of the keyhole to keep away out of that. And there was talking among -them, and the girl that was upstairs said that she could hear the laugh -of her father and of her aunt. And they heard the greatest fighting -among them that ever was, and after that they went away, and the girl -got well. That's what often happens, crying and fighting for one that's -sick or going to die. - - -_Mrs. Meagher:_ - -There was an old woman the other day was telling me of a little girl -that was put to bake a cake, for her mother was sick in the room. And -when she turned away her head for a minute the cake was gone. And -that happened the second day and the third, and the mother was vexed -when she heard it, thinking some of the neighbours had come and taken -it away. - -But the next day an old man appeared, and she knew he was the -grandfather, and he said "It's by me the cake was taken, for I was -watching the house these three nights when I knew there was some one -sick in it. And you never heard such a fight as there was for her last -night, and they would have brought her away but for me that had my -shoulder to the door." And the woman began to recover from that time. - - -_Tom Smith:_ - -There does often be fighting when a person is dying. John Madden's -wife that lived in this house before I came to it, the night she died -there was a noise heard, that all the village thought that every wall -of every garden round about was falling down. But in the morning -there was no sign of any of them being fallen. - -And Hannay that lived at Cahir, the bonesetter, when I went to him -one time told me that one night late he was walking the road near -Ardrahan. And they heard a great noise of fighting in the castle he -was passing by, and no one living in it and it open to the sky. And -he turned in and was going up the stairs, and a lady in a white dress -stopped him and wouldn't let him pass up. But the next day he went to -look and he found the floor all covered with blood. - - * * * * * - -And before John Casey's death, John Leeson asked me one day were we -fighting down at our place, for he heard a great noise of fighting -the night before. - - -_A Farmer:_ - -As to fighting for those that are dying, I'd believe in that. There was -a girl died not far from here, and the night of her death there was -heard in the air the sound of an army marching, and the drums beating, -and it stopped over the house where she was lying sick. And they could -see no one, but could hear the drums and the marching plain enough, and -there were like little flames of lightning playing about it. - - * * * * * - -Did they fight for Johnny Casey? No, believe me it's not among the -faeries Johnny Casey is. Too old he is for them to want him among -them, and too cranky. - - * * * * * - -I would hardly believe they'd take the old, but we can't know what they -might want of them. And it's well to have a friend among them, and -it's always said you have no right to fret if your children die, for -it's well to have them there before you. And when a person is dying the -friends and the others will often come about the house and will give a -great challenge for him. They don't want cross people, and they won't -take you if you say so much as one cross word. It's only the good and -the pious they want. Now isn't that very good of them? - - -_Another:_ - -There was a young man I knew died, a fine young man, twenty-five -years of age. He was seven or eight days ill, and the night he died -they could hear fighting around the house, and they heard voices but -they couldn't know what they were saying. And in the morning the -ground was all covered with blood. - - * * * * * - -When Connors the young policeman died, sure the mother said she never -heard such fighting as went on within the house. And there was blood -splashed high up on the walls. They never let on how he got the -touch, but I suppose they knew it themselves. - - -_A Gatekeeper:_ - -There was a girl near Westport was _away_, and the way it came on her -was, she was on the road one day and two men passed her, and one of -them said, "That's a fine girl," and the other said, "She belongs to -my town," and there and then she got a pain in her knee, and couldn't -walk home but had to be brought in a car. And she used to be away at -night, and thorns in her feet in the morning, but she never said where -she went. But one time the sister brought her to Kilfenora, and when -they were crossing a bog near to there, she pointed out a house in the -bog, and she said "It's there I was last night." And the sister asked -did she know any one she saw in it, and she said "There was one I know, -that is my mother's cousin," and she told her name. And she said "But -for her they'd have me ill-treated, but she fought for me and saved -me." She was thought to be dying one time and given over, and my mother -sent me to see her, and how was she. And she was lying on the bed and -her eyes turned back, and she speechless, and I told my mother when I -came home she hadn't an hour to live. And the next day she was up and -about and not a thing on her. It might be the mother's cousin that -fought for her again there. She went to America after. - - -_An Aran Woman:_ - -There's often fighting heard about the house where one is sick, that -is what we call "the fighting of the friends" for we believe it is -the friends and the enemies of the sick person fighting for him. - - * * * * * - -I knew a house where there were a good many sleeping one night, and -in the morning there was blood on the threshold, and the clothes of -those that slept on the floor had blood on them. And it wasn't long -after that the woman of the house took sick and died. - - * * * * * - -One night there was one of the boys very sick within, and in the -morning the grandmother said she heard a great noise of fighting in the -night about the door. And she said: "If it hadn't been for Michael and -John being drowned, you'd have lost Martin last night. For they were -there fighting for him; I heard them, and I saw the shadow of Michael, -but when I turned to take hold of him he was gone." - - - - - VI - - THE UNQUIET DEAD - - - - - VI - - THE UNQUIET DEAD - - -_A good many years ago when I was but beginning my study of the -folk-lore of belief, I wrote somewhere that if by an impossible miracle -every trace and memory of Christianity could be swept out of the world, -it would not shake or destroy at all the belief of the people of -Ireland in the invisible world, the cloud of witnesses, in immortality -and the life to come. For them the veil between things seen and unseen -has hardly thickened since those early days of the world when the sons -of God mated with the daughters of men; when angels spoke with Abraham -in Hebron or with Columcille in the oakwoods of Derry, or when as an -old man at my own gate told me they came and visited the Fianna, the -old heroes of Ireland, "because they were so nice and so respectable." -Ireland has through the centuries kept continuity of vision, the vision -it is likely all nations possessed in the early days of faith. Here in -Connacht there is no doubt as to the continuance of life after death. -The spirit wanders for a while in that intermediate region to which -mystics and theologians have given various names, and should it return -and become visible those who loved it will not be afraid, but will, as -I have already told, put a light in the window to guide the mother home -to her child, or go out into the barley gardens in the hope of meeting -a son. And if the message brought seems hardly worth the hearing, we -may call to mind what Frederic Myers wrote of more instructed ghosts:_ - -_"If it was absurd to listen to Kepler because he bade the planets -move in no perfect circles but in undignified ellipses, because he -hastened and slackened from hour to hour what ought to be a heavenly -body's ideal and unwavering speed; is it not absurder still to refuse -to listen to these voices from afar, because they come stammering and -wandering as in a dream confusedly instead of with a trumpet's call? -Because spirits that bending to earth may undergo perhaps an earthly -bewilderment and suffer unknown limitations, and half remember and -half forget?"_ - -_And should they give the message more clearly who knows if it would -be welcome? For the old Scotch story goes that when S. Columcille's -brother Dobhran rose up from his grave and said, "Hell is not so bad -as people say," the Saint cried out, "Clay, clay on Dobhran!" before -he could tell any more._ - - -_I was told by Mrs. Dennehy:_ - -Those that mind the teaching of the clergy say the dead go to Limbo -first and then to Purgatory and then to hell or to heaven. Hell is -always burning and if you go there you never get out; but those that -mind the old people don't believe, and I don't believe, that there is -any hell. I don't believe God Almighty would make Christians to put -them into hell afterwards. - -It is what the old people say, that after death the shadow goes -wandering, and the soul is weak, and the body is taking a rest. The -shadow wanders for a while and it pays the debts it had to pay, and -when it is free it puts out wings and flies to Heaven. - - -_An Aran Man:_ - -There was an old man died, and after three days he appeared in the -cradle as a baby; they knew him by an old look in his face, and his -face being long and other things. An old woman that came into the -house saw him, and she said, "He won't be with you long, he had three -deaths to die, and this is the second," and sure enough he died at -the end of six years. - - -_Mrs. Martin:_ - -There was a man beyond when I lived at Ballybron, and it was said of -him that he was taken away--up before God Almighty. But the blessed -Mother asked for grace for him for a year and a day. So he got it. I -seen him myself, and many seen him, and at the end of the year and a -day he died. And that man ought to be happy now anyway. When my own -poor little girl was drowned in the well, I never could sleep but -fretting, fretting, fretting. But one day when one of my little boys -was taking his turn to serve the Mass he stopped on his knees without -getting up. And Father Boyle asked him what did he see and he looking -up. And he told him that he could see his little sister in the -presence of God, and she shining like the sun. Sure enough that was a -vision He had sent to comfort us. So from that day I never cried nor -fretted any more. - - -_A Herd:_ - -Do you believe Roland Joyce was seen? Well, he was. A man I know told -me he saw him the night of his death, in Esserkelly where he had a -farm, and a man along with him going through the stock. And all of a -sudden a train came into the field, and brought them both away like a -blast of wind. - - * * * * * - -And as for old Parsons Persse of Castleboy, there's thousands of people -has seen him hunting at night with his horses and his hounds and his -bugle blowing. There's no mistake at all about him being there. - - -_An Aran Woman:_ - -There was a girl in the middle island had died, and when she was -being washed, and a priest in the house, there flew by the window the -whitest bird that ever was seen. And the priest said to the father: -"Do not lament, unless what you like, your child's happy for ever!" - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -Near the strand there were two little girls went out to gather -cow-dung. And they sat down beside a bush to rest themselves, and -there they heard a groan coming from under the ground. So they ran -home as fast as they could. And they were told when they went again -to bring a man with them. - -So the next time they went they brought a man with them, and they -hadn't been sitting there long when they heard the saddest groan that -ever you heard. So the man bent down and asked what was it. And a -voice from below said, "Let some one shave me and get me out of this, -for I was never shaved after dying." So the man went away, and the -next day he brought soap and all that was needful and there he found -a body lying laid out on the grass. So he shaved it, and with that -wings came and carried it up to high heaven. - - -_A Chimney-sweep:_ - -I don't believe in all I hear, or I'd believe in ghosts and faeries, -with all the old people telling you stories about them and the -priests believing in them too. Surely the priests believe in ghosts, -and tell you that they are souls that died in trouble. But I have -been about the country night and day, and I remember when I used to -have to put my hand out at the top of every chimney in Coole House; -and I seen or felt nothing to frighten me, except one night two rats -caught in a trap at Roxborough; and the old butler came down and beat -me with a belt for the scream I gave at that. But if I believed in -any one coming back, it would be in what you often hear, of a mother -coming back to care for her child. - -And there's many would tell you that every time you see a tree -shaking there's a ghost in it. - - * * * * * - -Old Lambert of Dangan was a terror for telling stories; he told me -long ago how he was near the Piper's gap on Ballybrit race-course, -and he saw one riding to meet him, and it was old Michael Lynch of -Ballybrista, that was dead long before, and he never would go on the -race-course again. And he had heard the car with headless horses -driving through Loughrea. From every part they are said to drive, and -the place they are all going to is Benmore, near Loughrea, where there -is a ruined dwelling-house and an old forth. And at Mount Mahon a herd -told me the other day he often saw old Andrew Mahon riding about at -night. But if I was a herd and saw that I'd hold my tongue about it. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -At the graveyard of Drumacoo often spirits do be seen. Old George -Fitzgerald is seen by many. And when they go up to the stone he's -sitting on, he'll be sitting somewhere else. - -There was a man walking in the wood near there, and he met a woman, -a stranger, and he said "Is there anything I can do for you?" For he -thought she was some country-woman gone astray. "There is," says she. -"Then come home with me," says he, "and tell me about it." "I can't -do that," says she, "but what you can do is this, go tell my friends -I'm in great trouble, for twenty times in my life I missed going to -church, and they must say twenty Masses for me now to deliver me, -but they seem to have forgotten me. And another thing is," says she, -"there's some small debts I left and they're not paid, and those are -helping to keep me in trouble." Well, the man went on and he didn't -know what in the world to do, for he couldn't know who she was, for -they are not permitted to tell their name. But going about visiting -at country houses he used to tell the story, and at last it came out -she was one of the Shannons. For at a house he was telling it at they -remembered that an old woman they had, died a year ago, and that she -used to be running up little debts unknown to them. So they made -inquiry at Findlater's and at another shop that's done away with now, -and they found that sure enough she had left some small debts, not -more than ten shillings in each, and when she died no more had been -said about it. So they paid these and said the Masses, and shortly -after she appeared to the man again. "God bless you now," she said, -"for what you did for me, for now I'm at peace." - - -_A Tinker's Daughter:_ - -I heard of what happened to a family in the town. One night a thing -that looked like a goose came in. And when they said nothing to it, -it went away up the stairs with a noise like lead. Surely if they had -questioned it, they'd have found it to be some soul in trouble. - -And there was another soul came back that was in trouble because of a -ha'porth of salt it owed. - -And there was a priest was in trouble and appeared after death, and -they had to say Masses for him, because he had done some sort of a -crime on a widow. - - -_Mrs. Farley:_ - -One time myself I was at Killinan, at a house of the Clancys' where the -father and mother had died, but it was well known they often come to -look after the children. I was walking with another girl through the -fields there one evening and I looked up and saw a tall woman dressed -all in black, with a mantle of some sort, a wide one, over her head, -and the waves of the wind were blowing it off her, so that I could hear -the noise of it. All her clothes were black, and had the appearance of -being new. And I asked the other girl did she see her, and she said she -did not. For two that are together can never see such things, but only -one of them. So when I heard she saw nothing I ran as if for my life, -and the woman seemed to be coming after me, till I crossed a running -stream and she had no power to cross that. And one time my brother was -stopping in the same house, and one night about twelve o'clock there -came a smell in the house like as if all the dead people were there. -And one of the girls whose father and mother had died got up out of her -bed, and began to put her clothes on, and they had to lock the doors to -stop her from going away out of the house. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman I knew of that after her death was kept for seven -years in a tree in Kinadyfe, and for seven years after that she was -kept under the arch of the little bridge beyond Kilchriest, with the -water running under her. And whether there was frost or snow she had -no shelter from it, not so much as the size of a leaf. - -At the end of the second seven years she came to her husband, and he -passing the bridge on the way home from Loughrea, and when he felt -her near him he was afraid, and he didn't stop to question her, but -hurried on. - -So then she came in the evening to the house of her own little girl. -But she was afraid when she saw her, and fell down in a faint. And the -woman's sister's child was in the house, and when the little girl told -her what she saw, she said "You must surely question her when she comes -again." So she came again that night, but the little girl was afraid -again when she saw her and said nothing. But the third night when she -came the sister's child, seeing her own little girl was afraid, said -"God bless you, God bless you." And with that the woman spoke and said -"God bless you for saying that." And then she told her all that had -happened her and where she had been all the fourteen years. And she -took out of her dress a black silk handkerchief and said: "I took that -from my husband's neck the day I met him on the road from Loughrea, -and this very night I would have killed him, because he hurried away -and would not stop to help me, but now that you have helped me I'll -not harm him. But bring with you to Kilmacduagh, to the graveyard, -three cross sticks with wool on them, and three glasses full of salt, -and have three Masses said for me; and I'll appear to you when I am at -rest." And so she did; and it was for no great thing she had done that -trouble had been put upon her. - - -_John Cloran:_ - -That house with no roof was made a hospital of in the famine, and -many died there. And one night my father was passing by and he -saw some one standing all in white, and two men beside him, and he -thought he knew one of the men and spoke to him and said "Is that -you, Martin?" but he never spoke nor moved. And as to the thing in -white, he could not say was it man or woman, but my father never went -by that place again at night. - - * * * * * - -The last person buried in a graveyard has the care of all the other -souls until another is to be buried, and then the soul can go and -shift for itself. It may be a week or a month or a year, but watch -the place it must till another soul comes. - - * * * * * - -There was a man used to be giving short measure, not giving the full -yard, and one time after his death there was a man passing the river -and the horse he had would not go into it. And he heard the voice -of the tailor saying from the river he had a message to send to his -wife, and to tell her not to be giving short measure, or she would be -sent to the same place as himself. There was a hymn made about that. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman lived in Rathkane, alone in the house, and she told -me that one night something came and lay over the bed and gave three -great moans. That was all ever she heard in the house. - - * * * * * - -The shadows of the dead gather round at Samhain time to see is there -any one among their friends saying a few Masses for them. - - -_An Islander:_ - -Down there near the point, on the 6th of March, 1883, there was a -curragh upset and five boys were drowned. And a man from County Clare -told me that he was on the coast that day, and that he saw them -walking towards him on the Atlantic. - - * * * * * - -There is a house down there near the sea, and one day the woman of it -was sitting by the fire, and a little girl came in at the door, and -a red cloak about her, and she sat down by the fire. And the woman -asked her where did she come from, and she said that she had just -come from Connemara. And then she went out, and when she was going -out the door she made herself known to her sister that was standing -in it, and she called out to the mother. And when the mother knew it -was the child she had lost near a year before, she ran out to call -her, for she wouldn't for all the world to have not known her when -she was there. But she was gone and she never came again. - - * * * * * - -There was this boy's father took a second wife, and he was walking -home one evening, and his wife behind him, and there was a great wind -blowing, and he kept his head stooped down because of the seaweed -coming blowing into his eyes. And she was about twenty paces behind, -and she saw his first wife come and walk close beside him, and he -never saw her, having his head down, but she kept with him near all -the way. And when they got home, she told the husband who was with -him, and with the fright she got she was bad in her bed for two or -three days--do you remember that, Martin? She died after, and he has -a third wife taken now. - - * * * * * - -I believe all that die are brought among them, except maybe an odd -old person. - - -_A Kildare Woman:_ - -There was a woman I knew sent into the Rotunda Hospital for an -operation. And when she was going she cried when she was saying -good-bye to her cousin that was a friend of mine, for she felt in her -that she would not come back again. And she put her two arms about -her going away and said, "If the dead can do any good thing for the -living, I'll do it for you." And she never recovered, but died in -the hospital. And within a few weeks something came on her cousin, -my friend, and they said it was her side that was paralysed, and she -died. And many said it was no common illness, but that it was the -dead woman that had kept to her word. - - -_A Connemara Man:_ - -There was a boy in New York was killed by rowdies, they killed him -standing against a lamppost and he was frozen to it, and stood there -till morning. And it is often since that time he was seen in the room -and the passages of the house where he used to be living. - -And in the house beyond a woman died, and some other family came to -live in it; but every night she came back and stripped the clothes -off them, so at last they went away. - - * * * * * - -When some one goes that owes money, the weight of the soul is -more than the weight of the body, and it can't get away and keeps -wandering till some one has courage to question it. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -My grandmother told my mother that in her time at Cloughballymore, -there was a woman used to appear in the churchyard of Rathkeale, and -that many boys and girls and children died with the fright they got -when they saw her. - -So there was a gentleman living near was very sorry for all the -children dying, and he went to an old woman to ask her was there any -way to do away with the spirit that appeared. So she said if any one -would have courage to go and to question it, he could do away with -it. So the gentleman went at midnight and waited at the churchyard, -and he on his horse, and had a sword with him. So presently the shape -appeared and he called to it and said, "Tell me what you are?" And it -came over to him, and when he saw the face he got such a fright that -he turned the horse's head and galloped away as hard as he could. But -after galloping a long time he looked down and what did he see beside -him but the woman running and her hand on the horse. So he took his -sword and gave a slash at her, and cut through her arm, so that she -gave a groan and vanished, and he went on home. - -And when he got to the stable and had the lantern lighted, you may -think what a start he got when he saw the hand still holding on to the -horse, and no power could lift it off. So he went into the house and -said his prayers to Almighty God to take it off. And all night long, he -could hear moaning and crying about the house. And in the morning when -he went out the hand was gone, but all the stable was splashed with -blood. But the woman was never seen in those parts again. - - -_A Seaside Man:_ - -And many see the faeries at Knock and there was a carpenter died, and -he could be heard all night in his shed making coffins and carts and -all sorts of things, and the people are afraid to go near it. There -were four boys from Knock drowned five years ago, and often now they -are seen walking on the strand and in the fields and about the village. - - * * * * * - -There was a man used to go out fowling, and one day his sister said -to him, "Whatever you do don't go out tonight and don't shoot any -wild-duck or any birds you see flying--for tonight they are all poor -souls travelling." - - -_An Old Man in Galway Workhouse:_ - -Burke of Carpark's son died, but he used often to be seen going about -afterwards. And one time a herd of his father's met with him and he -said, "Come tonight and help us against the hurlers from the north, -for they have us beat twice, and if they beat us a third time, it -will be a bad year for Ireland." - -It was in the daytime they had the hurling match through the streets -of Galway. No one could see them, and no one could go outside the -door while it lasted, for there went such a whirlwind through the -town that you could not look through the window. - -And he sent a message to his father that he would find some paper he -was looking for a few days before, behind a certain desk, between -it and the wall, and the father found it there. He would not have -believed it was his son the herd met only for that. - - -_A Munster Woman:_ - -I have only seen them myself like dark shadows, but there's many can -see them as they are. Surely they bring away the dead among them. - -There was a woman in County Limerick that died after her baby being -born. And all the people were in the house when the funeral was to -be, crying for her. And the cars and the horses were out on the road. -And there was seen among them a carriage full of ladies, and with -them the woman was sitting that they were crying for, and the baby -with her, and it dressed. - -And there was another woman I knew of died, and left a family, and -often after, the people saw her in their dreams, and always in rich -clothes, though all the clothes she had were given away after she -died, for the good of her soul, except maybe her shawl. And her -husband married a serving girl after that, and she was hard to the -children, and one night the woman came back to her, and had like -to throw her out of the window in her nightdress, till she gave a -promise to treat the children well, and she was afraid not to treat -them well after that. - -There was a farmer died and he had done some man out of a saddle, and -he came back after to a friend, and gave him no rest till he gave a -new saddle to the man he had cheated. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -There was a woman my brother told me about and she had a daughter -that was red-haired. And the girl got married when she was under -twenty, for the mother had no man to tend the land, so she thought -best to let her go. And after her baby being born, she never got -strong but stopped in the bed, and a great many doctors saw her but -did her no good. - -And one day the mother was at Mass at the chapel and she got a start, -for she thought she saw her daughter come in to the chapel with the -same shawl and clothes on her that she had before she took to the bed, -but when they came out from the chapel, she wasn't there. So she went -to the house, and asked was she after going out, and what they told her -was as if she got a blow, for they said the girl hadn't ten minutes to -live, and she was dead before ten minutes were out. And she appears -now sometimes; they see her drawing water from the well at night and -bringing it into the house, but they find nothing there in the morning. - - -_A Connemara Man:_ - -There was a man had come back from Boston, and one day he was out in -the bay, going towards Aran with £3 worth of cable he was after getting -from McDonagh's store in Galway. And he was steering the boat, and -there were two turf-boats along with him, and all in a minute they saw -he was gone, swept off the boat with a wave and it a dead calm. - -And they saw him come up once, straight up as if he was pushed, and -then he was brought down again and rose no more. - -And it was some time after that a friend of his in Boston, and that -was coming home to this place, was in a crowd of people out there. -And he saw him coming to him and he said, "I heard that you were -drowned," and the man said, "I am not dead, but I was brought here, -and when you go home, bring these three guineas to McDonagh in Galway -for it's owed him for the cable I got from him." And he put the -three guineas in his hand and vanished away. - - -_An Old Army Man:_ - -I have seen hell myself. I had a sight of it one time in a vision. It -had a very high wall around it, all of metal, and an archway in the -wall, and a straight walk into it, just like what would be leading -into a gentleman's orchard, but the edges were not trimmed with box -but with red-hot metal. And inside the wall there were cross walks, -and I'm not sure what there was to the right, but to the left there -was five great furnaces and they full of souls kept there with great -chains. So I turned short and went away; and in turning I looked -again at the wall and I could see no end to it. - -And another time I saw purgatory. It seemed to be in a level place -and no walls around it, but it all one bright blaze, and the souls -standing in it. And they suffer near as much as in hell, only there -are no devils with them there, and they have the hope of heaven. - -And I heard a call to me from there "Help me to come out of this!" -And when I looked it was a man I used to know in the army, an -Irishman and from this country, and I believe him to be a descendant -of King O'Connor of Athenry. So I stretched out my hand first but -then I called out "I'd be burned in the flames before I could get -within three yards of you." So then he said, "Well, help me with your -prayers," and so I do. - - - - - VII - - APPEARANCES - - - - - VII - - APPEARANCES - - -_When I had begun my search for folk-lore, the first to tell me he -himself had seen the Sidhe was an old, perhaps half-crazed man I will -call Michael Barrett_ (_for I do not give the real names either of -those who are living or who have left living relatives_). _I had one -day asked an old woman who had been spinning wool for me, to be made -into frieze by our weavers, if she had ever seen the faery host. She -said, "I never saw them myself nor I don't think much of them; it is -God that takes us or leaves us as He will. But a neighbouring man was -standing in my door last night, and there's no day of the year he -doesn't hear them or feel them._ - -"_It's in his head I think it does be, and when he stood in the door -last night I said 'the wind does be always in my ears and the sound of -it never stops,' to make him think it was the same with him. But he -said, 'I hear them singing and making music all the time, and one of -them's after bringing out a little flute, and it's on it he's playing -to them.' Sure he has half his chimney pulled down, where they used to -be sitting and singing to him day and night. But those that are born -in the daytime never have power to see or hear them all their life._" - -_Another neighbour talked to me of him and said, "One night he was -walking across the bog, and a lurcher, a bastard hound, with him. And -something ran across the path in the shape of a white cat, and the -lurcher went after him, and Barrett went home and to bed and left the -door open for the lurcher to come in. And in the morning they found it -there, lying under the table, and it paralysed and not able to stir. -But after a few months it got better, and one night they were crossing -the bog again and the same thing ran across their path, and this time -in the form of a deer. But the dog wouldn't follow it again, but shrank -behind Barrett until such time as it had passed by."_ - -_My spinning woman, coming another time with chickens to sell, said, -"Barrett is after telling me this morning that they were never so bad -as these last two nights. 'Friday fine-day' is what they say now, in -Irish, and he got no sleep till he threatened to throw dirty water -over them. The poor man, they do say they are mostly in his head now, -but sure he was a fine fresh man twenty years ago, the night he saw -them all linked in two lots, like slips of girls walking together. -And it was that very same day that Hession's little girl got a touch -from them. She was as fine a little girl as ever you saw, and her -mother sent her into Gort to do a message. And on the road she met a -red-haired woman, with long wisps of hair as bright as silver, and -she said, 'Where are you going and who are you?' 'I'm going to Gort -on a message,' says she, 'and I'm Mrs. Hession's daughter of such a -place.' Well, she came home, and that very night she got a pain in -her thigh, with respects to you, and she and her mother have half the -world walked since then, trying to get relief for her; but never a -bit better did she ever get. And no doubt at all but that's the very -same day Michael Barrett saw them in the field near Hession's house."_ - -_I asked Mr. Yeats to come with me to see the old man, and we walked -up the long narrow lane, from which we could see Slieve Echtge and -the Burren hills, to the little cabin with its broken chimney where -Michael Barrett told us of those that had disturbed his rest. This -was the first time we went together to enquire into the Hierarchy of -the Sidhe, of which by degrees we have gathered so much traditional -and original knowledge._ - -_As to old Barrett, I saw him from time to time, and he told me he was -still "tormented," and that "there is one that sat and sang b-b-b all -the night" til a few evenings before he had got a bit of rag and tied -it to a long stick, and hit at him when he came, and drove him out -with the rest. And in the next spring I heard he was ill, and that "on -Saturday he had been told by three he was to die." When I visited him I -found him better, and he said that since the warning on Saturday they -had left him alone "and the children that used to be playing about with -them have gone to some other place; found the house too cold for them -maybe." That was the last time I saw him; I am glad I had been able to -help him to more warmth and comfort before the end._ - -_I asked the old man's brother, a labourer, what he thought of -Michael's visions, but he made little of them. "Old he is, and it's -all in the brain the things he does be talking of. If it was a young -man told us of them we might believe him, but as to him, we pay no -attention to what he says at all. Those things are passed away, and -you--I beg your pardon for using that word--a person--hears no more -of them._ - -"_John Casey saw queer things? So he might. Them that travel by -night, why wouldn't they see queer things? But they'd see nothing if -they went to their bed quiet and regular._ - -"_Lydon that had the contract for the schoolhouse, we didn't mind much -what he said happened him the night he slept there alone, and in the -morning he couldn't stir across the floor from the place where he was. -But who knows? Maybe he had too much drink taken before he went to bed. -It was no wonder in the old times if there was signs and the like where -murder had been. But that's come to an end, and time for it._ - -"_There's another man, one Doran, has the same dreams and thoughts -as my brother, and he leaves pieces of silver on the wall; and when -they're took--it's the faeries! But myself I believe it's the boys do -be watching him._ - -"_No, these things are gone from the world, and there's not the same -dread of death there used to be. When we die we go to judgment, and -the places we'll get there, they won't be the same as what we had -here. The charitable, the kind-hearted, lady or gentleman, who'd -have a chance if they didn't? But the tyrants and schemers, what -chance will there be for the like of them?_" - -"_You will have a good place there, Barrett, you and John Farrell. -You have done your work better than most of us through all your life, -and it's likely you'll be above us there._" - -"_I did my work all my life, fair and honest every day; and now that -I'm old, I'll keep on the same track to the last. Like a horse that -might be racing at Galway racecourse or another, there might be eight -leaps or ten leaps he might be frightened at; but when he's once over -the last leap there's no fear of him. Why would he fail then, with -the winning post so near at hand?_" - - -_I was told by A Gatekeeper:_ - -There was once a family, the O'Hagans living in Dromore Hill, that now -belongs to you, well-to-do people. And one day the son that had been -at college was coming back, and there was a great dinner being made in -the house. And a girl was sent off to a spring by the forth to get some -water, and when she passed by the forth, she heard like the crying of -a child and some one said to it "Nothing given to us today, no milk -spilled for us, nothing laid out for us, but tonight we'll have what we -want and there will be waste and overflow." And that evening the young -man that was coming home got a fall from his horse, and was killed, and -all the grand things for the dinner were thrown about and went to loss. -So never begrudge the drop of milk you'll spill, or the bit you'll let -fall, it might turn all to good in the end. - - * * * * * - -One night at the house below it was just getting dark, and a man came -in the gate and to the door and came in and fell down on a chair. -And when I saw him shaking and his face so white, I thought it was -the _fear gortha_ (the hungry grass) he had walked on, and I called -to the wife to give him something to eat. But he would take nothing -but a cup of water with salt in it, and when he got better he told us -that when he was passing the big tree a man and a woman came out and -came along with him. They didn't speak but they walked on each side -of him, and then the woman seemed to go away, but the man's step was -with him till he came in at the gate. - - * * * * * - -There was a girl of the Heniffs brought the dinner one day to where -the men were working near where the river rises at Coole. And when she -had left the dinner she began to gather kippeens, and put them in her -shawl, and began to twist a rope of the ends of it to tie them up. And -at that moment she was taken up, and where she found herself was in -Galway, sitting in the Square. And she had no money, and she began to -think of the friends she had there and to say, "If they knew where I -was they'd give me money to bring me back." And in those days there was -a coach that ran from Galway to Kiltartan, and she found herself in it, -and it starting, and it left her safe and sound again at home. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -There was a girl at Tyrone was bringing back some apples out of the -garden there. And on the road she met a man, and she thought that he -was one of the old St. Georges, and he asked where did she get the -apples, and bid her put them down in the road, and when she opened the -bundle they were all turned to eggs. So she put them up again and -brought them home, and when she and her mother looked at them in the -house they were beginning to crack, and the chickens to put their beaks -through them; so they put them in the corner of the kitchen for the -night, and in the morning when they went to look at them they were all -turned to apples again, but they thought best not to eat them. - - -_A Munster Woman:_ - -There was a woman I knew in County Limerick, near Foynes--Mrs. -Doolan, a nurse. She was called out of bed one night by a small man -with a lamp, and he led her to a place she had never seen before, -and into a house, and there was a woman in a bed and the child was -born after she came. And I always heard her say it was a faery she -attended. And the man led her back and gave her a sovereign, and bid -her change it before sunrise. - - * * * * * - -And I know a boy lived on Lord Dunraven's property, one of a family -of large farmers, and he had a settle-bed in the kitchen, and one -night he saw the kitchen full of them, and they making up the fire -and cooking, and they set out the table and ate at it. - - * * * * * - -I often heard they'd fight in November at the time of harvest, and -my father told me that in the year of the famine there was great -fighting heard up in the sky, and they were crying out, "Black -potatoes, black potatoes, we'll have them now." I suppose it was one -tribe of them fighting against another for them. And the oats in that -year were all black as well as the potatoes. - - -_A Clare Man:_ - -I saw them myself one night I was going to Ennis with a load of -straw. It was when we came to Bunnahow and the moon was shining, and -I was on the top of the load of straw, and I saw them in a field. -Just like jockeys they were, and riding horses, red clothes and caps -they had like a jockey would have, but they were small. They had a -screen of bushes put up in the field and some of the horses would -jump over it, and more of them would baulk when they'd be put to it. -The men that were with me didn't see them, they were walking in the -road, but they heard the sound of the horses. - - -_Another Clare Man:_ - -I heard a churning one time in the hill up by the road beyond. I was -coming back from Kinvara, and I heard it plain, no mistake about it. -I was sorry after I didn't call down and ask for a drink. Johnny Moon -did so, and got it. If you wish for a drink and they put it out for -you, it's no harm to take it, but if you refuse it, some harm might -happen to you. Johnny Henderson often told that he heard churning in -that spot, but I wouldn't believe the sun rising from him, he had so -many lies. But after that, I said, "Well, Johnny Henderson has told -the truth for once anyhow." - - -_A Miller:_ - -There was Tom Gantly one evening was going to Coole, and he heard a -step behind him and it followed him every bit of the way, till he got -to the hall door of Coole House; but he could see nothing. - -He saw a gig one night on the road there by the wall and it full of -ladies laughing and grandly dressed--the best of hats and feathers -they had. And it turned and passed him a second time. And with the -fright he got, he never would pass that bit of road by himself again. - - * * * * * - -There were two men went one night to catch rabbits in that field -you have let now to Father Fahy, and the one next it. And when they -were standing there they heard a churning below. So they went on a -little way, and they heard a tambourine below, music going on and the -beating of a drum. So they moved a little farther on and then they -heard the sound of a fiddle from below. So they came home and caught -no rabbits that night. - - -_J. Creevy:_ - -May is a great time with these strangers, and November is a bad -month for them, and this month you're in now. I was trying the -other day in the town to get a marriage made up for a girl that was -seduced--and the family wouldn't have it this month because of that. - - * * * * * - -One night on the Kiltartan road I saw a flock of wool by the road -side, and I gave a kick at it and it didn't move, and then another -kick and it didn't move. So it can have been no natural thing. - - * * * * * - -And Lee told me that one night he saw red men riding through the -country and going over ditches. - - * * * * * - -One time I was sick in the bed and I heard music, and I sat up and -said: "Is it music I hear, or is it the squealing of pigs?" And they -all said they could hear nothing. But I could hear it for a long time, -and it the grandest I ever heard--and like a melodeon. And as to the -tune, I couldn't tell what it was but I know that I had heard it before. - - -_A Kerry Piper:_ - -One time in Kerry there was a coach coming after me and it passed -beside me, and I saw with it Mrs. Mitchell from the big house. And when -it came near the bridge it sank into the earth, and I saw no more of it. - - * * * * * - -And one time I was at Ennistymon I saw the ass-car and the woman and -the man out before me. I had a little ass of my own at that time, -and I followed them thinking to overtake them, but when I was in the -hollow they were on the hill, and when I was on the hill they were -in the hollow. And when they got near to the bridge that is over the -big river, they were not to be seen. For they can never cross over a -mering (boundary) that is a river. - - -_J. Fagan:_ - -One time I was at a party and I didn't leave the house till 2 o'clock -so you may think it was late in the night before I got home. And -after a while I looked back and I saw some one coming after me, a -little old woman about so high (3 feet) and she wearing a white cap -with a frilled border, and a red square and a red flannel petticoat. -I set off to run when I saw her, for at that time I had the run of -a hare, but when I got near home I looked back and she was after me -still. When I got inside the door I fell on my two knees. And it was -seven years before I got the better of that fright. And from that -time to this I never got the run again that I used to have. - - * * * * * - -There was a respectable woman, Mrs. Gaynor, living in Cloon, told me -that whenever she went out of Cloon in the direction of Fiddane in one -part of the road there was a woman sometimes met her, that she saw at -no other time, and every time she'd meet her she'd spit in her face. - -There is a family at Tirneevan and they were having a wedding there. -And when it was going on, the wine ran short, and the spirits ran -out and they didn't know what to do to get more, Gort being two -miles away. And two or three strange people came in that they had -never seen before. And when they found what was wanting they said -that they'd go get it. And in a few minutes they were back with the -spirits and the wine--and no place to get it nearer than Gort. - - * * * * * - -There was a herd's house up at Burren that no one could live in. But -one Holland from Tirneevan said he'd take the place, and try how -would he get on there. So he went with his family, and the first -day the daughter made the place clean and swept it, and then she -went out for a can of milk. And when she was coming in the door, it -was knocked out of her hand and spilled over her. And that evening -when they sat down to their supper the door opened and eight or nine -people came in, and a red man among them. And they sat down and ate. -And then they showed Holland one side of the room, and bid him to -keep it always clean, and spring water in it. - - -_A Herd:_ - -There was a man woke about three o'clock one morning and he bade the -servant girl go down and make the fire and put on the potatoes, where -he had to be going out early. So she went down and there she saw one -of _them_ sitting by the hearth in the kitchen. So she ran upstairs -with the fright she got to where the man was in bed with his wife. So -then he went down himself, and he saw one of them sure enough sitting -by the fire and he asked "How did you come in?" And he said, "By the -lock-hole of the door." And the man said, "There's the pot full of -potatoes and you might as well have used a few of them." And he said, -"We have them used already; and you think now they are potatoes, but -when you put the pot down on the fire you'll see they are no more -than horse dung." - - -_Thomas Cloonan:_ - -One night my father was beyond on the other side of the lake, going -to watch an otter where the water goes away underground. And he heard -voices talking, and he thought one was the voice of Father Nagle -the parish priest of Kilbecanty, and the other the voice of Father -Hynes from Cloon that does be late out fishing for eels. And when he -came to where the voices were, there was no one at all in it. And -he went and sat in the cave, where the water goes under, and there -was a great noise like as if planks were being thrown down overhead. -And you may think how frightened he was when he never took off his -boots to cross the river, but run through it just as he was and never -stopped till he got to the house. - - -_Mrs. Cloonan:_ - -Two men I saw one time over in Inchy. I was sitting milking the cow -and she let a snore and I looked up and I saw the two men, small men, -and their hands and their feet the smallest ever I saw, and hats -turned back on their heads, but I did not see their faces. Then the -cow rose her foot, and I thought, "it will be worse for me if she'll -put her foot down on me," and I looked at her, and when I looked up -again they were gone. Mrs. Stafford told me it was not for me they -came, but for the cow, Blackberry, that died soon after. - - * * * * * - -There was a man in Gort was brought for a while to Tir-na-Og, that is -a part of heaven. - - * * * * * - -McGarrity that was coming back one night to the new house beyond -the lake saw two children, two little girls they were, standing -beside the house. Paddy told me that, and he said they came there to -foretell him he was stopping there too late. - - -_John Phelan:_ - -I never saw them nor felt them all my life, and I walking the place -night and day, except one time when for twelve nights I slept in the -little house beyond, in the kitchen garden where the apples were being -robbed that time because there was no one living at home. In the -night-time in the loft above my head I used to hear a scratching and -a scraping, and one time a plank that was above in it began to move -about. But I had no fear but stopped there, but I did not put off my -clothes nor stretch myself on the bed for twelve nights. They say that -one man that slept in the same house was found in the morning choked in -his bed and the door locked that they had to burst it in. - -And in old Richard Gregory's time there was one Horan slept there, -and one night he ran out of it and out of the Gort gate and got no -leave to put his clothes on. But there's some can see those things -and more that can't, and I'm one of those that can't. Walking Coole -demesne I am these forty years, days and nights, and never met -anything worse than myself. - -But one night standing by the vinery and the moon shining, on a -sudden a wind rose and shook the trees and rattled the glass and the -slates, and no wind before, and it stopped as sudden as it came. And -there were two bunches of grapes gone, and them that took them took -them by the chimney and no other way. - - -_James Hill:_ - -One night since I lived here I found late at night that a black jennet -I had at that time had strayed away. So I took a lantern and went to -look for him, and found him near Doherty's house at the bay. And when -I took him by the halter, I put the light out and led him home. But -surely as I walked there was a footstep behind me all the way home. - -I never rightly believed in them till I met a priest about two years -ago coming out from the town that asked his way to Mrs. Canan's, -the time she was given over, and he told me that one time his horse -stopped and wouldn't pass the road, and the man that was driving -said, "I can't make him pass." And the priest said, "It will be the -worse for you, if I have to come down into the road." For he knew -some bad thing was there. And he told me the air is full of them. But -Father Dolan wouldn't talk of such things, very proud he is, and he -coming of no great stock. - - * * * * * - -One night I was driving outside Coole gate--close to where the -Ballinamantane farm begins. And the mare stopped, and I got off the -car to lead her, but she wouldn't go on. Two or three times I made -her start and she'd stop again. Something she must have seen that I -didn't see. - -Beasts will sometimes see more than a man will. There were three -young chaps I knew went up by the river to hunt coneens one evening, -and they threw the dog over the wall. And when he was in the field he -gave a yelp and drew back as if something frightened him. - - * * * * * - -Another time my father was going early to some place, and my mother -had a noggin of turnips boiled for him the night before, to give him -something to eat before he'd start. So they got up very early and she -lighted the fire and put the oven hanging over it for to warm the -turnips, and then she went back to bed again. And my father was in a -hurry and he went out and brought in a sheaf of wheaten straw to put -under the oven, the way it would make a quick blaze. And when he came -in, the oven had been taken off the hook, and was put standing in the -hearth, and no mortal had been there. So he was afraid to stop, and -he went back to the bed, and till daybreak they could hear something -that was knocking against the pot. And the servant girl that was in -the house, she awoke and heard quick steps walking to the stable, and -the door of it giving a screech as if it was being opened. But in the -morning there was no sign there or of any harm being done to the pot. - -Then the girl remembered that she had washed her feet the night -before, and had never thought to throw out the water. And it's well -known to wash the feet and not to throw the water out, brings some -harm--except you throw fire into the vessel it stands in. - - -_Simon Niland:_ - -Late one night I was out walking, and a gun in my hand, and I was -going down a little avenue of stones, and I heard after me the noise -of a horse's steps. So I stopped and sat down on the stile, for I -thought, the man that's with the horse, I'll have his company a bit -of the way. But the noise got louder like as if it was twenty horses -coming, and then I was knocked down, and I put out my foot to save -the gun from being broken. But when I got up there was no hurt on me -or on the gun, and the noise was all gone, and the place quiet. It -was maybe four year after that or six, I was walking the same path -with the priest and a few others, for a whale had come ashore, and -the jaw-bones of it were wanted to make the piers of a gate. And the -priest said to me, "Did you ever hear of the battle of Troy?" "I -didn't hear but I read about it," says I. "Well," says he, "there was -a man at that time called Simon, and they found that whenever he came -out with them to fight there was luck with them, and when he wasn't -with them, there'd be no luck. And that's why we put you in front of -us, to lead us on the path, you having the same name." So that put -it in my head, and I told him about what happened that night, and I -said, "Now would you believe that?" "I would," says he. "And what are -such things done by?" says I. "The fallen angels," he said, "for they -have power to do such things and to raise wind and storm, but yet -they have the hope of salvation at the last." - - * * * * * - -One clear night and the moon shining, I was walking home down this -road, and I had a strong dog at that time. And just here where you -stand he began to bark at something and he made rushes at it, and -made as if he was worrying it, but I could see nothing, though if it -had been even the size of a rat I must have seen it, the night was -so clear. And I had to leave him at last and heard him barking and I -was at the house-door before he came up with me. - - * * * * * - -I know a good many on the island have seen _those_, but they wouldn't -say what they are like to look at, for when they see them their -tongue gets like a stone. - - -_Mrs. Hynes of Slieve Echtge:_ - -When you see a blast of wind pass, pick a green rush and throw it -after them, and say, "God speed you." There they all are, and maybe -the _stroke lad_ at the end of them. - - * * * * * - -There was a neighbour of mine in late with me one night, and when he -was going home, just as he passed that little road you see, a big -man came over the wall in front of him, and was growing bigger as he -went, till he nearly fainted with the fright he got. - - * * * * * - -They can do everything. They can raise the wind, and draw the storm. - -And to Drogheda they go for wine, for the best wine is in the cellars -there. - - -_An Islander:_ - -One night I and another lad were coming along the road, and the dog -began to fight, as if he was fighting another dog, but we could see -nothing and we called him off but he wouldn't come. And when we got -home he answered us, and he seemed as if tired out. - - * * * * * - -There was a strange woman came to this island one day and told some -of the women down below what would happen to them. And they didn't -believe her, she being a stranger, but since that time, it's all been -coming true. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -I knew a woman that every night after she went to bed used to see -some sort of a shadow that used to appear to her. So she went to some -old woman, and she told her to sprinkle holy water about and to put a -blackthorn stick beside her bed. So she got the stick and put it there -and sprinkled the holy water, and it never appeared since then. Three -sorts of holy water she got, from the priest and from the friars and -from some blessed well. And she has them in three pint bottles in the -window, and she'd kill you if you so much as looked at them. - - -_A Fisherman:_ - -I never saw anything myself, but one day I was going over the fields -near Killeen, and it the quietest day of summer you ever saw. And -all of a sudden I heard a great noise like thunder, and a blast of -wind passed by me that laid the thistles low, and then all was quiet -again. It might be that they were changing, for they change from -place to place. - -I would not give in to faeries myself but for one thing. There was a -little boy of my own, and there was a wedding going to be here, and -there was no bread in the house, and none to be had in Kilcolgan, and -I bade him to go to Kinvara for bread. I pulled out the ass-car for -him and he set out. - -And from that time he was never the same, and now he is in the asylum -at Ballinasloe. - -Did he tell what happened? He never told me anything, but he told a -neighbour that he met awful looking people on the road to Kinvara -just about midnight, and that whatever they did to him, he could -never recover it. - - -_A Carter:_ - -Often and often I heard things. A great shouting I heard one night -inside Coole demesne,--a hurling it must have been. Another time I -was passing at night-time, near Reed the weaver's, and there were -rocks thrown at me all along the road, but they did not touch me, and -I could not see any one thing there. But I never went that road again -at night-time. - -It's said those that die are left in the place where they lived to -do their penance. Often and often when I came to that house below, I -felt knocks under the bed, and like some one walking over it. - -Two men I know were going from Gort one night, and there near the -wall of the demesne they saw two men ploughing, and they asked one -another what could they be to be ploughing by night. And then they -saw that as they ploughed, the land was going away from them, and -they were gone themselves, and they saw them no more. - - -_An Old Woman who was Housekeeper to the Donnellans:_ - -I'll tell you how the fortune of the family began. - -It was Tully O'Donnellan was riding home from Ballinasloe, or some -other place, and it was raining, and he came to a river that was in -flood, and there used to be no bridges in those times. And when he -was going to ride through the river, he saw the _greasa_ leprechaun -on the bank, and he offered him a lift, and he stooped down and -lifted him up behind him on the horse. - -And when he got near where the castle was, he saw it in flames before -him. And the leprechaun said, "Don't fret after it but build a new -castle in the place I'll show you, about a stone's throw from the -old one." "I have no money to do that," said Tully Donnellan. "Never -mind that," said the leprechaun, "but do as I bid you, and you'll -have plenty." So he did as he bade him, and the morning after he went -to live in the new castle, when he went into that room that has the -stone with his name on it now, it was full up of gold, and you could -be turning it like you'd turn potatoes into a shovel. And when the -children would go into the room with their father and mother, the -nurses would put bits of wax on their shoes, the way bits of the gold -would stick to them. And they had great riches and smothered the world -with it, and they used to shoe their horses with silver. It was in -racing they ran through it, and keeping hounds and horses and horns. - - -_Old Pegs Kelly:_ - -I seen the Sheogue but once, and that was five or six years ago, and -I walking the railway where I was looking after my little hens that -do be straying. And I saw them coming along, and in a minute I was in -the middle of them. Shavings, and shavings, and shavings going along -the road as fast as they could go. And I knew there was no shavings -to be seen this many year, since the stakes were made for the railway -down at Nolan's, and the carpenter that made them dead, and the shop -where he made them picked clean. And I knew well they were the horses -the Sheogue did be riding. But some that saw them said they looked -like bits of paper. And I threw three stones after them and I heard -them cry out as they went. And that night the roof was swept off Tom -Dermot's house in Ryanrush and haystacks blown down. And John Brady's -daughter that was daft those many years was taken, and Tom Horan's -little girl that was picking potatoes, she and her brothers together. -She turned black all of a minute and three days after, she was dead. - -That's the only time I seen them, and that I never may again, for -believe me that time I had my enough, thinking as I did that I hadn't -more than three minutes to live. - - -_A Herd's Wife:_ - -Martin's new wife is a fine big woman, if she is lucky. But it's not a -lucky house. That's what happened the last wife that lost her baby and -died. William Martin knows well _they_ are in it, but he is a dark man -and would say nothing. I saw them myself about the house one time, and -I met one on the forth going through the fields; he had the appearance -of a man in his clothes. And sometimes when I look over at Martin's -house there is a very dark look like a dark cloud over it and around it. - - -_The other Army Man:_ - -The faeries are all fallen angels. Father Folan told us from the -altar that they're as thick as the sands of the sea all about us, -and they tempt poor mortals. But as for carrying away women and the -like, there's many that says so, but they have no proof. But you have -only to bid them begone and they will go. One night myself I was -after walking back from Kinvara, and down by the wood beyond I felt -one coming beside me, and I could feel the horse that he was riding -on and the way that he lifted his legs, but they didn't make a sound -like the hoofs of a horse. So I stopped and turned around and said -very loud "Be off!" And he went and never troubled me after. And I -knew a man that was dying, and one came up on his bed and he cried -out to it, "Get out of that, you unnatural animal!" And it left him. -There's a priest I heard of that was looking along the ground like as -if he was hunting for something, and a voice said to him "If you want -to see them you'll see enough of them," and his eyes were opened and -he saw the ground thick with them. Singing they do be sometimes and -dancing, but all the time they have the cloven foot. - -Fallen angels they are, and after they fell God said, "Let there be -Hell, and there it was in a moment"--("God save us! It's a pity He said -that word and there might have been no Hell today" _murmurs the wife_). -And then He asked the devil what would he take for the souls of all the -people. And the devil said nothing would satisfy him but the blood of a -Virgin's Son. So he got that and then the gates of Hell were opened. - - -_The Wife:_ - -I never seen anything, although one night I was out after a cow till -2 o'clock in the morning and old Gantly told me he wondered at me to -be out in this place, by the wood near the white gate where he saw a -thing himself one night passing. But it's only them that's living in -mortal sin can see such things, that's so Thomas, whatever you may -say. But your ladyship's own place is middling free from them, but -Ratlin's full of them. - -And there's many say they saw the banshee, and that if she heard you -singing loud, she'd be very apt to bring you away with her. - - -_A Piper:_ - -There was an old priest I knew--Father McManus--and when he would go -walking in the green lawn before the house, his man, Keary, would go -with him, and he carrying three sticks. And after a while the priest -would say, "_Cur do maide_"--Fire your stick--as far as you can, and -he would throw it. And he would say the same thing a second and a -third time, and after that he would say, "We have no more to protect -us now," and he would go in. And another priest I was talking to the -other day was telling me they are between earth and air and the grass -is full of them. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -There was a boy I knew at Tyrone was a great card player. And one -night about 10 o'clock he was coming home from a party, and he had -the cards in his hands and he shuffling them as he went along. And -presently he saw a man before him on the road, and the man stopped -till he came up, and when he saw the cards, he says "Stop here and -I'll have a game with you," for the moon was shining bright. So the -boy sat down, and the stranger asked him had he any money, and he -said he had five shillings after the night's play. "Well," says the -man, "we'll play the first game for half-a-crown." So they sat down -and put out the money on a flagstone that was much like a table, and -they began to play, and the first game was won by the stranger. "Well -now," says he, "we'll have another." So the boy began to shuffle the -cards, but as he did, one card dropped on the ground, and he stooped -down for it, and when he did, he saw the man's feet that were partly -under the flagstone, and they were like the feet of a cow. So with -the fright he got, he jumped up and began to run and never stopped -till he got inside his house and had the door shut. And when he had -been sitting there a few minutes, a knock came to the door, and he -heard the voice of the stranger say, "It's well for you you ran away -when you did, or you'd be where I am now." And he heard no more; it -was the boy himself told me this. - -I hear them in this house ever since the first night I came, in the -kitchen, when all are in bed. Footsteps, I wouldn't think so much of, -but scraping the potatoes, that's another thing. - - * * * * * - -A daughter I had that went to America died there, and the brother -that came back told me that he was with her, and she going, and -surely they all heard the jennet coming to the door, and when they -opened it, there was nothing there, and many people standing and -waiting about it. I knew a woman died beyond in Boher and left a -house full of children and the night she died there was a light seen -in the sick house. - - * * * * * - -To leave a few cold potatoes, the first of them, outside, you should -surely do it, and not to leave the house without spring water. I knew -a boy that was sleeping up in the loft of a house and one night they -had forgotten to leave water within in the kitchen. And about midnight -he awoke and he saw through a hole in the loft two women, and one of -them just after having a baby. And they said, "What way will we wash -the child, and no water here; we must take the pan of milk down from -the shelf." So the boy said out loud the way they'd hear him, "I must -go for spring water. I forgot to leave it below." So he went and got -it and left it there, and let on not to see them. And--for I forget -what time after that--there was no morning he put his clothes on but -he'd find a half-crown in his boot. To do you harm? No, but the best of -neighbours they are, if you don't chance to offend them. - - -_A Schoolmaster:_ - -In Donegal one night some of the people were at a still in the -mountains, and on a sudden they heard a shot fired, and they thought -it was a signal given to the police, and they made home to the -village. And all the night they could hear like the tramp of horses -and of police and the noise of cars passing by, but nothing could be -seen. And next day the police came in earnest, and searched about -the place where they had been at work at the still, but no one was -there and they found nothing. So they knew it was a warning they were -after being given. - - -_John Madden:_ - -One day old Fogarty of Clough was cutting rods in Coole with a -black-handled knife, and he put it in his pocket, and presently he -felt for it and it was gone. But when he went home and went into the -house, there was the knife lying on the table. - - * * * * * - -My wife's brother was on a cock of hay in that field beyond one time, -and he sat down to rest and he saw them hurling in red caps and blue, -and a crowd looking in at them. But he said nothing to the men that -were with him. They are mostly in forths and lonesome places. - - -_An old man, Kelleher, living in the Wicklow Mountains, told me and -W. B. Yeats and Miss Pollexfen:_ - -I often saw them when I had my eyesight; one time they came about me, -shouting and laughing and there were spouts of water all around me. -And I thought that I was coming home, but I was not on the right path -and couldn't find it and went wandering about, but at last one of -them said, "Good-evening, Kelleher," and they went away, and then in -a moment I saw where I was by the stile. They were very small, like -little boys and girls, and had red caps. - -I always saw them like that, but they were bigger at the butt of the -river; they go along the course of the rivers. Another time they came -about me playing music and I didn't know where I was going, and at -last one of them said the same way, "Good evening, Kelleher," and I -knew that I was at the gate of the College; it is the sweetest music -and the best that can be heard, like melodeons and fifes and whistles -and every sort. - -_Mrs. Kelleher says_: I often hear that music too, I hear them -playing drums. - -_K._: We had one of them in the house for a while, it was when I -was living up at Ticnock, and it was just after I married that -woman there that was a nice slip of a girl at that time. It was in -the winter and there was snow on the ground, and I saw one of them -outside, and I brought him in and put him on the dresser, and he -stopped in the house for a while, for about a week. - -_Mrs. K._: It was more than that, it was two or three weeks. - -_K._: Ah! maybe it was--I'm not sure. He was about fifteen inches high. -He was very friendly. It is likely he slept on the dresser at night. -When the boys at the public-house were full of porter, they used to -come to the house to look at him, and they would laugh to see him but -I never let them hurt him. They said I would be made up, that he would -bring me some riches, but I never got them. We had a cage here, I wish -I had put him in it, I might have kept him till I was made up. - -_Mrs. K._: It was a cage we had for a thrush. We thought of putting -him into it, but he would not have been able to stand in it. - -_K._: I'm sorry I didn't keep him--I thought sometimes to bring him -into Dublin to sell him. - -_Mrs. K._: You wouldn't have got him there. - -_K._: One day I saw another of the kind not far from the house, but -more like a girl and the clothes greyer than his clothes, that were -red. And that evening when I was sitting beside the fire with the -Missus I told her about it, and the little lad that was sitting on -the dresser called out, "That's Geoffrey-a-wee that's coming for -me," and he jumped down and went out of the door and I never saw him -again. I thought it was a girl I saw, but Geoffrey wouldn't be the -name of a girl, would it? - -He had never spoken before that time. Somehow I think that he liked -me better than the Missus. I used to feed him with bread and milk. - -_Mrs. K._: I was afraid of him--I was afraid to go near him, I -thought he might scratch my eyes out--I used to leave bread and milk -for him but I would go away while he was eating it. - -_K._: I used to feed him with a spoon, I would put the spoon to his -mouth. - -_Mrs. K._: He was fresh-looking at the first, but after a while he -got an old look, a sort of wrinkled look. - -_K._: He was fresh-looking enough, he had a hardy look. - -_Mrs. K._: He was wearing a red cap and a little red cloth skirt. - -_K._: Just for the world like a Highlander. - -_Mrs. K._: He had a little short coat above that; it was checked and -trousers under the skirt and long stockings all red. And as to his -shoes, they were tanned, and you could hardly see the soles of them, -the sole of his foot was like a baby's. - -_K._: The time I lost my sight, it was a Thursday evening, and I was -walking through the fields. I went to bed that night, and when I rose -up in the morning, the sight was gone. The boys said it was likely I -had walked on one of their paths. Those small little paths you see -through the fields are made by _them_. - -They are very often in the quarries; they have great fun up there, -and about Peacock Well. The Peacock Well was blessed by a saint, and -another well near, that cures the headache. - -I saw one time a big grey bird about the cow-house, and I went to a -comrade-boy and asked him to come and to help me to catch it, but -when we came back it was gone. It was very strange-looking and I -thought that it had a head like a man. - - -_Old Manning:_ - -I never saw them except what I told you, the dog fighting, and I -heard the horses, and at that same time I saw smoke coming out of -the ground near Foley's house at Corker, by the gate. - -My mother lived for twenty years in Coole, and she often told me that -when she'd pass Shanwalla hill there would people come out and meet -her and--with respects to you--they'd spit in her face. - -Faeries of course there are and there's many poor souls doing their -penance, and how do we know where they may be doing it? - - -_A Farmer:_ - -I might not believe myself there are such things but for what -happened not long after I was married when my first little girl -was but a week old. I had gone up to Ballybrit to tie some sheep -and put fetters on them, and I was waiting for Haverty to come and -help me tie them. The baby was a little unwell that day but I was -not uneasy about her. But while I was waiting for Haverty, a blast -of wind came through the field and I heard a voice say quite clear -out of it "Katie is gone." That was the little one, we had called -her Catherine, but though she wasn't a week in the world, we had it -shortened already to Kate. And sure enough, the child got worse, and -we attended her through the night, and before daybreak she was gone. - - -_An Army Man:_ - -Two nights ago a travelling man came and knocked at John Hanlon's -house at 11 o'clock, where he saw a light in the window and he asked -would there be any one out hurling so late as that. For in coming by -the field beyond the chapel he saw it full of people, some on horses, -and hurling going on, and they were all dressed like soldiers, and -you would hear their swords clinking as they ran. And he was not sure -were they faeries till he asked John Hanlon was it the custom of -people in this country to go hurling so late as that. But that was -always a great field for them. From eleven to two, that is the time -they have for play, but they must go away before the cock crows. And -the cock will crow sometimes as early as 1 o'clock, a right one. - - * * * * * - -It was in the night that Christ our Saviour rose there were some Jews -sitting around the fire, and a cock boiling in the pot. And one of -them said, "He'll never rise again until that cock crows." And the -cock rose out of the pot and crowed, and he that was speaking got -scalded with the water that was splashed about. - - -_A Connemara Man:_ - -One night I was sleeping over there by the dresser and I heard them -("Would you say the day of the week," _says the old woman_. "It's -Thursday," said I. "Thank you," _says the old man, and goes on_)--I -heard them thick all about the house--but what they were saying I -couldn't know. - - -_The Old Woman:_ - -It was my uncle that was away at nights and knew the time his horse -fell in the ditch, and he out at sea. And another day he was working -at the bridge and he said, "Before this day is over, a man will be -killed here." And so it happened, and a man was killed there before -12 o'clock. He was in here one day with me, and I said, "I don't give -in to you being away and such things." And he says: "Um, Um, Um," -three times, and then he says, "May your own living be long." We had -a horse, the grandest from this to Galway, had a foal when in this -place--and before long, both horse and foal died. And I often can -hear them galloping round the house, both horse and foal. And I not -the only one, but many in the village even hear them too. - - -_Young Mrs. Phelan:_ - -Often I saw a light in the wood at Derreen, above Ballyturn. It would -rise high over the trees going round and round. I'd see it maybe for -fifteen minutes at a time, and then it would fall like a lamp. - - * * * * * - -In the month of May is their chief time for changing, and it's then -there's blowing away of hay and such things and great disturbance. - - -_A Mayo Man:_ - -One time I was led astray in a town, in Golden Hill in Staffordshire. I -was in the streets and I didn't know what way to turn all of a sudden, -and every street looked like a wood before me, and so I went on until -I met some man I knew, and I asked him where I was, and I went in, and -stayed drinking with the others till 10 o'clock and I went home sober. - -I saw the white rabbit too at Golden Hill. (_One of the other men -puts in_, "There is always a white rabbit seen there, that turns into -a woman before any misfortune happens, such as an accident.") I was -walking along the road, and it ran beside me, and then I saw a woman in -white before me on the road, and when I got to her, she was gone. And -that evening a woman in a house near by fell dead on her own doorstep. - -Another time near this, I was passing the barn where Johnny Rafferty -the carpenter and his son used to be working, but it was shut and -locked and no one in it. But when I came near it, I felt as if I was -walking on wood, and my hair stood up on my head, and I heard the -noise of tools, and hammering and sawing in it. - - -_Pete Heffernan:_ - -Old Doran told me that he was near Castle Hacket one time and saw -them having a fair, buying and selling for all the world like -ourselves, common people. But you or I or fifty others might have -been there like him and not seen them. It's only them that are born -at midnight that has the second sight. - -Fallen angels, they say they are. And they'd do more harm than what -they do but for the hope they have that some day they may get to -heaven. Very small they are, and go into one another so that what you -see might only be a sort of a little bundle. But to leave a couple of -cold potatoes about at night one should always do it, and to sweep -the hearth clean. Who knows when they might want to come in and warm -themselves. - -Not to keep the water you wash your feet in in the house at night, -not to throw it out of the door where it might go over them, but to -take it a bit away from the house, and if by any means you can, to -keep a bit of light burning at night, if you mind these three things -you'll never be troubled with them. - -That woman of mine was going to Mass one day early and she met a small -little man, and him with a book in his hand. "Where are you going?" -says he. "To the chapel beyond," says she. "Well," says he, "you'd -better take care not to be coming out at this hour and disturbing -people," says he. And when she got into the chapel she saw him no more. - - -_An Old Woman with Oysters from Tyrone:_ - -Oh, I wouldn't believe in the faeries, but it's no harm to believe in -fallen angels! - - -_Mrs. Day:_ - -My own sons are all for education and read all books and they -wouldn't believe now in the stories the old people used to tell. But -I know one Finnegan and his wife that went to Esserkelly churchyard -to cry over her brother that was dead. And all of a sudden there -came a pelt of a stone against the wall of the old church and no one -there. And they never went again, and they had no business to be -crying him and it not a funeral. - -Francis, my son that's away now, he was out one morning before the -daybreak to look at a white heifer in the field. And there he saw a -little old woman, and she in a red cloak--crying, crying, crying. But -he wouldn't have seen that if he had kept to natural hours. - -There were three girls near your place, and they went out one time -to gather cow-dung for firing. And they were sitting beside a small -little hill, and while they were there, they heard a noise of churning, -churning, in the ground beneath them. And as they listened, all of a -minute, there was a naggin of milk standing beside them. And the girl -that saw it first said, "I'll not drink of it lest they might get power -over me." But the other girl said, "I'll bring it home and drink it." -And she began to ridicule them. And because of she ridiculing them and -not believing in them, that night in bed she was severely beaten so -that she wasn't the better of it for a long time. - - * * * * * - -Often they'll upset a cart in the middle of the road, when there's no -stone nor anything to upset it. And my father told me that sometimes -after he had made the hay up into cocks, and on a day without a -breath of wind, they'd find it all in the next field lying in wisps. -One time too the cart he was driving went over a leprechaun--and the -old woman in the cart had like to faint. - - -_Mr. Hosty of Slieve Echtge:_ - -I never would have believed the shadow of a soul could have power, -till that hurling match I saw that I told you about. - - * * * * * - -It was in the old time it happened, that there was war in heaven. He -that was called the brightest of the angels raised himself up against -God. And when they were all to be thrown out, St. Michael spoke up -for them for he saw that when the heavens were weeded out they'd be -left without company. So they were stopped in the falling, in the air -and in the earth and in the sea. And they are about us sure enough, -and whenever they'll be saved I don't know, but it is not for us to -say what God will do in the end. - -I often heard that our winter is their summer--sure they must have -some time for setting their potatoes and their oats. But I remember a -very old man used to say when he saw the potatoes black, that it was -to them they were gone. "Sure" he used to say, "the other world must -have its way of living as well as ourselves." - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -Dolan I was talking to the other day, and I asked him if faeries used -not to be there. And he said, "They're in it yet. There where you're -standing, they were singing and dancing a few nights ago. And the -same evening I saw two women down by the lake, and I thought it was -the ladies from the house gone out for a walk, but when I came near, -it was two strange women I saw, sitting there by the lake, and their -wings came, and they vanished into the air." - - -_John Phelan:_ - -I was cutting trees in Inchy one time. And at 8 o'clock one morning -when I got there, I saw a girl picking nuts with her hair hanging -down over her shoulders, brown hair, and she had a good clean face -and was tall and nothing on her head, and her dress was no way gaudy, -but simple. And when she felt me coming, she gathered herself up and -was gone as if the earth had swallowed her up. And I followed her -and looked for her, but I never could see her again from that day to -this, never again. - - -_Mary Shannon:_ - -There was a herd's house near Loughrea that had a bad name; and a -strange woman came in one time and told the woman of the house that -she must never throw dirty water out of the back-door. "For," said -she, "if you had clean linen hanging there on a line before the fire, -how would you like any one to come in and to throw dirty water over -it?" And she bid her leave food always on the dresser. "For," said -she, "wherever you leave it we'll be able to find it." And she told -how they often went into Loughrea to buy things, and provisions, -and would look like any other person, and never be known, for they -can make themselves visible or invisible as they like. You might -be talking to one of them and never know she was different from -another. At our place there used to be a good many of these people -about, these Ingentry women or women from the North we sometimes call -them. There was one came into the house one day and told my mother -she didn't get all her butter in the milk. And she told her the -servant-girl was stealing and hiding some of it, for in these days -servants were cheap and we kept a couple; you'd get them for about -five shillings a quarter. And my mother went to look, and then she -went out of the house, and went off in a minute in a blast. And the -husband that was coming into the house, he never saw her at all, and -she going out of the door. - -Sunset is a bad hour, and just before sunrise in the morning, and -about 12 o'clock in the day, it's best not to be too busy or going -about too much. - - -_An Aran Man:_ - -Sometimes they travel like a cloud, or like a storm. One day I was -setting out the manure in my own garden and they came and rolled it -in a heap and tossed it over the wall, and carried it out to sea -beyond the lighthouse. - - -_Mr. Finnerty:_ - -People say two days of the week, they name two days. Some say Thursday, -and some say whatever day it is, and the day before it, and then they -can't be heard. In the village beyond, there were a good many people in -a house one night, and lights in it, and talking, and of a sudden some -one opened the door--and there outside and round the house _they_ were -listening to them--and when the door was open they were all seen, and -made off as thick as crows to the forth near the Burren hills. - - * * * * * - -There was one Ward was walking one night near Castle Taylor, and in -that big field that's near the corner where Burke was murdered he saw -a big fire, and a lot of people round about it, and among them was a -girl he used to know that had died. - - * * * * * - -Last week in that field beyond there, the hay was all taken up, and -turned into the next field in wisps. - - * * * * * - -You must put the potatoes out for them before they are put on the -table, for they would not touch them if they had been touched by -common persons. - - * * * * * - -And I saw Horan that had the orchard here bought run to our house in -the middle of the night naked with nothing on but his trousers, where -he was after being beat out of the house in the kitchen garden. -Every night when he was going to bed there did a knocking come in the -loft over his head, but he gave no attention to it. But a great storm -came and a great lot of the apples was blown down and he gathered -them up and filled the loft with them, thinking when he showed them -to get compensation. And that is the night he was beat out of bed. -And John Phelan knows well what things used to be in that house. - - -_John Creevy:_ - -My father? Yes indeed he saw many things, and I tell you a thing he -told me, and there's no doubt in the earthly world about it. It was -when they lived at Inchy they came over here one time for to settle -a marriage for Murty Delvin's aunt. And when they had the business -settled, they were going home again at dead of night. And a man was -after getting married that day, one Delane from beyond Kilmacduagh, -and the drag was after passing the road with him and his party going -home. And all of a minute the road was filled with men on horses -riding along, so that my father had to take shelter in Delane's -big haggard by the roadside. And he heard the horsemen calling on -Delane's name. And twenty-one days after, Delane lay dead. - -There's no doubt at all about the truth of that, and they were no -riders belonging to this world that were on those horses. - - -_Thomas Brown:_ - -There was a woman walking in the road that had a young child at home, -and she met a very old man, having a baby in his arms. And he asked -would she give it a drop of breast-milk. So she did, and gave it a -drink. And the old man said: "It's well for you that you did that, for -you saved your cow by it. But tomorrow look over the wall into the -fields of the rich man that lives beyond the boundary, and you'll see -that one of his was taken in the place of yours." And so it happened. - -In the old times there used to be many stories of such things, half -the world seemed to be on the _other side_. - -I used not to believe in them myself, until one night I heard them -hurling. I was coming home from town with Jamsie Flann; we were not -drunk but we were hearty. Coming along the road beyond we heard them -hurling in the field beside us. We could see nothing but we'd hear -them hit the ball, and it fly past us like the lightning, so quick, -and when they hit the goal, we heard a moan--"Oh! ah!"--that was -all. But after we went a little way we sat down by a little hill to -rest, and there we heard a thousand voices talking. What they said, -we couldn't understand, or the language, but we knew that it was one -side triumphing over the other. - - * * * * * - -But the nights are queer--surely they are queer by sea or by land. -There was a friend of mine told me he was out visiting one night, -and coming home across the fields he came into a great crowd of them. -They did him no harm, and among them he saw a great many he knew, -that were dead, five or six out of our own village. And he was in his -bed for two months after that, and he told the priest of it. He said -he couldn't understand the talk, it was like the hissing of geese, -and there was one very big man, that seemed the master of them, and -his talk was like you'll hear in a barrel when it's being rolled. - -There's a hill, Cruach-na-Sheogue down by the sea, and many have seen -them there dancing in the moonlight. - -There was a man told me he was passing near it one night, and the -walls on each side of the road were all covered with people sitting -on them, and he walked between, and they said nothing to him. And he -knew many among them that were dead before that. Is it only the young -go there? Ah, how do we know what use they may have for the old as -well as for the young? - -There are but few in these days that die right. The priests know -about this more than we do, but they don't like to be talking of -_them_ because they might be too big in our minds. - - * * * * * - -They are just the same in America as they are here, and my sister -that came home told me they were, and the women that do cures, just -like the woman at Clifden, or that woman you know of. - -There was one she went to out there, and when you'd come in to ask a -cure she'd be lulled into a sleep, and when she woke she'd give the -cure. _Away_ she was while the sleep lasted. - - -_The Spinning Woman:_ - -No, I never seen them myself, and I born and bred in the same village -as Michael Barrett. But the old woman that lives with me, she does -be telling me that before she came to this part she was going home -one night, where she was tending a girl that was sick, and she had to -cross a hill forth. And when she came to it, she saw a man on a white -horse, and he got to the house before her, and the horse stopped at -the back-door. And when she got there and went in, sure enough the -girl was gone. - -I never saw anything myself, but one night I was passing the boreen -near Kinvara, and a tall man with a tall hat and a long coat came out -of it. He didn't follow me, but he looked at me for a while, and then -he went away. - - * * * * * - -And one time I saw the leprechaun. It's when I was a young woman, -and there was black frieze wanting at Ballylee, and in those days -they all thought there could no black frieze be spun without sending -for me. So I was coming home late in the evening, and there I saw -him sitting by the side of the road, in a hollow between two ridges. -He was very small, about the height of my knee, and wearing a red -jacket, and he went out of that so soon as he saw me. I knew nothing -about him at that time. The boys say if I'd got a hold of his purse -I'd be rich for ever. And they say he should have been making boots; -but he was more in dread of me than I of him, and had his instruments -gathered up and away with him in one second. - - * * * * * - -There used to be a lot of things seen, but someway the young people -go abroad less at night, and I'm thinking the souls of some of -_those_ may be delivered by this time. - - * * * * * - -There was a boy looked out of the door, and he saw a woman milking -the cow. But after, when he went to milk her, he found as much milk -as ever there was. - - -_Mrs. Phelan:_ - -There was a woman at Kilbecanty was out one evening and she saw a -woman dressed in white come after her, and when she looked again she -had disappeared into a hole in the wall. Small she must have grown -to get into that. And for eleven days after that, she saw the same -appearance, and after eleven days she died. - - * * * * * - -There was another woman lived at Kilbecanty, just beside the -churchyard, you can see the house yet. And one day she found a plate -of food put in at the door, the best of food, meat and other things. -So she eat it and the next day the same thing happened. And she told -a neighbouring woman about it, and she left her door open, and a -plate of food was left in to her that night. But when she saw it she -was afraid to eat it, but took it and threw it out. And the next day -she died. But the woman that eat the food, nothing happened to her. - - * * * * * - -There was one Halloran took that farm on the road beyond one time, -but he locked the house up, not meaning to go and live in it yet a -while, and he kept the key in his pocket. But one night late he was -coming by and he saw a light in the window and looked in, and he saw -a woman sitting by a fire she was after lighting. So he ran away and -never went to live in the house after. - -One night myself coming back from Kelly's I saw a man by the side of -the road, and I knew him to be one Cuniff that had died a year before. - -There were two men stealing apples in a garden, and when they tried -to get out there was a soldier at the door with a sword in his hand. -And at the door there he was still before them; so they had to leave -the two bags of apples behind. - - -_W. Sullivan:_ - -One night myself I was driving the jennet I had at that time to -Cappagh and I went past a place one Halvey had bought and I saw a man -having a white front to his shirt standing by the wall, and I said -to myself, "Halvey is minding this place well," and I went on, and I -saw the man following me, and the jennet let a roar and kicked at me, -and at that time we passed a stile, and I saw him no more. - - -_Mrs. Barrett:_ - -I don't know did old Michael see anything or was it in his head. But -James, the brother that died, told me one time that he was crossing -the way beyond from Brennan's, where the stones are. And there he saw -a hurling going on. He never saw a field so full before. And he stood -and watched them and wasn't a bit frightened, but the dog that was -with him shrank between his legs and stopped there. - - * * * * * - -And my father told me that one time he was stopping with my uncle, up -there near Mrs. Quaid's, in a house that's pulled down since. And he -woke up and saw the night so bright that he went out. And there he -saw a hurling going on, and they had boots like soldiers and were all -shining with the brightness of the night. - -And Micky Smith, God rest his soul, saw them at midday passing in the -air above Cahir, as thick as birds. - - -_A Gate-keeper:_ - -Niland that met the coach that time and saw them other times, he told -me that there were two sets among them. The one handsome and tall -and like the gentry; the others more like ourselves, he said, and -short and wide, and the body starting out in front, and wide belts -about their waists. Only the women he saw, and they were wearing -white caps with borders, and their hair in curls over the forehead -and check aprons and plaid shawls. They are the spiteful ones that -would do you a mischief, and others that are like the gentry would do -nothing but to laugh and criticize you. - -One night myself I was outside Loughrea on the road, about 1 o'clock -in the morning and the moon was shining. And I saw a lady, a true lady -she was, dressed in a sort of a ball dress, white and short in the -skirt, and off the shoulders. And she had long stockings and dancing -shoes with short uppers. And she had a long thin face, and a cap on her -head with frills, and every one of the frills was the breadth of my six -fingers. As to flowers or such things, I didn't notice, for I was more -fixed in looking at the cap. I suppose they wore them at balls in some -ancient times. I followed her a bit, and then she crossed the road to -Johnny Flanigan the joiner's house, that had a gate with piers. And I -went across after her, to have a better view, and when she got to the -pier she shrank into it and there was nothing left. - - * * * * * - -Johnny Kelly that lives in Loughrea was over here one evening, where -he had some cattle on the land at Coole. And where the river goes -away, he saw two ladies sitting, ladies he thought them to be, and -they had long dresses. And they rose up and went on to that hole -where the water is and the trees. And there all of a sudden they rose -a storm and went up in it, with a sort of a roar or a cry and passed -away through the air. - -And I was in the house with my wife and I heard the cry, and I thought -it might be some drunken man going home, and it about 10 o'clock in the -evening. And I went to the door, and presently Kelly came in and you'd -have thought him a drunken man, walking and shaking as he did with the -fright he got seeing them going off away in the storm. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -I went over to see Kate Cloran the other day, knowing that she had -seen some of these things. And she told me that she was led astray -by them one time--a great lot of them, they were dressed in white -blouses and black skirts and some of them had crimson mantles, but -none of them had any covering on their head, and they had all golden -hair and were more beautiful than any one she had ever seen. - -And one night she met the coach and four, and it was full of ladies, -letting the window up and down and laughing out at her. They had -golden hair, or it looked so with the lights. They were dressed in -white, and there were bunches of flowers about the horses' heads. -Roses, chiefly, some pink and some blue. The coachmen were strange -looking, you could not say if they were men or women--and their -clothes were more like country clothes. They kept their heads down -that she could not see their faces, but those in the carriage had -long faces, and thin, and long noses. - - -_Mike Martin:_ - -They are of the same size as we are. People only call them diminutive -because they are made so when they're sent on certain errands. - -There was a man of Ardrahan used to see many things. But he lost his -eyesight after. It often happens that those that see these things -lose their earthly sight. - -The coach and four is seen by many. It appears in different forms, but -there is always the same woman in it. Handsome I believe she is, and -white; and there she will always be seen till the end of the world. - -It's best to be neighbourly with them anyway--best to be neighbourly. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman woke one night and she saw two women by the fire, and -they came over and tried to take away her baby. But she held him and -she nudged her husband with her arm, but he was fast asleep. And they -tried him again, and all she could do wouldn't waken the husband, but -still she had the baby tight, and she called out a curse in the devil's -name. So then they went away, for they don't like cursing. - -One night coming home from Madden's where I was making frames with him, -I began to tremble and to shake, but I could see nothing. And at night -there came a knocking at the window, and the dog I had that would fight -any dog in Ireland began to shrink to the wall and wouldn't come out. -And I looked out the door and saw him. Little clothes he had on, but on -his head a quarter cap, and a sort of a bawneen about him. And I would -have followed him, but the rest wouldn't let me. - - * * * * * - -Another time I was crossing over the stile behind Kiltartan chapel into -Coole, and others along with me. And a great blast of wind came, and -two trees were bent and broken and fell into the river, and the splash -of water out of it went up to the skies. And those that were with me -saw many figures, but myself I only saw one, sitting there by the bank -where the trees fell, dark clothes he had, and he was headless. - - * * * * * - -They can take all shapes and it's said a pig is the worst, but I -believe if you take no notice of them and bless yourself as they -pass, they'll do you no harm at all. - -There were two men walking by a forth that's beyond Cloon, and one of -them must have been in it at some time, for he told the other to look -through his arm, and when he looked he could see thousands of people -about walking and driving, and ladies and gentry among them. - -There was a man in Cloon and he was very religious and very devout -and he didn't believe in anything. But one day he was at the -Punch-bowl out on the Ennis road, and there he saw two coaches coming -through the thick wood and they full of people and of ladies, and -they went in to the bushes on the other side. And since he saw that -he'd swear to _them_ being there. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman living over near Tirneevan, and one morning three -men came galloping up on three horses, and they stopped at the door -and tied up the horses and walked in, and they strangers. And the -woman put the tongs over the cradle where the baby was sleeping, for -that is a _pishogue_. And when they saw the tongs, they looked at one -another and laughed, but they did him no harm, but pulled out the -table and sat down and played cards for a while, and went away again. - - * * * * * - -But if they're well treated, and if you know how to humour them, -they're the best of neighbours. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman seen not long ago, all in white, and she standing -in a stream washing her feet. But you need never be afraid of -anything that's white. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman I know was away sometimes and used to go into a -forth among them. She told me about it, and she said there were -big and small among them as there are here. And they wore caps like -hurling caps, all striped with blue and different colours, and their -dress striped the same way. - - -_A Seaside Man:_ - -There was a girl below in Spiddal was coming home from Galway with -her father, and just at the bridge below she saw the coach and four. -Like a van it was, with horses, and full of gentlemen. And she tried -to make her father see it, and he couldn't. And it passed along the -road, and then turned down into a field, over the stones, and it -got to the strand and ran along it for a while, and what became of -it then I don't know. My father told me that one night he came from -a wake, and in the field beyond, that was all a flag then, but the -man that owns it has it covered with earth now, he saw about twelve -ladies all in white, and they dancing round and round and a fiddler -or a flute-player or whatever he was, in the middle. And he thought -they were some ladies from Spiddal, and called out to them that it -was late to be out dancing. And he turned to open the door of the -house, and while he was turning they were gone. - - * * * * * - -There was a man walking one night and he felt a woman come and walk -behind him, and she all in white. And the two of them walked on till -sunrise, and then a cock crowed, and the man said, "There's the cock -crowing." And she said, "That's only a weak cock of the summer." And -soon after another cock crowed, and he asked did she hear it, and she -said, "That's but a poor cock of the harvest." And the third time a -cock crowed and when the man asked her she said, "That's a cock of -March. And you're as wise as the man that doesn't tell Friday's dream -on Saturday." For if you dream on a Friday, you must never tell the -dream of a Saturday. - - -_Mrs. Swift:_ - -My mother told me, and she wouldn't tell a lie, that one time she -went to a wake at Ardrahan. And about 12 o'clock, the night being -hot, she and her sister went out to the back of the house. And there -they saw a lot of people running as hard as they could to the house, -and knocking down the walls as they came to them, for there were a -lot of small stones. And she said to her sister, "These must be all -the first cousins coming, and there won't be room to sit in the house -when they come in." So they hurried back. But no one ever came in or -came to the door at all. - - * * * * * - -They are said to be outside the door there often. And some see them -hurling, small they are then, and with grey coats and blue caps. And -the car-driver told me--he wouldn't tell a lie--that he often passed -them walking like soldiers through the hollow beyond. - - -_An Old Man on Slieve Echtge:_ - -One night I was walking on that mountain beyond, and a little -lad with me, Martin Lehane, and we came in sight of the lake of -Dairecaol. And in the middle of the lake I saw what was like the -shadow of a tall fir tree, and while I was looking it grew to be like -the mast of a boat. And then ropes and rigging came at the sides and -I saw that it was a ship; and the boy that was with me, he began to -laugh. Then I could see another boat, and then more and more till the -lake was covered with them, and they moving from one side to another. -So we watched for a while, and then we went away and left them there. - - -_Mrs. Guinan:_ - -It's only a few days ago, I was coming through the field between this -and the boreen, and I saw a man standing, a countryman you'd say he -was. And when I got near him, all at once he was gone, and when I -told Mrs. Raftery in the next house, she said she didn't wonder at -that, for it's not very long ago she saw what seemed to be the same -man, and he vanished in the same way. - - * * * * * - -There's a woman living up that road beyond, is married to a man of -the Matthews, and last year she told me that a strange woman came -into her house, and asked had she good potatoes. And she said she -had. And the woman said: "You have them this year, but we'll have -them next year." And she said: "When you go out of the house, it's -your enemy you'll see standing outside," that was her near neighbour -and was her worst enemy. - - * * * * * - -They'll often come in the night, and bring away the food. I wouldn't -touch any food that had been lying about in the night, you wouldn't -know what might have happened it. And my mother often told me, best -not eat it, for the food that's cooked at night and left till the -morning, they will have left none of the strength in it. - - * * * * * - -There was a hurling seen in a field near our house, little men they -were in green with red caps, and a sergeant of police and his men -that were going by stopped to look at them, but Johnny Roland a boy I -know, was standing in the middle of them all the time in the field, -and never saw anything at all. - - -_A North Galway Woman:_ - -There was a man living over at Caramina, beyond Moyne, Dick Regan -was his name, and one night he was walking over a little hill near -that place. And when he got to the top of it, he found it like a -fair green with all the people that were in it, and they buying and -selling just like ourselves. And they did him no harm, but they put -a basket of cakes into his hand and kept him selling them all the -night. And when he got home, he told the story. And the neighbours -when they heard it gave him the name of the cakes and to the day of -his death he was called nothing but Richard Crackers. - - * * * * * - -There was a smith, and a man called on him late one evening, and asked -him to shoe a horse for him and so he did. And then he offered him pay -but he would take none. And the man took him out behind the house, and -there were three hundred horses with riders on them, and a hundred -without, and he said, "We want riders for those," and they went on. - - -_An Aran Man:_ - -A man that came over here from Connemara named Costello told me that -one night he was making poteen, and a man on a white horse came up, -and the horse put his head into the place they were making it, and -then they rode away again. So he put a bottle of the whiskey outside -the place, and in a little time he went and looked and it was empty. -And then he put another bottle out, and in a little time he looked -again, and it was empty. And then he put a third, but when he looked -the whiskey in it had not been stirred. And he told me he never did -so much with it or made so much profit as he did in that year. - - * * * * * - -They are everywhere. Tom Deruane saw them down under the rocks -hurling and they were all wearing black caps. And sometimes you'd -see them coming on the sea, just like a barrel on the top of the -water, and when they'd get near you, no matter how calm the day, -you'd have a hurricane about you. That is when they are taking their -diversions. And one evening late I was down with the wife burning -kelp on the rocks, where we had a little kiln made. And we heard a -talking and a whispering about us on the rocks, and my wife thought -it was the child that the sister was bringing down to her, and she -said, "God bless the son!" but no one came, and the talking went on -again, and she got uneasy, and at last we left the kelp and came -home; and we weren't the first that had to leave it for what they -heard in that place. - -Fallen angels they are said to be. God threw a third part of them -into Hell with Lucifer, and it was Michael that interceded for the -rest, and then a third part was cast into the air and a third on the -land and the sea. And here they are all about us as thick as grass. - - -_A Needlewoman from North Galway Working at Coole:_ - -Myself and Anne (one of the maids) went up the middle avenue after -dark last night and we got a fright, seeing what we thought to be -faeries. They were men dressed in black clothes like evening clothes, -wearing white ruffles round their necks and high black hats without -brims. Two walked in front and one behind, and they seemed to walk -or march stiff like as if there was no bend in the leg. They held -something in each hand and they stopped before the gate pier where -there is a sort of cross in white like paint, then they disappeared -and we turned and ran. - -(_When they were going up to bed, I am told, "Anne suddenly stopped -under the picture of Mary Queen of Scots and called out, 'That is like -the frill they wore' and sank down on the stairs in a kind of faint."_) - - * * * * * - -One time at home I was out about dusk, and presently I heard a -creaking, and a priest walked by reading his prayers. But when he -came close I saw it was Father Ryan that was dead some time before. -And I ran in and told a woman, who used to help in milking, what I -had seen, and she said, "If it's Father Ryan you saw I don't wonder, -for I saw him myself at the back of the door there only a week ago." - - * * * * * - -There was a boy was making a wall near Cruachmaa and a lot of _them_ -came and helped him, and he saw many neighbours that were dead among -them. And when they had the wall near built another troop of them -came running and knocked it down. And the boy died not long after. - - -_A Young Man:_ - -My father told me that he was down one time at the north shore -gathering wrack, and he saw a man before him that was gathering -wrack too and stooping down. He had a black waistcoat on him and the -rest of his clothes were flannel just like the people of this island. -And when my father drew near him, he stooped himself down behind a -stone; and when he looked there, there was no sight or mind of him. - -One time myself when I was a little chap, about the size of Michael -there, I was out in the fields, and I saw a woman standing on the top -of a wall, and she having a child in her hand. She had a long black -coat about her. And then she got down and crossed over the field, and -it seemed to me all the time that she was only about so high (three -feet) and that there was only about two feet between her and the -ground as she walked, and the child always along with her. And then -she passed over another wall and was gone. - - -_The Spinning Woman:_ - -There was a new-married woman, and the husband was going out and he -gave her wool to spin and to have ready for him. And she couldn't -know what in the world to do, for she never learned to spin. And she -was there sitting at it and a little man came in, and when she told -him about it he said he'd bring it away and spin it for her and bring -it back again. And she asked for his name, but he wouldn't tell that. -And soon after there was a ragman going the road and he saw a hole -and he looked down and there he saw the little man, and he stirring -a pot of stirabout with one hand and spinning with the other hand, -and he was singing while he stirred: "---- is my name (that's his -name in Irish but I won't tell you the meaning of it) and she doesn't -know it, and so I'll bring her along with me." So the ragman went in -and came to the young woman's house, and told her what the man was -singing. So when he came with the wool she called him by his name, -and he threw the wool down and went away; for he had no power over -her when she knew his name. - - -_Mary Glynn of Slieve Echtge:_ - -That's it, that's it, _the other class_ of people don't like us to be -going out late, we might be in their way, unless it's for a case, or -a thing that can't be helped. And this is Monday, no, Mrs. Deruane, -not Tuesday--we'll say it's Monday. It's at night they're seen, God -bless them, and their music is heard, God bless them, the finest -music you ever heard, like all the fifers of the world and all the -instruments, and all the tunes of the world. There was one of those -boys that go about from house to house on the morning of the new -year, to get a bit of bread or a cup of tea or anything you'll have -ready for him, and he told us that he was coming down the hill near -us, and he had the full of his arm of bits of bread, and he heard the -music, for it was but dawn, and he was frightened and ran and lost -the bread. I heard it sometimes myself and there's no music in the -world like it, but it's not all can hear it. Round the hill it comes, -and you going in at the door. And they are quiet neighbours if you -treat them well. God bless them and bring them all to heaven! - -For they were in heaven once, and heaven was the first place there -was war, and they were all to be done away with, and it was St. Peter -asked the Saviour to help them. So he turned His hand like this, and -the sky and the earth were full of them, and they are in every place, -and you know that better than I do because you read books. - - -_Mary Glynn and Mary Irwin:_ - -One night there were bonavs in the house,--God bless the hearers -and the place it's told in--God bless all we see and those we don't -see!--And there was a man coming to rise dung in the potato field in -the morning, and so, late at night, Mary Glynn was making stirabout -and a cake to have ready for breakfast. - -Mary Irwin's brother was asleep within on the bed. And there came the -sound of the grandest music you ever heard from beyond the stream, -and it stopped here. And Micky awoke in the bed, and was afraid and -said, "Shut up the door and quench the light," and so we did. It's -likely they wanted to come into the house, and they wouldn't when -they saw us up and the lights about. But one time when there were -potatoes in the loft, Mary Irwin and her brothers were well pelted -with them when they sat down to their supper. And Mary Glynn got a -blow on the side of her face from them one night in the bed. And they -have the hope of Heaven, and God grant it to them. And one day there -was a priest and his servant riding along the road, and there was a -hurling of _them_ going on in the field. And a man of them came and -stood on the road and said to the priest, "Tell me this, for you know -it, have we a chance of Heaven?" "You have not," said the priest -(_"God forgive him," says Mary Glynn--"a priest to say that"_); and -the man that was of them said, "Put your fingers in your ears till -you have travelled two miles of the road; for when I go back and tell -what you are after telling me to the rest, the crying and the bawling -and the roaring will be so great that if you hear it you'll never -hear a noise again in this world." So they put their fingers then in -their ears, but after a while the servant said to the priest, "Let me -take out my fingers now." And the priest said, "Do not." And then the -servant said again, "I think I might take one finger out." And the -priest said, "As you are so persevering you may take it out." So he -did, and the noise of the crying and the roaring and the bawling was -so great that he never had the use of that ear again. - - -_Callan of Slieve Echtge:_ - -We know they are in it, for Father Hobbs that was our parish priest -saw them himself one time there was a station here, and when some -said they were not in it, he said, "I saw them in a field myself, more -people than ever I saw at twenty fairs." It was St. Peter spoke for -them, at the time of the war, when the Saviour was casting them out; -he said to Him not to empty the heavens. And every Monday morning they -think the Day of Judgment may be coming, and that they will see Heaven. - - * * * * * - -There's never a funeral they are not at, walking after the other -people. And you can see them if you know the way, that is to take a -green rush and to twist it into a ring, and to look through it. But -if you do, you'll never have a stim of sight in the eye again, and -that's why we don't like to do it. - -Resting they do be in the daytime, and going about in the night. - - -_Old Hayden:_ - -One time I was coming home from a fair and it was late in the night -and it was dark and I didn't know was I on the right road. And I saw -a cabin in a field with a light in it, and I went and knocked at the -door and a man opened the door and let me in, and he said, "Have you -any strange news?" and I said, "I have not," and he said, "There is -no place for you here," and he put me out again. For that was a faery -hill, and when they'll ask have you strange news, and you'll say you -have not, they'll do nothing for you. So I went back in the field, -and there were men carrying a coffin, and they said, "Give us a hand -with this." And I put my hand to it to help them to lift it. And as we -walked on we came to a house, and we went in and there was a fire on -the hearth, and they took the body out of the coffin and put it before -the fire, and they said, "Now let you keep turning it." So I sat there -and turned it, and then they took it up and we went on till we came -to another house and the same thing happened there, and they put me -to turn the body. And when we went out from there they all vanished, -and there was the cabin before me again with the light in it. And when -the man came to the door and asked me, "Is there any strange news?" I -said, "There is indeed," and told him all that had happened. And then I -looked round, and I was within a few yards of my own house. - - -_Mrs. Keely:_ - -When you see a blast of wind, and it comes sudden and carries the -dust with it, you should say, "God bless them," and throw something -after them. How do we know but one of our own may be in it? Half of -the world is with them. - -We see them often going about up and down the hill, Jack O'Lanthorn -we call them. They are not the size of your two hands. They would not -do you much harm, but to lead you astray. - - -_The Spinning Woman:_ - -I remember one day a strange woman coming in and sitting down -there--very clever looking she was, and she had a good suit of -clothes. And I bid her rest herself and I'd give her a cup of tea, -and she said, "I travelled far today and you're the first that -offered me that." And when she had it taken she said, "If I had a -bit of tobacco, and a bit of bacon for my dinner, I'd be all right." -And I made a sign to the woman I have, under the table, to give her -a bit of tobacco. So she got it for her and she said, "I shouldn't -take it, and this the second time today you divided it." And that was -true, for a neighbouring boy had come in in the morning and asked -for a loan of a bit, and she had cut it for him. And I said, "Go to -that house beyond and the woman will give you a bit of bacon"; and -she said, "I won't go to that woman, for it was she told you that one -of the neighbours was bringing away her butter from her," and so she -had, sure enough. And then she said, she must be in Cruachmaa that -night, and she went away and I never saw her again. - - -_A Mayo Man:_ - -One time I was working in England near Warrington, and I was walking -the road alone at night, and I saw a woman under an umbrella in the -mist and I said, "Is it a living thing you are or dead?" And she -vanished on the minute. And I sat down by the hedge for a while, and -I heard feet walking, walking, up and down inside the hedge, and I -am sure they were the same thing. And then two strange men passed -me, dressed in working clothes, but talking gibberish that I could -not understand, and I know that they were no right men. So I went in -towards the town and I met a policeman, and he took up his lamp and -made it shine in my face, for they carry a lamp in their belt and -they will take the measurement of your face with it, the same as by -daylight. And he said, "There never was a worse road for an Irishman -to walk than this one." It was maybe because of the land and the -rough people of it he said that. - - -_A Gate-keeper:_ - -My sister and her husband were driving on the Kinvara road one day, -and they saw a carriage coming behind them, and it with bright lamps -about it. And they drew the car to one side to let it pass. And when -it passed they saw it had no horses, and the men that were sitting up -where the drivers should be were headless. - -There's many has seen the coach, in different shapes, and some have -seen the riders going over the country. Drumconnor is a great place -for these things. The Sheehans that lived in the castle had no peace -or rest. Mrs. Sheehan looked up one day she was outside, and there -was some person standing at the window, and in a moment it was -headless. And they'd see them coming in at the gate, sometimes in -the shape of a woman, and a sort of a cape in the old fashion and a -handkerchief over the head, and sometimes in the shape of a cow or -such things. And noises they'd hear, and things being thrown about -in the house and packs of wool thrown down the stairs. - -And they had a good many children, and all the best and the -best-looking were taken. And at last they got the owner to build them -a house outside, and since that they have no trouble and have lost no -more children. - - -_Mrs. Madden:_ - -Rivers of Cloonmore one time when he was going to Loughrea, at the -fish-pond corner saw the coach. I didn't see it, but I saw him draw -aside and say to Leary not to let on they saw it. - -Meagher another time saw it, and it full of children all in white. - -But Egan beyond, he'd never let on to believe in such things and -would make them out to be nothing--he has such a gift of talking. - -And one time in the night I and my husband woke and heard the car -rattling by, and we thought it was St. George going to Ballylee -Castle, till we asked in the morning. Four horses it has and they -headless, and sure and certain we heard it pass that night. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -And I knew a boy met the coach and four one time. Drawn by four -horses it was, and lights about it and music, and the horses dressed -with flowers. And in it were sitting ladies, very clever-looking and -wild, and their hair twisted up on their heads, and when they went -on a little way they called to some man on the road to come with -them, and he refused, and they laughed at that and ridiculed him. - -I never saw the coach and four with these two eyes; but one time I -heard it pass by, about 11 o'clock at night, when I was sitting up -mending the sole of a boot. Surely it passed by, but I would not look -out to see what it was like. - -For there was a woman I knew was walking with a man one night from -Kilcolgan to Oranmore. And as they were sitting by the roadside they -heard the coach and four coming. And the man stood up and looked at -it, but he had no right to do that, he should have turned his head -away. And there were grand people in it, ladies, and flowers about -them. But no sooner did he look at it than he was struck blind and -never had his eyesight since. - -It's best not to look at them if they pass. And when you go along the -road and a storm comes in the calm and raises all the dust of the road -up in the air, turn your head another way, for it's they that are -passing. In the month of May is the most time they do be travelling. -And it's best not to go near water then, near a river or a lake. - -When my father was dying my mother was sitting with him, and she -heard a car pass the door, going light and quick, but when it passed -down the road again it went heavy, and that was the coach and four. - -There was Sully had the forge one time, and passing one night down -the road towards Nolan's gate, he saw a brake pass full of ladies -and gentlemen, as he thought, and he believed it to be St. George's -carriage. But at Nolan's gate, it turned and came up again, and -whatever he saw, when he got home he took to his bed for some days -with the fright he got. - -Kelly told me one time he saw the coach and four driving through the -field above Dillon's, with four horses. And wasn't that a strange -place for it to be driving through all the rocks? - - * * * * * - -There was boys used to be stealing apples from the orchard at Tyrone, -and something in white with a candle used to come after them, and then -change to something in red. So they went to a forth, and they went to -the side of it where the sun rises and there they made the mark of the -cross, but after all they had to leave going after the apples. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman down at Silver's the other night, and when I was -standing to go home she said, "I wonder you not to be afraid to go -through these fields." So I asked her did ever she see anything, -and she said, "I was with another girl one day near Inchy gate, -and we heard a voice, and we saw the coach and four coming and we -were afraid, and we went in under the bushes to hide ourselves. It -passed by us then, it was big and long, longer than a carriage you -could see now, and there were people in it, men and women dressed in -all colours, blue and red and pink and black, but I could not say -what had they on their heads. And there was a man on the box, not a -coachman but just a Christian, and he driving the four horses. - -"As to the horses, the two that were in front were grey, but the two -that were near the carriage were brown; it gave me a great fright at -the time." - - * * * * * - -There is no light about it in the daytime, but at night it is all -shining. - - * * * * * - -There was a girl saw it one time in the same way, drawn by horses -that were without heads. She got a great fright and she ran home. And -in the morning when she got up, she that had been a dark-haired girl -was as white as snow, and her hair grey. She is living yet and is up -to nearly a hundred years. - - -_Mrs. Roche:_ - -My father would never believe in anything till one time he was walking -near Seanmor with another smith, and he stopped and said "I can't go on -with all the people that's in that field." And my father said "I don't -see any people." And the other said "Put your right foot on my right -foot, and your hand on my right shoulder." And he did, and he saw a -great many in the field, but not so many as the other saw; fine men -and all dressed in white shirts, shining they were so white. He told us -about it when he came home, and he said he wished he didn't see them. -He was dead within the twelvemonth, and the man that was with him was -dead before that, not much time between them. - - - - - VIII - - BUTTER - - - - - VIII - - BUTTER - - -_I have been told:_ - -Butter, that's a thing that's very much meddled with. On the first -of May before sunrise it's very apt to be all taken away out of -the milk. And if ever you lend your churn or your dishes to your -neighbour, she'll be able to wish away your butter after that. There -was a woman used to lend a drop of milk to the woman that lived next -door, and one day she was churning, churning, and no butter came. And -at last some person came into the house and said, "It's hard for you -to have butter here, and if you want to know where it is, look into -the next house." So she went in and there was her neighbour letting -on to be churning in a quart bottle, and rolls of butter beside her. -So she made as if to choke her, and the woman run out into the garden -and picked some mullein leaves, and said, "Put these leaves in under -your churn, and you'll find your butter come back again." And so she -did. And she found it all in the churn after. - -To sprinkle a few drops of holy water about the churn, and to put a -coal of fire under it, that you should always do--as was always done -in the old time--and the _others_ will never touch it. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman in the town was churning, and when the butter came -she went out of the house to bring some water for to wash it and to -make it up. And there was a tailor sitting sewing on the table. And -the woman from next door came in and asked the loan of a coal of -fire, and that's a thing that's never refused from one poor person -to another in the morning. So he bid her take it. And presently she -came in again and said that the coal of fire had gone out, and asked -another, and this she did the third time. But the tailor knew well -what she was doing, and that every coal of fire she brought away, -there was a roll of butter out of the churn went with it. So whatever -prayers he said is not known, but he brought the butter all back -again, and into a can on the floor, and no hands ever touched it. So -when the woman of the house came back, "There's your butter in the -can," said he. And she wondered how it came out of the churn to be in -three rolls in the can. And then he told her all that had happened. - - * * * * * - -There was a man was churning, churning, every day and no butter would -come only froth. So some wise woman told him to go before sunrise to a -running stream and bring a bottle of the water from it. And so he did -before sunrise, and had to go near four miles to it. And from that day -he had rolls and rolls of butter coming every time he churned. - - * * * * * - -There was one Burke, he knew how to bring it back out of some old -Irish book that has disappeared since he died. There was a woman -a herd's wife lived beyond, and one time Burke had his own butter -taken, and he said he knew a way to find who had done it, and he -brought in the coulter of the plough and put it in the fire. And -when it began to get red hot, this woman came running, and fell on -her knees, for it was she did it. And after that he never lost his -butter again. But she took to her bed and was there for years until -her death. And she couldn't turn from one side to another without -some person to lift her. Her son is now living in Dublin, and is the -President of some Association. - - * * * * * - -If a woman in Aran is milking a cow and the milk is spilled, she says, -"There's some are the better for it," and I think it a very nice -thought, that they don't grudge it if there is any one it does good to. - - * * * * * - -There was a man, one Finnegan, had the knowledge how to bring it back. -And one time Lanigan that lives below at Kilgarvan had all his butter -taken and the milk nothing but froth rising to the top of the pail like -barm. So he went to Finnegan and he bid him get the coulter of the -plough, and a shoe of the wickedest horse that could be found and some -other thing, I forget what. So he brought in the coulter of the plough, -and his brother-in-law chanced to have a horse that was so wicked it -took three men to hold him, and no one could get on his back. So he -got a shoe off of him. But just at that time, Lanigan's wife went to -confession, and what did she do but to tell the priest what they were -doing to get back the butter. So the priest was mad with them, and bid -them to leave such things alone. And when Finnegan heard it he said, -"What call had she to go and confess that? Let her get back her own -butter for herself any more, for I'll do nothing to help her." - - * * * * * - -Grass makes a difference? So it may, but believe me that's not all. -I've been myself in the County Limerick, where the grass is that rich -you could grease your boots in it, and I heard them say there, one -quart of cream ought to bring one pound of butter. And it never does. -_And where does the rest go to?_ - - - - - - IX - - THE FOOL OF THE FORTH - - - - - IX - - THE FOOL OF THE FORTH - - -_We had, before our quest began, heard of faeries and banshees and -the walking dead; but neither Mr. Yeats in Sligo nor I in Galway had -ever heard of "the worst of them all," the Fool of the Forth, the -Amadán-na-Briona, he whose stroke is, as death, incurable. As to the -fool in this world, the pity for him is mingled with some awe, for who -knows what windows may have been opened to those who are under the -moon's spell, who do not give in to our limitations, are not "bound by -reason to the wheel." It is so in the East also, and I remember the -surprise of the European doctor who had charge of an hospital in one of -the Native States of India, because when the ruler of the State came -one day to visit it, he and his high officials, while generous and -pitiful to the bodily sick, bowed down and saluted a young lad who had -lost his wits, as if recognizing an emissary from a greater kingdom._ - -_In one of my little comedies "The Full Moon," the cracked woman -comforts her half-witted brother, saying of his commonsense critics, -"It is as dull as themselves you would be maybe, and the world to be -different and the moon to change its courses with the sun." Those -commonsense people of Cloon describe a fool as "one that is laughing -and mocking, and that would not have the same habits as yourself, or -to have no fear of things you would be in dread of, or to be using a -different class of food." May it not be the old story of the deaf man -thinking all his fellow guests had suddenly lost their reason when they -began to dance, and he alone could not hear the call of the pipes?_ - -_There is perhaps sometimes a confusion in the mind between things -seen and unseen, for an old woman telling me she had often heard of -the Amadán-na-Briona went on "And I knew one too, and he's not dead -a twelvemonth. It's at night he used to be away with them, and they -used to try to bring people away into the forth where he was._ - -"_Was he a fool in this world too? Well, he was mostly, and I think I -know another that's living now_." - - -I was told by: - -_A Woman Bringing Oysters from the Strand:_ - -There was a boy, one Rivers, got the touch last June, from the -Amadán-na-Briona, the Fool of the Forth, and for that touch there is no -cure. It came to the house in the night-time and knocked at the door, -and he was in bed and he did not rise to let it in. And it knocked -the second time, and even then, if he had answered it, he might have -escaped. But when it knocked the third time he fell back on the bed, -and one side of him as if dead, and his jaw fell on the pillow. - -He knew it was the Amadán-na-Briona did it, but he did not see -him--he only felt him. And he used to be running in every place after -that and trying to drown himself, and he was in great dread his -father would say he was mad, and bring him away to Ballinasloe. He -used to be asking me could his father do that to him. He was brought -to Ballinasloe after and he died there, and his body was brought back -and buried at Drumacoo. - - -_Mrs. Murphy:_ - -Cnoc-na-Briona is full of them, near Cappard. The Amadán-na-Briona is -the master of them all, I heard the priest say that. - -There was a man of the MacNeills passing by it one night coming back -from the bog, and they brought him in, and when he came out next -day--God save the mark--his face was turned to his poll. They sent -then to Father Jordan, and he turned it right again. The man said -they beat him while he was with them, and he saw there a great many -of his friends that were dead. - - -_The Spinning Woman:_ - -There are fools among them, and the fools we see like that Amadán at -Ballymore go away with them at night. And so do the women fools, that -we call _lenshees_, that means, an ape. - -It's true enough there is no cure for the stroke of the -Amadán-na-Briona. There was an old man I knew long ago, he had a -tape, and he could tell what disease you had with measuring you, and -he knew many things. And he said to me one time "What month of the -year is the worst?" And I said, "The month of May, of course." "It -is not," he said, "but the month of June, for that's the month that -the Amadán gives his stroke." They say he looks like any other man, -but he's _leathan_--wide--and not smart. I know a boy one time got a -great fright, for a lamb looked over the wall at him, and it with a -big beard on it, and he knew it was the Amadán, for it was the month -of June. And they brought him to that man I was telling you about, -that had the tape. And when he saw him he said "Send for the priest -and get a Mass said over him." And so they did, and what would you -say but he's living yet, and has a family. - - -_A Seaside Man:_ - -The stroke of the Fool is what there is no cure for; any one that -gets that is gone. The Amadán-na-Briona we call him. It's said they -are mostly good neighbours. I suppose the reason of the Amadán being -wicked is he not having his wits, he strikes out at all he meets. - - -_A Clare Man:_ - -They, the other sort of people, might be passing you close and -they might touch you; but any one that gets the touch of the -Amadán-na-Briona is done for. And it's true enough that it's in the -month of June he's most likely to give the touch. I knew one that got -it, and told me about it himself. - -He was a boy I knew well, and he told me that one night a gentleman -came to him, that had been his landlord, and that was dead. And he told -him to come along with him, for he wanted to fight another man. And -when he went he found two great troops of them, and the other troop had -a living man with them too, and he was put to fight him. And they had -a great fight and at last he got the better of the other man, and then -the troop on his side gave a great shout, and he was left home again. - -But about three years after that he was cutting bushes in a wood, and -he saw the Amadán coming at him. He had a big vessel in his arms, and -it shining, so that the boy could see nothing else, but he put it -behind his back then, and came running; and he said he looked wide -and wild, like the side of a hill. - -And the boy ran, and the Amadán threw the vessel after him, and it -broke with a great noise, and whatever came out of it, his head -was gone then and there. He lived for a while after and used to be -telling us many things, but his wits were gone. He thought they -mightn't have liked him to beat the other man, and he used to be -afraid something would come on him. - - -_Mrs. Staunton:_ - -A friend of mine saw the Amadán one time in Poul-na-shionac, low-sized -and very wide, and with a big hat on him, very high, and he'd make -shoes for you if you could get a hold of him. But there are some say -"No, that is not the Amadán-na-Briona, that is the leprechaun." - - -_An Old Woman:_ - -The Amadán-na-Briona is a bad one to meet. If you don't say, "The -Lord be between us and harm," when you meet him, you are gone for -ever and always. What does he look like? I suppose like any fool in a -house--a sort of a clown. - - -_A Man near Athenry:_ - -Biddy Early could cure nearly all things, but she said that the only -thing that she could do no cure for was the touch of the Amadán. - - -_Another:_ - -Biddy Early couldn't do nothing for the touch of the Amadán, because -its power was greater than hers. - - -_In the Workhouse:_ - -The Amadán-na-Briona, he changes his shape every two days. Sometimes he -comes like a youngster, and then he'll come like the worst of beasts. -Trying to give the touch he used to be. I heard it said of late that he -was shot, but I think myself it would be hard to shoot him. - - -_Ned Meehan of Killinane:_ - -The Amadán is the worst; I saw him myself one time, and I'd be swept -if I didn't make away on the moment. It was on a race-course at -Ballybrit, and no one there but myself, and I sitting with my back -to the wall and smoking my pipe. And all at once the Amadán was all -around me, in every place, and I ran and got out of the field or I'd -be swept. And I saw others of them in the field; it was full of them, -red scarfs they had on them. - -I came home as quick as I could, and I didn't get over the fright for -a long time, but there he was all about me. - -_Meehan's wife says_: I remember you well coming in that night, and -you trembling with the fright you got. And you told me the appearance -he had, like a jockey he was, on a grey horse. - -"That is true indeed," _says Ned, and he goes on_: - -And one night I was up in that field beyond, watching sheep that were -near their time to drop, and I saw a light moving through the fields -beside me, and down the road and no one with it. It stopped for a -while where the water is and went on again. - -And there was a woman in Ballygra the same night heard the coach-a-baur -passing, and she not hearing at all about the lights I saw. - - -_A Man at Kilcolgan:_ - -Father Callaghan that used to be in Esker was able to do great cures; -he could cure even a man that had met the Amadán-na-Briona. But to -meet the Amadán is to be in prison for ever. - - - - - X - - FORTHS AND SHEOGUEY PLACES - - - - - X - - FORTHS AND SHEOGUEY PLACES - - -_When as children we ran up and down the green entrenchments of the big -round raths, the lisses or forths, of Esserkelly or Moneen, we knew -they had been made at one time for defence, and that is perhaps as much -as is certainly known. Those at my old home have never been opened, -but in some of their like I have gone down steps to small stone-built -chambers that look too low for the habitation of any living race._ - -_Had we asked questions of the boys who led our donkeys they would -in all likelihood have given us, from tradition or vision, news of -the shadowy inhabitants, the Sidhe, whose name in the Irish is all -one with a blast of wind, and of the treasures they guard. And the -old writings tell us that when blessed Patrick of the Bells walked -Ireland, he did not refuse the promise of heaven to some among those -spirits in prison, the old divine race for whom Mannanan himself had -chosen these hidden dwellings, after the great defeat in battle by -the human invaders, the Gaels, or to some they had brought among them -from the face of the green earth. It was one of their musicians who -played to the holy Clerks till Patrick himself said, "But for some -tang of the music of the Sidhe that is in it, I never heard anything -nearer to the music of heaven." That music is heard yet from time to -time; and it was into one of those hill dwellings that the father of -McDonough the Galway piper, my friend, was taken till the Sidhe had -taught him all their wild tunes and so bewitched his pipes that they -would play of themselves if he threw them up among the rafters. There -were great treasures there also in Saint Patrick's time, golden vats -and horns, and crystal cups, and silks of the colour of the foxglove. -It may be of these treasures that so many dreams are told._ - -_As to the women of the Sidhe, some who have seen them, as old Mrs. -Sheridan, tell of their white skin and yellow hair, for age has not -come on them through the centuries. When one of them came claiming -the fulfilment of an old promise from Caoilte of the Fianna, Patrick -wondered at her young beauty, while the man who had been her lover -was withered and bent and grey. But Caoilte said that was no wonder -"for she is of the Tuatha de Danaan who are unfading and whose life -is lasting, while I am of the sons of Milesius who are perishable -and fade away." Yet then as now, notwithstanding their beauty and -grandeur, those swept away into the hill dwellings would rather have -the world they know. One of Finn's men meeting a comely young man who -had been his comrade but was now an inhabitant of one of those hidden -houses, asked how he fared. And for all his fine clothing and his -blue weapons and the hound he held in a silver chain, the young man -gave the names of three drudges "who had the worst life of any who -were with the Fianna," and then he said, "I would rather be living -their life than the life I am leading now."_ - -_The name of these tribes of the goddess Dana is often confused -with that of the northern invaders who were afterwards a terror to -Ireland. And so it was of those unearthly tribes an old basket-maker -was thinking when he said, in telling of the defeat of the Irish -under James, "The Danes were dancing in the raths around Aughrim the -night after the battle. Their ancestors were driven out of Ireland -before, and they were glad when they saw those that had put them out -put out themselves, and everyone of them skivered."_ - -_Many of the stories I have gathered tell how those tribes still -protect their own; and even today, March 21, 1916, I have read in the -"Irish Times" that "a farmer who was summoned by a road contractor -for having failed to cut a portion of a hedge on the roadside, told -the magistrates at Granard Petty Sessions that he objected to cutting -the hedge as it grew in a fort or rath. He however had no objection -to the contractor's men cutting the hedge. The magistrates allowed -the case to stand till the next Court."_ - -_As to Knockmaa, or Cruachmaa, or, as it is called today, Castle Hacket -Hill, that overlooks Lough Corrib and the plain of Moytura, and that we -see as a blue cloud from our roads, it was in Saint Patrick's time the -habitation of Finnbarr a king among the Sidhe and his seventeen sons, -and it is to this day spoken of as "a very Sheoguey place."_ - -_It was in these enchanted hills that the ale of Goibniu the Smith -kept whoever tasted it from sickness and from death, and there is -some memory of this in a story told me by an old farmer. "There was -a man one time set out from Ireland to go to America or some place; -a common man looking for work he was. And something happened to the -ship on the way, and they had to put to land to mend it. And in the -country where they landed he saw a forth, and he went into it, and -there he saw the smallest people he ever saw, and they were the Danes -that went out of Ireland; and it was foxes they had for dogs, and -weasels were their cats._ - -_"Then he went back to get into the ship, but it was gone away, and he -left behind. So he went back into the forth, and a young man came to -meet him, and he told him what had happened. And the young man said -'Come into the room within where my father is in the bed, for he is -out of his health and you might be able to serve him.' So they went in -and the father was lying in the bed, and when he heard it was a man -from Ireland was in it he said, 'I will give you a great reward if you -will go back and bring me a thing I want out of Castle Hacket Hill. -For if I had what is there,' he said, 'I would be as young as my son.' -So the man consented to go, and they got a sailing ship ready, and it -is what the old man told him, to go back to Ireland. 'And buy a little -pig in Galway,' he said, 'and bring it to the mouth of the forth of -Castle Hacket and roast it there. And inside the forth is an enchanted -cat that is keeping guard there, and it will come out; and here is a -shot-gun and some cross-money that will kill any faery or any enchanted -thing. And within in the forth,' he said, 'you will find a bottle and a -rack-comb, and bring them back here to me.'_ - -_"So the man did as he was told and he bought the pig and roasted it -at the mouth of the forth, and out came the enchanted cat, and it -having hair seven inches long. And he fired the cross-money out of -the shot-gun, and the cat went away and he saw it no more. And he -got the bottle and the rack-comb and brought them back to the old -man. And he drank what was in the bottle and racked his hair with the -rack, and he got young again, as young as his own son."_ - -_It may be some of those faery treasures are still given out; for of -the family who have been for a good while owners of the hill, one at -least had the gift of genius. And I remember being told in childhood, -and I have never known if it were fact or folk-tale, that her mother -having as a bride gone to listen to some debate or royal speech in -the House of Lords at Westminster, the whole assembly had stood up in -homage to her beauty._ - - -_I was told by a Miller:_ - -It was the Danes built these forths. They were a fair-haired race, -and they married with the Irish that were dark-haired, just like -those linen weavers your own great-grandfather brought up from the -North, the Hevenors and the Glosters and others, married with the -Roman Catholics. There was a king of the Danes called Trevenher that -had a daughter that was a great beauty. And she gave a feast, and the -young men of the other race dressed like girls and came to it, and -sat at it till midnight, and then they threw off the women's clothes -and killed all the generals and the king himself. So the Danes were -driven out, that's why we have the fires and the wisps on St. John's -Eve. And as for Herself there, she wouldn't for all the world let St. -Martin's Day pass without killing of cocks--one for the woman and -another for the man. - - * * * * * - -As to the three lisses at Ryanrush, there must have been a great deal -of fighting there in the old time. There are some bushes growing on -them and no one, man or woman, will ever put a hand to cut them, no -more than they would touch the little bush by the well beyond, that -used to have lights shining out of it. - -And if any one was to fall asleep within the liss himself, he would -be taken away and the spirit of some old warrior would be put in his -place, and it's he would know everything in the whole world. There's -no doubt at all but that there's the same sort of things in other -countries. Sure _these_ can go through and appear in Australia in -one minute. But you hear more about them in these parts, because the -Irish do be more familiar in talking of them. - - * * * * * - -Enchanters and magicians they were in the old times, and could make -the birds sing and the stones and the fishes speak. - - * * * * * - -It's in the forths they mostly live. The last priest that was here -told us a lot about them, but he said not to be anyway afraid of -them, for they are but poor souls doing their penance. - - -_Mary Nagle:_ - -That's a fine big liss at Ryanrush, and people say they hear things -there, and sometimes a great light is seen--no wonder these things -should be seen there, for it was a great place for fighting in the -old centuries, and a great deal of bones have been turned up in the -fields. There was an open passage I remember into the liss, and two -girls got a candle one time and went in, but they saw nothing but the -ashes of the fires the Danes used to make. The passage is closed up -now I believe, with big stones no man could lift. - -One time a woman from the North came to our house, and she said a -great deal of people is kept below there in the lisses; she had been -there herself, and in the night-time in one moment they'd all be away -at Cruachmaa, wherever that may be, down in the North I believe. -And she knew everything that was in the house, and told us about my -sister being sick, and that there was a hurling going on, as there -was that day at the Isabella wood in Coole. And all about Coole House -she knew as if she spent her life in it. I'd have picked a lot of -stories out of her but my mother got nervous when she heard the truth -coming out, and bid me be quiet. She had a red petticoat on her, the -same as any country woman, and she offered to cure me, for it was -that time I was delicate and your ladyship sent me to the salt water, -but she asked a shilling and my mother said she hadn't got it. "You -have," says she, "and heavier metal than that you have in the house." -So then my mother gave her the shilling, and she put it in the fire -and melted it, and says she, "After two days you'll see your shilling -again." But we never did. And the cure she left, I never took it; -it's not safe, and the priests forbid us to take their cures--for it -must surely be from the devil their knowledge comes. But no doubt at -all she was one of the Ingentry, that can take the form of a woman by -day and another form at night. After that she went to Mrs. Quaid's -house and asked her for a bit of tobacco. "You'll get it again" she -said, "and more with it." And sure enough, that very day a bit of -meat came into Mrs. Quaid's house. (_Note_ 1.) - - -_Maurteen Joyce:_ - -There's a forth near Clough that wanders underneath, but a man -couldn't get into it without he'd crawl on his hands and knees. Well, -Kennedy's filly was brought in there, and lived there for five days -without food but what she got from _them_, and no one knew where she -was till a man passing by heard her neighing and then she was dug out. - - * * * * * - -There's a forth near our house, but it's not the good people that are -in it, only the old inhabitants of Ireland shut up there below. - - * * * * * - -There are a few old forths about, some of them you mightn't notice -unless you understood such things; but sometimes passing by you'd -feel a cold wind blowing from them, would nearly rend you in two. - - * * * * * - -When I was a young chap myself I used to see a white woman walking -about sometimes at midday--that's the worst hour there is--and she'd -always go back into a forth, the forth of Cahir near Cloonmore, and -disappear into it. - -She was known to be a woman that had died nine years before; and she -would sometimes come into the sister's house, and bid her keep it -clean. But one time the sister's husband went to burn the inside of -the forth, and the next morning his barn where he had all the wheat of -the harvest and near a ton of hay and two or three packs of wool, was -found to be on fire. And his own little girl, about eight years of age, -was in the barn, and a labouring man broke through and brought a wet -cloth with him and threw it over her and carried her out. But she was -as black as cinders and dead. Vexed they were at him burning the forth. - - -_An Old Miller:_ - -Did _they_ get help to make those forths? You may know well that they -did. There was an engineer here when that road was being made--a -sort of an idolater or a foreigner he was--anyway he made it through -the forth, and he didn't last long after. Those other engineers, -Edgeworth and Hemans beyond at Ardrahan when the railway was made, -I'm told they avoided such things. - - -_A Slieve Echtge Man:_ - -There were two brothers taken away sudden, two O'Briens. They were -cutting heath one day and filling the cart with it, and a voice told -them to leave off cutting the heath, but they went on, and a blow -struck the cart on the axle. And soon after that one of the brothers -sat down in his chair and died sudden. And the other was one day -going to market, I was going to it that day myself, and he wasn't far -beyond the white gate when the axle of the cart broke in that same -place where it had got the blow, and so he had to go home again, and -near the river where they're cutting the larch he turned in to talk -to a poor man that was cutting a tree, and the tree fell, and the top -of it struck him and killed him. And it was last March that happened. - -There was one Leary in Clough had the land taken that's near Newtown -racecourse. And he was out there one day building a wall, and it was -time for his dinner, but he had none brought with him. And a man came -to him and said "Is it home you'll be going for your dinner?" And -he said "It's not worth my while to go back to Clough, I'd have the -day lost." And the man said, "Well, come in and eat a bit with me." -And he brought him into a forth, and there was everything that was -grand, and the dinner they gave him of the best, so that he eat near -two plates of it. And then he went out again to build the wall. And -whether it was with lifting the heavy stones I don't know, but (with -respects to you) when he was walking the road home he began to vomit, -and what he vomited up was all green grass. - - -_A Man on the Connemara Coast:_ - -This is a faery stream we're passing; there were some used to see -them by the side of it, and washing themselves in it. And there used -to be heard a faery forge here every night, and the hammering of the -iron could be heard, and the blast of the furnace. - -There is a faery hill beyond there in the mountain, and some have -seen fires in it all through the night. And one time the police were -out there still-hunting, and the head of them, one Rogers, was in the -middle of that place, and there he died, no one could say how, though -some of his men were round about him. - -That's a nice flat clean place that rock we're passing--that's the -sort of place they'd be seen dancing or having their play. - - -_A Piper:_ - -I knew twin sons, Considines, and one was struck with madness in -England, and one at home--Pat in England, Mike in Connacht--at the -one time. Both were sent to Ballinasloe Asylum, and got well in eight -months, and that was ten year ago, and one of them is married and -rearing a family. The mother used to be doing cures with herbs; it is -likely that is the reason but she gave it up after they were struck. - -There were three of another family went in to the Asylum, one this -year, one next year, and one the year after, and no reason but that -their house was close to the side of a forth. - - -_Maurteen Joyce:_ - -When I was in Clare there was a forth, and two or three men went -down it one time, and brought rushes and lights with them. And they -came to where there was a woman washing at a river and they heard -the crying of young lambs, and it November, for when we have winter, -there is summer there. So they got afraid, and two of the men came -back, but one of them stopped there and was never heard of after. The -best of things they have, and no trouble at all but to be eating; but -they have no chance of being saved till the Day of Judgment. - -I knew another forth that two men watched, and at night there came -out of it two troops of horses, and they began to graze. But when the -men came near them they made for the forths, and all they got was a -foal. And they kept it, and it was a mare-horse, and it had foals, -and the breed was the best that was ever seen in the country. - - -_Mrs. Leary:_ - -There did strange things happen in that wood, noises would be heard, -and those that went in to steal rods could never get them up on their -back to bring them away. But there was one man said whatever happened -he'd bring them, and he got them on to his back, and then they were -lifted off it over the wood. But they fell again and he got them and -carried them away; I suppose they thought well of him having so much -courage. - -Cruachmaa is the great place for them. - -A man who had lost a blood mare met an old man from a forth who said -"Put your right foot on my right foot." And he did so, and at once he -saw the blood mare and his foal close by. - - -_The Old Man Who Is Making a Well:_ - -There was a man and his wife was brought away at Cruachmaa and he was -told to go dig, and he'd get her out. And he began to dig, and when -he had a hole made at the side of the hill he saw her coming out, but -he couldn't stop the pick that he had lifted for the stroke, and it -went through her head. - - -_J. Doran:_ - -Whether they are in it or not, there are many tell stories of them. -And I often saw the half of Cruachmaa covered--like as if there was a -mist on it. - -But one side of a wall is luckier than another, all the old people will -tell you that. There was a big stone in the yard behind our house and -my husband thought to blast it, for it was in the way, and my mother -said "I'm in the house longer than you, and take my advice and never -touch that stone," and he never did. But there was a man built a house -close by and he wanted to close a passage, and one morning he came -early and was laying hands on that stone to take it. But I was out when -I heard him and drove him away. And the house never throve with him, he -lost two or three children, and then he died himself. - - -_A Gate-keeper:_ - -At St. Patrick's well at Burren there used to be a great pattern -every year. And every year there was something lost and killed at it, -a horse or a man or a woman. - -So at last the priest put a stop to it. And there was an old woman -with me in the barracks at Burren, and she told me she remembered -well when she was a young girl and the time came when the pattern -used to be, the first year it was stopped her father put her up on a -big high wall near the well, and bid her look down. And there she saw -the whole place full of the _gentry_, and they playing and dancing -and having their own games, they were in such joy to have done away -with the pattern. I suppose the well belonged to them before it got -the name of St. Patrick. - -There's a small little house not far down the road where they used to -be very fond of going. And a woman in the town asked the old woman -that lived in it what did they look like. And she said "For all the -world like people coming in to Chapel." - - * * * * * - -There was a girl coming back here one time from Clough, and instead -of coming here she went the Esserkelly road and was led astray and a -man met her and says he, "Why do you say you're going to Labane and -it's to Roxborough you're facing?" and he turned her around. And when -she got home she took off the bundle she had on her back, and what -jumped out of it but a young hare. - - -_Mrs. Casey:_ - -I have a great little story about a woman--a jobber's wife that lived -a mile beyond Ardrahan. She had business one time in Ballyvaughan, -and when she was on the road beyond Kinvara a man came to her out -of a forth and he asked her to go in and to please a child that was -crying. So she went in and she pleased the child, and she saw in a -corner an old man that never stopped from crying. And when she went -out again she asked the man that brought her in, why was the old man -roaring and crying. The man pointed to a milch cow in the meadow and -he said, "Before the day is over he will be in the place of that cow, -and it will be brought into the forth to give milk to the child." -And she can tell herself that was true, for in the evening when she -was coming back from Ballyvaughan, she saw in that field a cow dead, -and being cut in pieces, and all the poor people bringing away bits -of it, that was the old man that had been put in its place. There is -poison in that meat, but no poison ever comes off the fire, but you -must mind to throw away the top of the pot. - - * * * * * - -That forth where I heard the talking long ago, and left my can, it's -only the other day I was telling Pat Stephens of it that has the -land. And he told me he put a trough in it to catch the water about a -month ago. And the next day one of his best bullocks died. - - -_Mrs. O'Brien:_ - -It's a bad piece of the road that poor boy fell off his cart at and -was killed. There's a forth near it, and it's in that forth my five -children are that were swept from me. I went and I told Father Carey -I knew they were there, and he said "Say your prayers, my poor woman, -that's all you can do." When they were young they were small and thin -enough, they grew up like a bunch of rushes, but they got strong -and stout and good-looking. Too good they were, so that everyone -would remark them and would say, "Oh, look at Ellen O'Brien--look -at Catherine--look at Martin! So good to work and so handsome, so -loyal to their mother." And they were all taken from me, all gone -now but one. Consumption they were said to get, but it never was in -my family or in the father's, and how would they get it without some -provocation? Four of them died with that, and Martin was drowned. One -of the little girls was in America and the other at home, and they -both got sick and at the end of nine months both of them died. - -Only twice they got a warning. Michael that was the first to go was out -one morning very early to bring a letter to Mr. Crowe. And he met on -the road a small little woman, and she came across him and across him -again, and then again, as if to be humbugging him. And he got afraid, -and told me about her when he got home. And not long after that he died. - -And Ellen used to be going to milk the cow for the nuns morning and -evening, and there's a place she had to pass, a sort of enchanted -place, I forget the name of it. And when she came home one evening -she said she'd go there no more, for when she was passing that place -she saw a small little woman, with a little cloak about her, and her -face not the size of a doll's face. And with the one look of her she -got a fright and ran as fast as she could, and sat down to milk the -cow. And when she was milking she looked up, and there was the small -little woman coming along by the wall. And she said she'd never like -to go up there again. So to move the thought out of her mind I said -"Sure that's the little woman is stopping up at Shamus Mor's house." -"Oh, it's not, Mother," said she; "I know well by her look she was no -right person." "Then my poor girl you're lost," says I, "for I know -it was the same woman that my husband saw." And sure enough, it was -but a few weeks after that she died. There wasn't much change in them -before their death, but there was a great change after. - -And Martin, the last that went, was stout and strong and nothing -ailed him, but he was drowned. He'd go down sometimes to bathe in the -sea and one day he said he was going, and I said, "Do not, for you -have no swim." - -But a boy of the neighbours came after that and called to him, and I -was making the little dinner for him, and I didn't see him from the -door. And I never knew he was gone till when I went out of the house -the girl from next door looked at me someway strange, and then she -told me two boys were drowned, and then she told me one of them was -my own. Held down he was, they said, by something under water. _They_ -had him followed there. - -It wasn't long after he died I woke one night and I felt some one -near, and I struck the light and then I saw his shadow. He was -wearing his little cap, but under it I knew his face and the colour -of his hair. And he never spoke and he was going out the door and I -called to him and said "Oh, Martin, come back to me and I'll always -be watching for you." And every night after that I'd hear things -thrown about the house outside, and noises. So I got afraid to stop -in it, and went to live in another house, and I told the priest I -knew Martin was not dead but that he was living. And about eight -weeks after Catherine dying, I had what I thought was a dream. I -thought I dreamt that I saw her sweeping out the floor of the room, -and I said, "Catherine, why are you sweeping? Sure you know I sweep -the floor down and the hearth every night." And I said "Tell me where -you are now?" And she said, "I'm in the forth beyond." And she said -"I have a great deal of things to tell you, but I must look out and -see are they watching me"; now wasn't that very sharp for a dream? -And she went to look out the door, but she never came back again. - -And in the morning when I told it to a few respectable people they -said "Take care but it might have been no dream, but herself that -came back and talked to you." And I think it was, and that she came -back to see me, and to keep the place well swept. - - * * * * * - -Sure we know there were some in the forths in the old times, for my -aunt's husband was brought away into one, and why wouldn't they be -there now? He was sent back out of it again; a girl led him home, and -she told him he was brought away because he answered to the first call -and that he had a right only to answer to the third. But he didn't want -to come home. He said he saw more people in it than he ever saw at a -hurling, and that he'd ask no better place than it in high heaven. - - * * * * * - -The Banshee always cries for the O'Briens. And Anthony O'Brien was a -fine man when I married him, and handsome, and I could have had great -marriages if I didn't choose him, and many wondered at me. And when -he was took ill and in the bed, Johnny Rafferty came in one day, and -says he "Is Anthony living?" and I said he was. "For," says he, "as I -was passing, I heard crying, crying, from the hill where the forths -are, and I thought it must be for Anthony, and that he was gone." -And then Ellen, the little girl, came running in, and she says, "I -heard the mournfullest crying that ever you heard just behind the -house." And I said "It must be the Banshee." And Anthony heard me say -that where he was lying in the bed, and he called out, "If it's the -Banshee it's for me, and I must die today or tomorrow." And in the -middle of the next day, he died. - - * * * * * - -One time I was passing by a forth down there, and I saw a thick smoke -coming out of it, straight up it went and then it spread at the top. -And when it was clearing away I saw two rows of birds, one on the one -side and one on the other, and I stopped to look at them. They were -white, and had shoulders and heads like dogs, and there was a great -noise like a rattling, and a man that was passing by looked up and -said "God speed you," and they flew away. - - -_A Seaside Man:_ - -There were five boys of the Callinans, and they rich and well-to-do, -were out in a boat, and a ship came out from the shore and touched it -and it sank, and the ship was seen no more. And one of the boys held -on to the boat, and some men came out and brought him to land. But -the second time after that he went out, he was swept. - - -_An Old Man in Gort Workhouse:_ - -I knew an old man was in here was greatly given to card-playing. And -one night he was up on the hill beyond, towards Slieve Echtge, where -there is a big forth, and he went into it, and there he found a lot -of _them_ playing cards. Like any other card-players they looked, and -he sat down and played with them, and they played fair. And when he -woke in the morning, he was lying outside on the hill, and nothing -under his head but a tuft of rushes. - - -_John Mangan:_ - -Old Hanrahan one time went out to the forth that's in front of his -house and cut a bush, and he a fresh man enough. And next morning he -hadn't a blade of hair on his head--not a blade. And he had to buy a -wig and to wear it for the rest of his life. I remember him and the -wig well. - -And it was some years after that that Delane, the father of the great -cricketer, was passing by that way, and the water had risen and he -strayed off the road into it. And as he got farther and farther in, -till he was covered to better than his waist, he heard like the voice -of his wife crying, "Go on, John, go on farther." And he called out, -"These are John Hanrahan's faeries that took the hair off him." "And -what did you do then?" they asked him when he got safe to the house, -and was telling this. And he said, "I turned my coat inside out, and -after that they troubled me no more, and so I got safe to the road -again." But no one ever had luck that meddled with a forth, so it's -always said. - - * * * * * - -There's Mrs. Lynch's daughter was coming through the trees about -eight months ago and when she came to a thicket of bushes, a short -little man came, out, about three feet high, dressed all in white, -and he white himself or grey, and asked her to come with him, and she -ran away as fast as she could. And with the fright she got, she fell -into a sickness--what they call the sickness of Peter and Paul--and -you'd think she'd tear the house down when it comes on her. - - * * * * * - -I met a woman some time ago told me more about the forths in this -place than ever I knew before, and well she might for she had passed -seven years in them, working, working, minding children and the like -all the time; no singing or dancing for her. - - -_M. Haverty:_ - -There was one Rock, was brought into a forth. A three-legged horse -came for him one night and brought him away; and when he got there -they all called him by his name. - - * * * * * - -There was a man up there cut a tree in one of them, and he was took -ill immediately after, and didn't live long. - - * * * * * - -There's a bad bit of road near Kinvara Chapel, just when you get -within sight of the sea. I know a man has to pass there, and he -wouldn't go on the driver's side of the car, for it's to the right -side those things are to be seen. Sure there was a boy lost his life -falling off a car there last Friday week. - -One night passing the big tree at Raheen I heard the sound of a -handsaw in the air, and I looked up and there in the top of a larch -tree that's near to a beech I saw a man sitting and cutting it with -the handsaw. So I hurried away home. But the next time I passed that -way I took a view of it to see might it have been one of the Dillons -that might be stealing timber; and there was no sign of a cut or a -touch in it at all. - - * * * * * - -There was a man on the road between Chevy and Marble Hill, where -there is a faery plumb-stone, that stands straight up and it about -five feet in height, and the man was building a house and carried it -away to put above his door. And from the time he brought it away, all -his stock began to die, and whenever he went in or out, night or day, -he was severely beaten. So at last he took the stone down and put it -back where it was before, and from that time nothing has troubled him. - - -_John Mangan:_ - -Myself and two of my brothers were over at Inchy Weir to catch a -horse, and growing close by the water there was a bush the form of -an umbrella, very close and thick at the top. So we began fooling as -boys do, and I said, "I'll bet a button none of you will make a stone -go through the bush." So I took up a pebble of cow-dung and threw it, -and they all threw, and no sooner did the pebble hit the bush than -there came from it music, like a band playing. So we all ran for our -lives, and when we had got about two hundred yards we looked back and -we saw something moving round the bush, first it had the clothes of a -woman and then of a man. So we stopped to see no more. - -Well, it was some years after that when Sir William ordered all the -bushes in that part to be cut down. And one Prendergast a boy that used -to be a beater here and that went to America after, went to cut them -just in the same place where I had seen that sight, and a thorn ran -into his eye and blinded him, and he never got the sight of it again. - - -_An Old Woman near Ballinsloe:_ - -There are many forths around, and in that one beyond, there is often -music heard. The smith's father heard the music one time he was -passing and he could not stop from dancing till he was tired. I heard -him tell that myself. - -And over there to the left there is a forth had an opening in it, and -the steward wanted to get it closed up, and he could get no men to do -it. And at last a young man said he would, and he went to work and at -the end of the week he was dead. - -And there was a girl milking a cow not long after that, and she saw -him coming to her, and she ran away, and he called to her to stop and -she did not, and he said "That you may never milk another cow!" And -within a week, she herself was dead. - -There was a woman over there in that house you can see, and she wanted -to root up a forth; covetousness it was, she had plenty and she wanted -more. And she tried to get a man to do it and she could not, but at -last a man that had been turned out of his holding, and that was in -want, said he would do it. And before he went to work he went on his -two knees, and he wished that whatever harm might come from it might -come on her, and not on himself. And so it did, and her hands got -crippled and crappled. And they travelled the world and could get no -relief for her, and her cattle began to die, and she died herself in -the end. And the daughter and the son-in-law had to leave that house -and to build another, for they were losing all the cattle, and they are -left alone now, but the daughter lost a finger by it. - - -_A Man near Corcomroe:_ - -I saw a light myself one night in the big forth over there near the -sea. Like a bonfire it was, and going up about thirty feet into the air. - - * * * * * - -Ghosts are to be heard about the forths. They make a heavy noise, and -there are creaks in their shoes. Doing a penance I suppose they are. -And there's many see the lights in the forths at Newtown. - - -_J. Doheny:_ - -One time I was cutting bushes up there near the river, and I cut a -big thorn bush, I thought it no harm to do it when it wasn't standing -by itself, but in a thicket, and it old and half-rotten. And when I -had it cut, I heard some one talking very loud to my wife, that was -gathering kippeens down in the field the other side of the wall. And -I went down to know who it was talking to her. And when I asked her -she said "No, it's to yourself some one was talking, for I heard his -voice where you were, and I saw no one." So I said, "Surely it's one -of them mourning for the bush I cut," for the sound of his voice was -as if he was mad vexed. - - * * * * * - -I think it's not in the tree at the corner there's anything, it's -something in the place. Not long ago there was one Greeley going -to Galway with a load of barley, and when he came to that corner -he heard the sound of a train crossing from inside the wall, and -the horse stopped. And then he heard it a second time and the horse -refused to go on, and at the end he had to turn back home again, for -he had no use trying to make the horse go on. - - * * * * * - -There were ash trees growing around the blessed well at Corker, and -one night Deeley, the uncle of Pat Deeley that lives beyond, and two -other men went to cut them down, to get the makings of a car-body. -And the next day Deeley's lip was drawn down--like this--and water -running from it for the rest of his life. I often see him; and as to -the two other men, they died soon after. - -And big Joyce that was a servant to John O'Hara, he went to cut trees -one night near that hole at Raheen, near the corner of the road, and -he was prevented, and never could get the handsaw near a tree, nor -the other men that were with him. - -And there was another man went and cut a bush not far from the -Kinvara road, and with the first stroke he heard a sort of a cough -or a groan come from beneath it, that was a token to him to leave it -alone. But he wouldn't leave off, and his mouth was drawn to one side -all of a sudden and in two days after he was dead. Surely, one should -leave such things alone. - - -_A Piper:_ - -I had a fall myself in Galway the other day that I couldn't move -my arm to play the pipes if you gave me Ireland. And a man said to -me--and they are very smart people in Galway--that two or three got a -fall and a hurt in that same place. "There is places in the sea where -there is drowning," he said, "and places on the land as well where -there do be accidents, and no man can save himself from them, for it -is the will of God." - - -_A Man Asking Alms:_ - -It's not safe sometimes to meddle with walls. There was a man beyond -Gort knocked some old walls not long ago, and he's dead since. - -But it's by the big tree outside Raheen where you take the turn to -Kinvara that the most things are seen. There was a boy living with -Conor in Gort that was out before daylight with a load of hay in a -cart, and he sitting on top of it, and he was found lying dead just -beside the tree, where he fell from the top of the cart, and the -horse was standing there stock-still. There was a shower of rain fell -while he was lying there, and I passed the road two hours later, and -saw where the dust was dry where his body had been lying. And it was -only yesterday I was hearing a story of that very same place. There -was a man coming from Galway with a ton weight of a load on his cart, -and when he came to that tree the linching of his wheel came out, -and the cart fell down. And presently a little man, about two and a -half feet in height, came out from the wall and lifted up the cart, -and held it up till he had the linching put up again. And he never -said a word but went away as he came, and the man came in to Gort. -And I remember myself, the black and white dog used to be on the -road between Hanlon's gate and Gort. It was there for ten years and -no one ever saw it, but one evening Father Boyle's man was going out -to look at a few little sheep and lambs belonging to the priest, and -when he came to the stile the dog put up its paws on it and looked at -him, and he was afraid to go on. So next morning he told Father Boyle -about it and he said "I think that you won't see it any more." And -sure enough from that day it never was seen again. - - -_Steve Simon:_ - -I don't know did I draw down to you before, your ladyship, the -greatest wonder ever I saw in my life? - -I was passing by the forth at Corcomroe, coming back from some shopping -I had done in Belharbour, and I saw twelve of the finest horses ever -I saw, and riders on them racing round the forth. Many a race I saw -since I lived in this world, but never a race like that, for tipping -and tugging and welting the horses; the jockeys in coloured clothes, -striped and blue, and little blue caps on them, and a lady in the front -of them on a bayish horse and wearing a scarlet jacket. - -I told what I saw the same evening to an old woman living near and -she said, "Whatever you saw keep it secret, or some harm will come -upon you." There was another thing I saw besides the riders. There -were crowds and crowds of people, standing as we would against walls -or on a stage, and taking a view. They were shouting, but the men -racing on the horses said nothing at all. Never a race like that one, -with the swiftness and the welting and fine horses that were in it. - -What clothing had these people? They had coats on them, and on their -back there were pictures, pictures in the form of people. Shields -I think they were. Anyway there were pictures on them. Striped the -coats were, and a sort of scollop on them the same as that screen in -the window (a blind with Celtic design). They had little blue caps, -such as wore them, but some had nothing on the head at all; and they -had blue slippers--those I saw of them--but I was afeared to take -more than a side view except of the racers. - - -_An Old Army Man:_ - -You know the forth where the old man lost his hair? Well there's -another man, Waters, that married Brian's sister, has the second -sight, and there's a big bush left in that forth, and when he goes -there he sees a woman sitting under it, and she lighting a fire. - - * * * * * - -Cloran's father was living over at Knockmaa one time and his wife -died, and he believed it was taken into the hill she was. So he went -one morning and dug a hole in the side of the hill. But the next -morning when he went back to dig again, the hole was filled up and -the grass growing over it as before. And this he did two or three -times. And then some one told him to put his pick and his spade -across the hole. And so he did, and it wasn't filled up again. But -what happened after I don't know. - - -_An Old Army Man:_ - -That's a bad bit of road near Kinvara where the boy lost his life last -week; I know it well. And I knew him, a quiet boy, and married to a -widow woman; she wanted the help of a man, and he was young. What would -ail him to fall off the side of an ass-car and to be killed? - - - - - XI - - BLACKSMITHS - - - - - XI - - BLACKSMITHS - - -_I have been told:_ - -Yes, they say blacksmiths have something about them, and if there's a -seventh blacksmith in succession, from generation to generation, he -can do many things, and if he gave you his curse you wouldn't be the -better of it. There was one near the cliffs, Pat Doherty, but he did -no harm to any one, but was as quiet as another. He is dead now and -his son is a blacksmith too. (_Note_ 2.) - - * * * * * - -There was a man one time that was a blacksmith, and he used to go -every night playing cards, and for all his wife could say he wouldn't -leave off doing it. So one night she got a boy to go stand in the old -churchyard he'd have to pass, and to frighten him. So the boy did -so, and began to groan and to try to frighten him when he came near. -But it's well known that nothing of that kind can do any harm to a -blacksmith. So he went in and got hold of the boy, and told him he -had a mind to choke him, and went his way. - -But no sooner was the boy left alone than there came about him -something in the shape of a dog, and then a great troop of cats. And -they surrounded him and he tried to get away home, but he had no power -to go the way he wanted but had to go with them. And at last they came -to an old forth and a faery bush, and he knelt down and made the sign -of the cross and said a great many "Our Fathers," and after a time they -went into the faery bush and left him. And he was going away and a -woman came out of the bush, and called to him three times, to make him -look back. And he saw that it was a woman that he knew before, that was -dead, and so he knew that she was amongst the faeries. - -And she said to him, "It's well for you that I was here, and worked -hard for you, or you would have been brought in among them, and be -like me." So he got home. And the blacksmith got home too and his -wife was surprised to see he was no way frightened. But he said, "You -might know that there's nothing of that sort could harm me." - -For a blacksmith is safe from all, and when he goes out in the night -he keeps always in his pocket a small bit of wire, and they know him -by that. So he went on playing, and they grew very poor after. - - * * * * * - -And I knew a woman from the County Limerick had been _away_, and she -could tell you all about the forths in this place and how she was -recovered. She met a man she knew on the road, and she out riding with -them all on horseback, and told him to bring a bottle of forge-water -and to throw it on her, and so he did, and she came back again. - - * * * * * - -Blacksmiths surely are safe from these things. And if a blacksmith -was to turn his anvil upside down and to say malicious words, he -could do you great injury. - - * * * * * - -There was a child that was changed, and my mother brought it a nice -bit of potato cake one time, for tradesmen often have nice things on -the table. But the child wouldn't touch it, for they don't like the -leavings of a smith. - - * * * * * - -Blacksmiths have power, and if you could steal the water from the -trough in the forge, it would cure all things. - - * * * * * - -And as to forges, there's some can hear working and hammering in them -through the night. - - - - - XII - - MONSTERS AND SHEOGUEY BEASTS - - - - - XII - - MONSTERS AND SHEOGUEY BEASTS - - -_The Dragon that was the monster of the early world now appears -only in the traditional folk-tales, where the hero, a new Perseus, -fights for the life of the Princess who looks on crying at the brink -of the sea, bound to a silver chair, while the Dragon is "put in a -way he will eat no more kings' daughters." In the stories of today -he has shrunk to eel or worm, for the persons and properties of -the folk-lore of all countries keep being transformed or remade in -the imagination, so that once in New England on the eve of George -Washington's birthday, the decorated shop windows set me wondering -whether the cherry tree itself might not be a remaking of the -red-berried dragon-guarded rowan of the Celtic tales, or it may be of -a yet more ancient apple. I ventured to hint at this in a lecture at -Philadelphia, and next day one of the audience wrote me that he had -looked through all the early biographies of Washington, and either -the first three or the first three editions of the earliest--I have -mislaid the letter--never mention the cherry tree at all._ - -_The monstrous beasts told of today recall the visions of Maeldune on -his strange dream-voyage, where he saw the beast that was like a horse -and that had "legs of a hound with rough sharp nails," and the fiery -pigs that fed on golden fruit, and the cat that with one flaming leap -turned a thief to a heap of ashes; for the folk-tales of the world have -long roots, and there is nothing new save their reblossoming._ - - -_I have been told by a Car-driver:_ - -I went to serve one Patterson at a place called Grace Dieu between -Waterford and Tramore, and there were queer things in it. There was a -woman lived at the lodge the other side from the gate, and one day she -was looking out and she saw a woolpack coming riding down the road of -itself. - -There was a room over the stable I was put to sleep in, and no one -near me. One night I felt a great weight on my feet, and there was -something very weighty coming up upon my body and I heard heavy -breathing. Every night after that I used to light the fire and bring -up coal and make up the fire with it that it would be near as good -in the morning as it was at night. And I brought a good terrier up -every night to sleep with me on the bed. Well, one night the fire was -lighting and the moon was shining in at the window, and the terrier -leaped off the bed and he was barking and rushing and fighting and -leaping, near to the ceiling and in under the bed. And I could see -the shadow of him on the walls and on the ceiling, and I could see -the shadow of another thing that was about two foot long and that had -a head like a pike, and that was fighting and leaping. They stopped -after a while and all was quiet. But from that night the terrier -never would come to sleep in the room again. - - -_By Others:_ - -The worst form a monster can take is a cow or a pig. But as to a -lamb, you may always be sure a lamb is honest. - - * * * * * - -A pig is the worst shape they can take. I wouldn't like to meet -anything in the shape of a pig in the night. - - * * * * * - -No, I saw nothing myself, I'm not one of those that can see such -things; but I heard of a man that went with the others on rent day, and -because he could pay no rent but only made excuses, the landlord didn't -ask him in to get a drink with the others. So as he was coming home by -himself in the dark, there was something on the road before him, and he -gave it a hit with the toe of his boot, and it let a squeal. So then he -said to it, "Come in here to my house, for I'm not asked to drink with -them; I'll give drink and food to you." So it came in, and the next -morning he found by the door a barrel full of wine and another full of -gold, and he never knew a day's want after that. - - * * * * * - -Walking home one night with Jack Costello, there was something before -us that gave a roar, and then it rose in the air like a goose, and -then it fell again. And Jackeen told me after that it had laid hold -on his trousers, and he didn't sleep all night with the fright he got. - - * * * * * - -There's a monster in Lough Graney, but it's only seen once in seven -years. - - * * * * * - -There is a monster of some sort down by Duras, it's called the ghost -of Fiddeen. Some say it's only heard every seven years. Some say it -was a flannel seller used to live there that had a short fardel. We -heard it here one night, like a calf roaring. - - * * * * * - -One night my grandfather was beyond at Inchy where the lads from Gort -used to be stealing rods, and he was sitting by the wall, and the dog -beside him. And he heard something come running from Inchy Weir and -he could see nothing, but the sound of its feet on the ground was -like the sound of the feet of a deer. And when it passed by him the -dog got in between him and the wall and scratched at him, but still -he could see nothing but only could hear the sound of hoofs. So when -it was passed he turned away home. - -Another time, my grandfather told me, he was in a boat out on the lake -here at Coole with two or three men from Gort. And one of them had an -eel-spear and he thrust it into the water and it hit something, and -the man fainted, and they had to carry him in out of the boat to land. -And when he came to himself he said that what he struck was like a -horse or like a calf, but whatever it was, it was no fish. - - * * * * * - -There is a boy I knew, one Curtin near Ballinderreen, told me that -he was going along the road one night and he saw a dog. It had claws -like a cur, and a body like a person, and he couldn't see what its -head was like. But it was moaning like a soul in pain, and presently -it vanished, and there came most beautiful music, and a woman came -out and he thought at first it was the Banshee, and she wearing a red -petticoat. And a striped jacket she had on, and a white band about -her waist. And to hear more beautiful singing and music he never did, -but to know or to understand what she was expressing, he couldn't do -it. And at last they came to a place by the roadside where there were -some bushes. And she went in there and disappeared under them, and -the most beautiful lights came shining where she went in. And when he -got home, he himself fainted, and his mother put her beads over him, -and blessed him and said prayers. So he got quiet at last. - - * * * * * - -I would easily believe about the dog having a fight with something -his owner couldn't see. That often happens in this island, and that's -why every man likes to have a black dog with him at night--a black -one is the best for fighting such things. - -And a black cock everyone likes to have in their house--a March cock -it should be. - - * * * * * - -I knew the captain of a ship used to go whale fishing, and he said he -saw them by scores. But by his account they were no way like the ones -McDaragh saw; it was I described them to him. - - * * * * * - -We don't give in to such things here as they do in the middle island; -but I wouldn't doubt that about the dog. For they can see what we -can't see. And there was a man here was out one night and the dog -ran on and attacked something that was in front of him--a faery it -was--but he could see nothing. And every now and again it would do -the same thing, and seemed to be fighting something before him, -and when they got home the man got safe into the house, but at the -threshold the dog was killed. - -And a horse can see many things, and if ever you're out late, and the -horse to stop as if there was something he wouldn't pass, make the -sign of the cross between his ears, and he'll go on then. And it's -well to have a cock always in the house, if you can have it from a -March clutch, and the next year if you can have another cock from a -March clutch from that one, it's the best. And if you go late out of -the house, and that there is something outside it would be bad to -meet, that cock will crow before you'll go out. - - * * * * * - -I'm sorry I wasn't in to meet you surely, knowing as much as I do -about the faeries. One night I went with four or five others down by -the mill to hunt rabbits. And when we got to the field by the river -there was the sound of hundreds, some crying and the other part -laughing, that we all heard them. And something came down to the -river, first I thought he was a dog and then I saw he was too big and -strange looking. And you'd think there wouldn't be a drop of water -left in the river with all he drank. And I bid the others say nothing -about it, for Patrick Green was lying sick at the mill, and it might -be taken for a bad sign. And it wasn't many days after that he died. - - * * * * * - -My father told me that one night he was crossing this road, and -he turned to the wall to close his shoe. And when he turned again -there was something running through the field that was the size of a -yearling calf, and black, and it ran across the road, and there was -like the sound of chains in it. And when it came to that rock with -the bush on it, it stopped and he could see a red light in its mouth. -And then it disappeared. He used often to see a black dog in this -road, and it used to be following him, and others saw it too. But one -night the brother of the priest, Father Mitchel, saw it and he told -the priest and he banished it. - -The lake down there (Lough Graney) is an enchanted place, and old -people told me that one time they were swimming there, and a man had -gone out into the middle and they saw something like a great big eel -making for him, and they called out, "If ever you were a great swimmer -show us now how you can swim to the shore," for they wouldn't frighten -him by saying what was behind him. So he swam to the shore, and he only -got there when the thing behind him was in the place where he was. For -there are queer things in lakes. I never saw anything myself, but one -time I was coming home late from Scariff, and I felt my hair standing -up on my head, and I began to feel a sort of shy and fearful, and I -could feel that there was something walking beside me. But after a -while there was a little stream across the road, and after I passed -that I was all right again and could feel nothing near. - - * * * * * - -I never saw anything myself but once, early in the morning and I going -to the May fair of Loughrea. It was a little way outside of the town -I saw something that had the appearance of a black pig, and it was -running in under the cart and under the ass's feet. And the ass would -keep backing away from it, that it was hardly I could bring her along, -till we got to the bridge of Cloon, and once we were over that we saw -it no more, for it couldn't pass the running water. And all the time it -was with us I was hitting at it with my stick, and it would run from -me then, for it was a hazel stick, and the hazel is blessed, and no -wicked thing can stay when it is touched with it. It is likely the nuts -are blessed too. Aren't they growing on the same tree? - - * * * * * - -I was over at Phayre's mill one time to get some boards sawed and -they said I must wait an hour or so, where the mill wasn't free. And -I had a load of turf to get, and I went along the road. And I heard -something coming after me in the gutter, and it stood up over me like -an elephant, and I put my hands behind me and I said, "Madad Fior," -and he went away. It was just at the bridge he was, near Kilchriest, -and when I was coming back after a while, just when I got to the -bridge there, he was after me again. But I never saw him since then. - - * * * * * - -One time I was at the fair at Ballinasloe, and I but a young lad at the -time, and a comrade with me that was but a young lad too. We brought in -the sheep the Monday evening, and they were sold the Tuesday morning, -and the master bid us to go home on the train. "Bad cess," said my -comrade, "are we to get no good at all out of the fair? Let us stop," -says he, "and get the good of it and go back by the mail train." So -we went through the fair together and went to a dance, and the master -never knew, and we went home on the mail train together. We got out at -Woodlawn and we were going home, and we heard a sort of a groaning and -we could see nothing, and the boy that was with me was frightened, for -though he was a strong boy, he was a timorous man. We found then the -groaning coming from beyond the wall, and I went and put my two fists -on the wall and looked over it. There were two trees on the other side -of the wall, and I saw walking off and down from one tree to the other, -something that was like a soldier or a sentry. The body was a man's -body, and there was a black suit on it, but it had the head of a bear, -the very head and _puss_ of a bear. I asked what was on him. "Don't -speak to me, don't speak to me," he said, and he stopped by the tree -and was groaning and went away. - -That is all that ever I saw, and I herding sheep in the lambing -season, and falling asleep as I did sometimes, and walking up and -down the field in my sleep. - - * * * * * - -My father told me that in the bad times, about the year '48, he used -to be watching about in the fields, where the people did be stealing -the crops. And there was no field in Coole he was afraid to go into -by night except one, that is number three in the Lake Farm. For the -dog that was about in those times stopped the night in the clump -there. And Johnny Callan told me one night passing that field he -heard the noise of a cart of stones thrown against the wall. But when -he went back there in the morning there was no sign of anything at -all. My father never saw the dog himself but he was known to be there -and he felt him. - -And as for the monster, I never saw it in Coole Lake, but one day I -was coming home with my two brothers from Tirneevan school, and there -as we passed Dhulough we heard a great splashing, and we saw some -creature put up its head, with a head and a mane like a horse. And we -didn't stop but ran. - -But I think it was not so big as the monster over here in Coole Lake, -for Johnny Callan saw it, and he said it was the size of a stack of -turf. But there's many could tell about that for there's many saw it, -Dougherty from Gort and others. - - * * * * * - -As to the dog that used to be in the road, a friend of his own -was driving Father Boyle from Kinvara late one night and there it -was--first on the right side and then on the left of the car. And at -last he told Father Boyle, and he said, "Look out now for it, and -you'll see it no more," and no more he did, and that was the last of it. - -But the driver of the mail-car often seen a figure of a woman -following the car till it came to the churchyard beyond Ardrahan, and -there it disappeared. - -Father Boyle was a good man indeed--a child might speak to him. They -said he had the dog or whatever it may be banished from the road, but -of late I heard the driver of the mail-car saying he sees it on one -spot on the road every night. And there's a very lonely hollow beyond -Doran's house, and I know a man that never passed by that hollow -but what he'd fall asleep. But one night he saw a sort of a muffled -figure and he cried out three times some good wish--such as "God have -mercy on you"--and then it gave a great laugh and vanished and he saw -it no more. As to the forths or other old places, how do we know what -poor soul may be shut up there, confined in pain? - - * * * * * - -Sure a man the other day coming back from your own place, Inchy, when -he came to the big tree, heard a squealing, and there he saw a sort -of a dog, and it white, and it followed as if holding on to him all -the way home. And when he got to the house he near fainted, and asked -for a glass of water. - - * * * * * - -There's some sort of a monster at Tyrone, rising and slipping up and -down in the sun, and when it cries, some one will be sure to die. - - * * * * * - -I didn't believe in them myself till one night I was coming home from -a wedding, and standing on the road beside me I saw John Kelly's -donkey that he always used to call Neddy. So he was standing in my -way and I gave a blow at him and said, "Get out of that, Neddy." And -he moved off only to come across me again, and to stop me from going -in. And so he did all the way, till as I was going by a bit of wood I -heard come out of it two of the clearest laughs that ever you heard, -and then two sorts of shouts. So I knew that it was having fun with -me they were, and that it was not Neddy was there, but his likeness. - -I knew a priest was stopped on the road one night by something in the -shape of a big dog, and he couldn't make the horse pass it. - - * * * * * - -One night I saw the dog myself, in the boreen near my house. And that -was a bad bit of road, two or three were killed there. - -And one night I was between Kiltartan Chapel and Nolan's gate where I -had some sheep to look after for the priest. And the dog I had with -me ran out into the middle of the road, and there he began to yelp -and to fight. I stood and watched him for a while, and surely he was -fighting with another dog, but there was nothing to be seen. - -And in the same part of the road one night I heard horses galloping, -galloping past me. I could hear their hoofs, and they shod, on the -stones of the road. But though I stood aside and looked--and it was -bright moonlight--there were no horses to be seen. But they were -there, and believe me they were not without riders. - - * * * * * - -Well, myself I once slept in a house with some strange thing. I had my -aunt then, Mrs. Leary, living near, and I but a small little girl at -the time. And one day she came to our house and asked would I go sleep -with her, and I said I would if she'd give me a ride on her back, and -so she did. And for many a night after that she brought me to sleep -with her, and my mother used to be asking why, and she'd give no reason. - -Well, the cause of her wanting me was this. Every night so sure as -she put the candle out, _it_ would come and lie upon her feet and -across her body and near smother her, and she could feel it breathing -but could see nothing. I never felt anything at all myself, I being -sound asleep before she quenched the light. At last she went to Father -Smith--God rest his soul!--and he gave her a prayer to say at the -moment of the Elevation of the Mass. So the next time she attended Mass -she used it, and that night it was wickeder than ever it had been. - -So after that she wrote to her son in America to buy a ticket for -her, and she went out to him and remained some years. And it was only -after she came back she told me and my mother what used to happen on -those nights, and the reason she wanted me to be beside her. - - * * * * * - -There was never any one saw so many of those things as Johnny -Hardiman's father on this estate, and now he's old and got silly, and -can't tell about them any more. One time he was walking into Gort -along the Kiltartan road, and he saw one of them before him in the -form of a tub, and it rolling along. - -Another time he was coming home from Kinvara, and a black and white -dog came out against him from the wall, but he took no notice of it. -But when he got near his own house it came out against him again and -bit him in the leg, and he got hold of it and lifted it up and took -it by the throat and choked it; and when he was sure it was dead he -threw it by the roadside. But in the morning he went out first thing -early to look at the body, and there was no sign at all of it there. - - * * * * * - -So I believe indeed that old Michael Barrett hears them and sees -them. But they do him no mischief nor harm at all. They wouldn't, and -he such an old resident. But there's many wouldn't believe he sees -anything because they never seen them themselves. - -I never did but once, when I was a slip of a girl beyond at -Lissatiraheely, and one time I went across to the big forth to get a -can of water. And when I got near to it I heard voices, and when I -came to where the water runs out they were getting louder and louder. -And I stopped and looked down, and there in the passage where the -water comes I seen a dog within, and there was a great noise--working -I suppose they were. And I threw down the can and turned and ran, and -never went back for it again. But here since I lived in Coole I never -seen anything and never was afeared of anything except one time only -in the evening, when I was walking down the little by-lane that leads -to Ballinamantane. And there standing in the path before me I seen the -very same dog that was in the old forth before. And I believe I leaped -the wall to get away into the high-road. And what day was that but -the very same day that Sir William--the Lord be with his soul!--was -returned a Member of Parliament, and a great night it was in Kiltartan. - -But I'm noways afeared of anything and I give you my word I'd walk -in the dead of night in the nut-wood or any other place--except only -the cross beyond Inchy, I'd sooner not go by there. There's two or -three has their life lost there--Heffernan of Kildesert, one of your -ladyship's own tenants, he was one. He was at a fair, and there was -a horse another man wanted, but he got inside him and got the horse. -And when he was riding home, when he came to that spot it reared -back and threw him, and he was taken up dead. And another man--one -Gallagher--fell off the top of a creel of turf in the same place and -lost his life. And there was a woman hurted some way another time. -What's that you're saying, John--that Gallagher had a drop too much -taken? That might be so indeed; and what call has a man that has -drink taken to go travel upon top of a creel of turf? - -That dog I met in the boreen at Ballinamantane, he was the size of a -calf, and black, and his paws the size of I don't know what. I was -sitting in the house one day, and he came in and sat down by the -dresser and looked at me. And I didn't like the look of him when I -saw the big eyes of him, and the size of his legs. And just then a -man came in that used to make his living by making mats, and he used -to lodge with me for a night now and again. And he went out to bring -his cart away where he was afraid it'd be knocked about by the people -going to the big bonefire at Kiltartan cross-roads. And when he went -out I looked out the door, and there was the dog sitting under the -cart. So he made a hit at it with a stick, and it was in the stones -the stick stuck, and there was the dog sitting at the other side of -him. So he came in and gave me abuse and said I must be a strange -woman to have such things about me. And he never would come to lodge -with me again. But didn't the dog behave well not to do him an injury -after he hitting it? It was surely some man that was in that dog, -some soul in trouble. - - * * * * * - -Beasts will sometimes see more than a man will. There were three -young chaps I know went up near Ballyturn to hunt coneens (young -rabbits) and they threw the dog over the wall. And when he was in the -field he gave a yelp and drew back as if something had struck him -on the head. And with all they could do, and the rabbits and the -coneens running about the field, they couldn't get him to stir from -that and they had to come home with no rabbits. - - * * * * * - -One time I was helping Sully, the butcher in Loughrea, and I had to go -to a country house to bring in a measly pig the people had, and that he -was to allow them something for. So I got there late and had to stop -the night. And in the morning at daylight I looked from the window and -saw a cow eating the potatoes, so I went down to drive him off. And in -the kitchen there was lying by the hearth a dog, a speckled one, with -spots of black and white and yellow. And when he saw me he got up and -went over to the door and went out through it. And then I saw that the -door was shut and locked. So I went back again and told the people of -the house what I saw and they were frightened and made me stop the next -night. And in the night the clothes were taken off me and a heavy blow -struck me in the chest, and the feel of it was like the feel of ice. So -I covered myself up again and put my hand under the bedclothes, and I -never came to that house again. - - * * * * * - -I never seen anything myself, but I remember well that when I was a -young chap there was a black dog between Coole gatehouse and Gort for -many a year, and many met him there. Tom Miller came running into -our house one time when he was after seeing him, and at first sight -he thought he was a man, where he was standing with his paws up upon -the wall, and then he vanished out of sight. But there never was any -common dog the size of him, and it's many a one saw him, and it was -Father Boyle that banished him out of it at last. - - * * * * * - -Except that thing at Inchy Weir, I never saw anything myself. But one -evening I parted from Larry Cuniffe in the yard, and he went away -through the path in Shanwalla and bid me goodnight. But two hours -after, there he was back again in the yard, and bid me light a candle -was in the stable. And he told me that when he got into Shanwalla a -little chap about as high as his knee, but having a head as big as -a man's body, came beside him and led him out of the path and round -about, and at last it brought him to the limekiln, and there left him. - - * * * * * - -There is a dog now at Lismara, black and bigger than a natural dog, -is about the roads at night. He wouldn't be there so long if any one -had the courage to question him. - - * * * * * - -Stephen O'Donnell in Connemara told me that one time he shot a hare, -and it turned into a woman, a neighbour of his own. And she had his -butter taken for the last two years, but she begged and prayed for -life on her knees, so he spared her, and she gave him back his butter -after that, a double yield. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman at Glenlough when I was young could change herself -into an eel. It was in Galway Workhouse Hospital she got the -knowledge. A woman that had the knowledge of doing it by witchcraft -asked her would she like to learn, and she said that she would, for -she didn't know what it would bring on her. For every time she did -it, she'd be in bed a fortnight after with all she'd go through. -Sir Martin O'Neill when he was a young lad heard of it, and he got -her into a room, and made her do it for him, and when he saw her -change to an eel he got frightened and tried to get away, but she got -between him and the door, and showed her teeth at him and growled. -She wasn't the better of that for a fortnight after. - - * * * * * - -Indeed the porter did me great good, a good that I'd hardly like to -tell you, not to make a scandal. Did I drink too much of it? Not at -all, I have no fancy for it, but the nights seemed to be long. But -this long time I am feeling a worm in my side that is as big as an -eel, and there's more of them in it than that, and I was told to put -sea-grass to it, and I put it to the side the other day, and whether -it was that or the porter I don't know, but there's some of them gone -out of it, and I think it's the porter. - - * * * * * - -I knew a woman near Clough was out milking her cow, and when she -got up to go away she saw one of those worms coming after her, and -it eight feet long, and it made a jump about eight yards after her. -And I heard of a man went asleep by a wall one time, and one of them -went down his throat and he never could get rid of it till a woman -from the North came. And what she bade him do was to get a bit of old -crock butter and to make a big fire on the hearth, and to put the -butter in a half round on the hearth, and to get two men to hold him -over it. And when the worms got the smell of the butter they jumped -out of his mouth, seven or eight one after another, and it was in the -fire they fell and they were burned, and that was an end of them. - - * * * * * - -As to hares, there's something queer about them, and there's some -that it's dangerous to meddle with, and that can go into any form -where they like. Sure, Mrs. Madden is after having a young son, and -it has a harelip. But she says that she doesn't remember that ever -she met a hare or looked at one. But if she did, she had a right to -rip a small bit of the seam of her dress or her petticoat, and then -it would have no power to hurt her at all. - - * * * * * - -Doran the herd says, he wouldn't himself eat the flesh of a hare. -There's something unnatural about it. But as to them being unlucky, -that may be all talk. But there's no doubt at all that a cow is found -sometimes to be run dry, and the hare to be seen coming away from her. - - * * * * * - -One time when we lived just behind Gort my father was going to a fair. -And it was the custom in those days to set out a great deal earlier -than what it is now. So it was not much past midnight when he got up -and went out the door, and the moon shining bright. And then he saw a -hare walk in from the street and turn down by the garden, and another -after it, and another and another till he counted twelve. And they all -went straight one after another and vanished. And my father came in and -shut the door, and never went out again till it was broad daylight. - - * * * * * - -There was a man watching the fire where two hares were cooking and -he heard them whistling in the pot. And when the people of the house -came home they were afraid to touch them, but the man that heard the -whistling ate a good meal of them and was none the worse. - - * * * * * - -There was an uncle of my own lived over near Garryland. And one day -himself and another man were going through the field, and they saw a -hare, and the hound that was with them gave chase, and they followed. - -And the hound was gaining on the hare and it made for a house, where -the half-door was open. And the hound made a snap at it and touched -it as it leaped the half-door. And when my uncle and the others came -up, they could find no hare, but only an old woman in the house--and -she bleeding. So there's no doubt at all but it was she took the form -of a hare. My uncle spent too much money after, and gave up his land -and went to America. - - * * * * * - -As to hares, there was a man out with his greyhound and it gave chase -to a hare. And it made for a house, and went in at the window, and -the hound just touched the leg. And when the man came up, he found an -old woman in the house, and he asked leave to search the house and so -he did in every place, but there was no hare to be seen. But when he -came in she was putting a pot on the fire, so he said that he must -look in the pot, and he took the cover off, and it was full of blood. -And before the hound gave chase, he had seen the hare sucking the -milk from a cow. - - * * * * * - -As to hares, there's no doubt at all there's some that's not natural. -One night I was making pot-whiskey up in that hill beyond. Yes -indeed, for three year, I did little but run to and fro to the still, -and one December, I was making it for the Christmas and I was taken -and got nine weeks in gaol for it--and £16 worth of whiskey spilled -that night. But there's mean people in the world; and he did it -for half a sovereign, and had to leave the country after and go to -England. Well, one night, I was watching by the fire where it was too -fierce, and it would have burned the oats. And over the hill and down -the path came two hares and walked on and into the wood. And two more -after that, and then by fours they came, and by sixes, and I'd want -a slate and a pencil to count all I saw, and it just at sunrise. And -some of them were as thin as thin. And there's no doubt at all that -those were not _hares_ I saw that night. - - * * * * * - -As to hares, they're the biggest fairies of all. Last year the boys -had one caught, and I put it in the pot to wash it and it after being -skinned, and I heard a noise come from the pot--grr-grr--and nothing -but cold water in it. And I ran to save my life, and I told the boys to -have nothing to do with it, but they wouldn't mind me. And when they -tried to eat it, and it boiled, they couldn't get their teeth into the -flesh of it, and as for the soup, it was no different from potato-water. - - * * * * * - -The village of Lissavohalane has a great name for such things. -And it's certain that once one night every year, in the month of -November, all the cats of the whole country round gather together -there and fight. My own two cats were nearly dead for days after it -last year, and the neighbours told me the same of theirs. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman had a cat and she would feed it at the table before -any other one; and if it did not get the first meat that was cooked, -the hair would rise up as high as that. Well, there were priests came -to dinner one day, and when they were helped the first, the hair -rose up on the cat's back. And one of them said to the woman it was -a queer thing to give in to a cat the way she did, and that it was a -foolish thing to be giving it the first of the food. So when it heard -that, it walked out of the house, and never came into it again. - - * * * * * - -There's something not right about cats. Steve Smith says he knew a -keeper that shot one, and it went into a sort of a heap, and when he -came near, it spoke, and he found it was some person, and it said -it had to walk its seven acres. And there's some have heard them -together at night talking Irish. - - * * * * * - -There was a hole over the door of the house that I used to live in, -where Murphy's house is now, to let the smoke out, for there was no -chimney. And one day a black cat jumped in at the hole, and stopped in -the house and never left us for a year. But on the day year he came he -jumped out again at the same hole and didn't go out of the door that -was standing open. There was no mistake about it, it was the day year. - - * * * * * - -As to cats, they're a class in themselves. They're good to catch -mice and rats, but just let them come in and out of the house for -that; they're about their own business all the time. And in the old -times they could talk. And it's said that the cats gave a shilling -for what they have; fourpence that the housekeeper might be careless -and leave the milk about that they'd get at it; and fourpence that -they'd tread so light that no one would hear them, and fourpence that -they'd be able to see in the dark. And I might as well throw out -that drop of tea I left on the dresser to cool, for the cat is after -tasting it and I wouldn't touch it after that. There might be a hair -in it, and the hair of a cat is poison. - - * * * * * - -There was a man had a house full of children, and one day he was -taking their measure for boots. And the cat that was sitting on the -hearth said, "Take my measure for a pair of boots along with the -rest." So the man did, and when he went to the shoemaker he told him -of what the cat had said. And there was a man in the shop at the -time, and he having two greyhounds with him, and one of them all -black without a single white hair. And he said, "Bring the cat here -tomorrow. You can tell it that the boots can't be made without it -coming for its measure." So the next day he brought the cat in a bag, -and when he got to his shop the man was there with his greyhounds, -and he let the cat out, and it praying him not to loosen the bag. -And it made away through the fields and the hounds after it, and -whether it killed one of them I don't know, but anyhow the black -hound killed it, the one that had not a white hair on its body. - - * * * * * - -You should never be too attentive to a cat, but just to be civil and -to give it its share. - - * * * * * - -Cats were serpents, and they were made into cats at the time, I -suppose, of some change in the world. That's why they're hard to kill -and why it's dangerous to meddle with them. If you annoy a cat it -might claw you or bite you in a way that would put poison in you, and -that would be the serpent's tooth. - - * * * * * - -There was an uncle of mine near Galway, and one night his wife was -very sick, and he had to go to the village to get something for her. -And it's a very lonely road, and as he was going what should he see -but a great number of cats, walking along the road, and they were -carrying a young cat, and crying it. - -And when he was on his way home again from the village he met them -again, and one of the cats turned and spoke to him like a person -would, and said, "Bid Lady Betty to come to the funeral or she'll be -late." So he ran on home in a great fright, and he couldn't speak for -some time after getting back to the house, but sat there by the fire -in a chair. And at last he began to tell his wife what had happened. -And when he said that he had met a cat's funeral, his own cat that -was sleeping by the hearth began to stir her tail, and looked up at -him, affectionate like. But when he got to where he was bid send Lady -Betty to the funeral, she made one dash at his face and scraped it, -she was so mad that she wasn't told at once. And then she began to -tear at the door, that they had to let her out. - -For cats is faeries, and every night they're obliged to travel over -seven acres; that's why you hear them crying about the country. It -was an old woman at the strand told me that, and she should know, for -she lived to a hundred years of age. - - * * * * * - -I saw three young weasels out in the sea, squealing, squealing, for -they couldn't get to land, and I put out a bunch of seaweed and -brought them to the land, and they went away after. I did that for -them. Weasels are not _right_, no more than cats; and I'm not sure -about foxes. - - * * * * * - -Rats are very bad, because a rat if one got the chance would do his -best to bite you, and I wouldn't like at all to get the bite of a -rat. But weasels are serpents, and if they would spit at any part of -your body it would fester, and you would get blood poisoning within -two hours. - -I knew an old doctor--Antony Coppinger at Clifden--and he told -me that if the weasels had the power of other beasts they would -not leave a human living in the world. And he said the wild wide -wilderness of the sea was full of beasts mostly the same as on earth, -like bonavs and like cattle, and they lying at the bottom of the sea -as quiet as cows in a field. - - * * * * * - -It is wrong to insult a weasel, and if you pelt them or shoot them -they will watch for you forever to ruin you. For they are enchanted -and understand all things. - -There is Mrs. Coneely that lives up the road, she had a clutch of -young geese on the floor, and a weasel walked in and brought away one -of them, but she said nothing to that. - -But it came in again, and took a hold of another of the geese and -Mrs. Coneely said, "Oh, I'm not begrudging you what you have taken, -but leave these to me for it is hard I earned them, and it is great -trouble I had rearing them. But go," she said, "to the shoemaker's -home beyond, where they have a clutch, and let you spare mine. And -that I may never sin," she said, "but it walked out, for they can -understand everything, and it did not leave one of the clutch that -was at the shoemaker's." - -It is why I called to you now when I saw you sitting there so near -to the sea; I thought the tide might steal up on you, or a weasel -might chance to come up with a fish in its mouth, and to give you a -start. It's best if you see one to speak nice to it, and to say, -"I wouldn't be begrudging you a pair of boots or of shoes if I had -them." If you treat them well they will treat you well. - - * * * * * - -And to see a weasel passing the road before you, there's nothing in -the world like that to bring you all sorts of good luck. - - * * * * * - -I was out in the field one time tilling potatoes, and two or three -more along with me, and a weasel put its head out of the wall--a -double stone wall it was--and one of the lads fired a stone at it. -Well, within a minute there wasn't a hole of the wall but a weasel -had put its head out of it, about a thousand of them, I saw that -myself. Very spiteful they are. I wouldn't like them. - - * * * * * - -The weasels, the poor creatures, they will do nothing at all on you -if you behave well to them and let them alone, but if you do not, -they will not leave a chicken in the yard. And magpies, let you do -nothing on them, or they will suck every egg and leave nothing in the -garden; but if you leave them to themselves they will do nothing but -to come into the street to pick a bit with the birds. - - * * * * * - -The granyóg (hedgehog) will do no harm to chickens or the like; -but if he will get into an orchard he will stick an apple on every -thorn, and away with him to a scalp with them to be eating through -the winter. - -I met with a granyóg one day on the mountain, and that I may never -sin, he was running up the side of it as fast as a race-horse. - - * * * * * - -There is not much luck in killing a seal. There was a man in these -parts was very fond of shooting and killing them. And seals have -claws the same as cats, and he had two daughters, and when they were -born, they had claws the same as seals. I believe there is one of -them living yet. - - * * * * * - -But the thing it is not right to touch is the _ron_ (seal) for they -are in the Sheogue. It is often I see them on the strand, sitting -there and wiping themselves on the rocks. And they have a hand with -five fingers, like any Christian. I seen six of them, coming in a -boat one time with a man from Connemara, that is the time I saw they -had the five fingers. - -There was a man killed one of them over there near the point. And he -came to the shore and it was night, and he was near dead with the want -of a blast of a pipe, and he saw a light from a house on the side of a -mountain, and he went in to ask a coal of fire to kindle the pipe. And -when he went in, there was a woman, and she called out to a man that -was lying stretched on the bed in the room, and she said, "Look till -you see who this man is." And the man that was on the bed says, "I -know you, for I have the sign of your hand on me. And let you get out -of this now," he said, "as fast as you can, and it will be best for -you." And the daughter said to him, "I wonder you to let him go as easy -as that." And you may be sure the man made off and made no delay. It -was a Sheogue house that was; and the man on the bed was the _ron_ he -had killed, but he was not dead, being of the Sheogues. - - - - - XIII - - FRIARS AND PRIEST CURES - - - - - XIII - - FRIARS AND PRIEST CURES - - -_An old woman begging at the door one day spoke of the cures done in -her early days by the Friars at Esker to the north of our county. I -asked if she had ever been there, and she burst into this praise of it:_ - -_"Esker is a grand place; this house and the house of Lough Cutra and -your own house at Roxborough, to put the three together it wouldn't -be as big as it; it is as big as the whole town of Gort, in its own -way; you wouldn't have it walked in a month._ - -_"To go there you would get cured of anything unless it might be the -stroke of the Fool that does be going with_ them; _it's best not be -talking of it. The clout he would give you, there is no cure for it._ - -_"Three barrels there are with water, and to see the first barrel -boiling it is certain you will get a cure. A big friar will come out -to meet us that is as big as three. Fat they do be that they can't -hardly get through the door. Water there does be rushing down; you to -stoop you would hear it talking; you would be afraid of the water._ - -_"One well for the rich and one well for the common; blue blinds to -the windows like little bars of timber without. You can see where the -friars are buried down dead to the end of the world._ - -"_They give out clothes to the poor, bedclothes and day clothes; it -is the beautifullest place from heaven out; summer houses and pears; -glass in the walls around._" - - -_I have been told:_ - -The Esker friars used to do great cures--Father Callaghan was the -best of them. They used to do it by reading, but what it was they -read no one knew, some secret thing. - -There was a girl brought from Clare one time, that had lost her wits, -and she tied on a cart with ropes. And she was brought to Father -Callaghan and he began reading over her, and then he made a second -reading, and at the end of that, he bid them unloose the ropes, -and when they did she got up quite quiet, but very shy looking and -ashamed, and would not wait for the cart but walked away. - - * * * * * - -Father Callaghan was with a man near this one time, one Tully, and -they were talking about the faeries and the man said he didn't -believe in them at all. And Father Callaghan called him to the door -and put up his fingers and bade him look out through them, and there -he saw hundreds and hundreds of the smallest little men he ever saw -and they hurling and killing one another. - - * * * * * - -The friars are gone and there are missioners come in their place and -all they would do for you is to bless holy water, and as long as you -would keep it, it would never get bad. - - * * * * * - -My daughter, Mrs. Meehan, that lives there below, was very bad after -her first baby being born, and she wasted away and the doctors could -do nothing for her. My husband went to Biddy Early for her, but she -said, "Mother for daughter, father for son" and she could do nothing -for her because I didn't go. But I had promised God and the priest I -would never go to her, and so I kept to my word. But Mrs. Meehan was so -bad she kept to the bed, and one day one of the neighbours said I had a -right to bring her to the friars at Esker. And he said, "It's today you -should be in it, Monday, for a Monday gospel is the best, the gospel -of the Holy Ghost." So I got the cart after and put her in it, and she -lying down, and we had to rest and to take out the horse at Lenane, and -we got to Craughwell for the night. And the man of the house where we -got lodging for the night said the priest that was doing cures now was -Father Blake and he showed us the way to Esker. And when we got there -he was in the chapel, and my daughter was brought in and laid on a -form, and I went out and waited with the cart, and within half an hour -the chapel door opened, and my daughter walked out that was carried -in. And she got up on the cart herself. It was a gospel had been read -over her. And I said, "I wish you had asked a gospel to bring with you -home." And after that we saw a priest on the other side of a dry stone -wall, and he learning three children. And she asked a gospel of him, -and he said, "What you had today will do you, and I haven't one made up -at this time." So she came home well. She went another time there, when -she had something and asked for a gospel, and Father Blake said, "We're -out of doing it now, but as you were with us before, I'll do it for -you." And she wanted to give him £1 but he said, "If I took it I would -do nothing for you." So she said, "I'll give it to the other man," and -so she did. - - * * * * * - -I often saw Father Callaghan in Esker and the people brought to him -in carts. Many cures he did, but he was prevented often. And I knew -another priest did many cures, but he was carried away himself after, -to a lunatic asylum. And when he came back, he would do no more. - - * * * * * - -There was a little chap had but seven years, and he was doing no -good, but whistling and twirling, and the father went to Father -Callaghan, that was just after coming out of the gaol when he got -there, for doing cures; it is a gaol of their own they had. The man -asked him to do a cure on his son, and Father Callaghan said, "I -wouldn't like him to be brought here, but I will go some day to your -house; I will go with my dog and my hound as if fowling, and I will -bring no sign of a car or a carriage at all." So he came one day to -the house and knocked at the door. And when he came in he said to the -father, "Go out and bring me in a bundle of sally rods that will be -as thin as rushes, and divide them into six small parts," he said, -"and twist every one of the six parts together." And when that was -done, he took the little bundle of rods, and he beat the child on the -head with them one after another till they were in flitters and the -child roaring. Then he laid the child in the father's arms, and no -sooner there than it fell asleep, and Father Callaghan said to the -father, "What you have now is your own, but it wasn't your own that -was in it before." - - * * * * * - -There used to be swarms of people going to Esker, and Father Callaghan -would say in Irish, "Let the people in the Sheogue stand at one side," -and he would go over and read over them what he had to read. - - * * * * * - -There was an uncle of my own was working at Ballycluan the time the -Quakers were making a place there, and it was the habit when the -summer was hot to put the beds out into the barn. And one night he -was sleeping in the barn, and something came and lay on him in the -bed; he could not see what it was, but it was about the size of the -foal of a horse. And the next night it came again and the next, and -lay on him, and he put out his left hand to push it from him, and -it went from him quite quiet, but if it did, when he rose in the -morning, he was not able to stretch out his hand, and he was a long -time like that and then his father brought him to the friars at -Esker, and within twelve minutes one of them had him cured, reading -over him, but I'm not sure was it Father Blake or Father Callaghan. - -But it was not long after that till he fell off his cart as if he was -knocked off it, and broke his leg. The coppinger had his leg cured, -but he did not live long, for the third thing happened was, he threw -up his heart's blood and died. - -For if you are cured of one thing that comes on you like that, -another thing will come on you in its place, or if not on you, on -some other person, maybe some one in your own family. It is very -often I noticed that to happen. - - * * * * * - -The priests in old times used to have the power to cure strokes and -madness and the like, but the Pope and the Bishops have that stopped; -they said that the people will get out of witchcraft little by little. - - * * * * * - -Priests can do cures if they will, and it's not out of the Gospel -they do them, but out of a book specially for the purpose, so I -believe. But something falls on them or on the things belonging to -them, if they do it too often. - -But Father Keeley for certain did cures. It was he cured Mike -Madden's neck, when everyone else had failed--so they had--though -Mike has never confessed to it. - - * * * * * - -The priests can do cures surely, and surely they can put harm on you. -But they wouldn't do that unless they'd be sure a man would deserve it. -One time at that house you see up there beyond, Roche's, there was a -wedding and there was some fighting came out of it, and bad blood. And -Father Boyle was priest at that time, and he was vexed and he said he'd -come and have stations at the house, and they should all be reconciled. - -So he came on the day he appointed and the house was settled like -a chapel, and some of the people there was bad blood between came, -but not all of them, and Roche himself was not there. And when -the stations were over Father Boyle got his book, and he read the -names of those he had told to be there, and they answered, like a -schoolmaster would call out the names of his scholars. And when -Roche's name was read and he not there to answer, with the dint of -madness Father Boyle quenched the candles on the altar, and he said -this house and all that belong to it will go away to nothing, like -the froth that's going down the river. - -And if you look at the house now you'll see the way it is, not a stable -or an outhouse left standing, and not one of the whole family left in -it but Roche, and he paralysed. So they can do both harm and good. - - * * * * * - -There was a man out in the mountains used to do cures, and one day on -a little road the priest met him, and stopped his car and began to -abuse him for the cures he was doing. - -And then the priest went on, and when he had gone a bit of the road -his horse fell down. And he came back and called to the man and said, -"Come help me now, for this is your doing, to make the horse fall." -And the man said, "It's none of my doing, but it's the doing of my -master, for he was vexed with the way you spoke. But go back now and -you'll find the horse as he was before." So he went back and the -horse had got up and was standing, and nothing wrong with him at all. -And the priest said no more against him from that day. - - * * * * * - -My son is lame this long time; a fine young man he was, about -seventeen years--and a pain came in his knee all of a moment. I tried -doctors with him and I brought him to the friars in Loughrea, and one -of them read a gospel over him, and the pain went after that, but the -knee grew out to be twisted like. The friar said it was surely he had -been overheated. A little old maneen he was, very ancient. I knew -well it was the _drochuil_ that did it; there by the side of the road -he was sitting when he got the frost. - -There was a needlewoman used to be sewing late on a Saturday night, -and sometimes if there was a button or a thread wanting she would put -it in, even if it was Sunday morning; and she lived in Loughrea that -is near your own home. And one day she went to the loch to get a can -of water, and it was in her hand. And in a minute a blast of wind -came that rose all the dust and the straws and knocked herself. And -more than that, her mouth was twisted around to her poll. - -There were some people saw her, and they brought her home, and within -a week her mother brought her to the priest. And when he saw her he -said, "You are the best mother ever there was, for if you had left -her nine days without bringing her to me, all I could do would not -have taken off her what is on her." He asked then up to what time -did she work on the Saturday night, and she said up to one or two -o'clock, and sometimes on a Sunday morning. So he took off what was -on her, and bade her do that no more, and she got well, but to the -last there was a sort of a twisted turn in her mouth. - -That woman now I am telling you of was an aunt of my own. - - * * * * * - -Father Nolan has a kind heart, and he'd do cures. But it's hard to -get them, unless it would be for some they had a great interest in. -But Father McConaghy is so high in himself, he wouldn't do anything -of that sort. When Johnny Dunne was bad, two years ago, and all but -given over, he begged and prayed Father McConaghy to do it for him. -And he refused and said, "You must commit yourself to the mercy of -Almighty God," and Johnny Dunne, the poor man, said, "It's a hard -thing for a man that has a house full of children to be left to the -mercy of Almighty God." - - * * * * * - -But there's _some_ that can help. My father told me long ago that my -sister was lying sick for a long time, and one night a beggarman came -to the door and asked for shelter. And he said, "I can't give you -shelter, with my daughter lying sick in the room." "Let me in, it's -best for you," says he. And in the morning he went away, and the sick -girl rose up, as well as ever she was before. - - * * * * * - -Father Flaherty, when he was a curate, could open the eyes that were -all but closed in death, but he wouldn't have such things spoken of -now. Losses they may have, but that's not all. Whatever evil thing -they raise, they may not have strength after to put it down again, -and so they may be lost themselves in the end. - - * * * * * - -Surely they can do cures, and they can tell sometimes the hour you'd -go. There was a girl I knew was sick, and when the priest came and -saw her, he said, "Between the two Masses tomorrow she'll be gone," -and so she was. And those that saw her after, said that it was the -face of her mother that died before that was on the bed, and that it -was her mother had taken her to where she was. - - * * * * * - -And Mike Barrett surely saw a man brought in a cart to Father -Curley's house when he lived in Cloon, and carried upstairs to him, -and he walked down out of the house again, sound and well. But they -must lose something when they do cures--either their health or -something else, though many say no one did so many cures as Father -Fitzgerald when he was a curate. Father Airlie one time was called -in to Glover's house where he was lying sick, and did a cure on him. -And he had a cow at the time that was in calf. And soon after some -man said to him "The cow will be apt soon to calve," though it wasn't -very near the time. And Father Airlie said "She'll never live to do -that." And sure enough in a couple of days after she was dead. - - - - - SWEDENBORG, MEDIUMS, AND THE - DESOLATE PLACES - - - - - SWEDENBORG, MEDIUMS, AND THE - DESOLATE PLACES - - I - - -Some fifteen years ago I was in bad health and could not work, and -Lady Gregory brought me from cottage to cottage while she began to -collect the stories in this book, and presently when I was at work -again she went on with her collection alone till it grew to be, so -far as I know, the most considerable book of its kind. Except that I -had heard some story of "The Battle of the Friends" at Aran and had -divined that it might be the legendary common accompaniment of death, -she was not guided by any theory of mine, but recorded what came, -writing it out at each day's end and in the country dialect. It was at -this time mainly she got the knowledge of words that makes her little -comedies of country life so beautiful and so amusing. As that ancient -system of belief unfolded before us, with unforeseen probabilities and -plausibilities, it was as though we had begun to live in a dream, and -one day Lady Gregory said to me when we had passed an old man in the -wood: "That old man may know the secret of the ages." - -I had noticed many analogies in modern spiritism and began a more -careful comparison, going a good deal to séances for the first time -and reading all writers of any reputation I could find in English -or French. I found much that was moving, when I had climbed to the -top story of some house in Soho or Holloway, and, having paid my -shilling, awaited, among servant girls, the wisdom of some fat old -medium. That is an absorbing drama, though if my readers begin to -seek it they will spoil it, for its gravity and simplicity depends on -all, or all but all, believing that their dead are near. - -I did not go there for evidence of the kind the Society for Psychical -Research would value, any more than I would seek it in Galway or -in Aran. I was comparing one form of belief with another, and like -Paracelsus, who claimed to have collected his knowledge from midwife -and hangman, I was discovering a philosophy. Certain things had -happened to me when alone in my own room which had convinced me that -there are spiritual intelligences which can warn us and advise us, -and, as Anatole France has said, if one believes that the Devil can -walk the streets of Lisbon, it is not difficult to believe that he -can reach his arm over the river and light Don Juan's cigarette. And -yet I do not think I have been easily convinced, for I know we make a -false beauty by a denial of ugliness and that if we deny the causes -of doubt we make a false faith, and that we must excite the whole -being into activity if we would offer to God what is, it may be, the -one thing germane to the matter, a consenting of all our faculties. -Not but that I doubt at times, with the animal doubt of the Middle -Ages that I have found even in pious countrywomen when they have -seen some life come to an end like the stopping of a clock, or that -all the perceptions of the soul, or the weightiest intellectual -deductions, are not at whiles but a feather in the daily show. - -I pieced together stray thoughts written out after questioning the -familiar of a trance medium or automatic writer, by Allen Cardec, -or by some American, or by myself, or arranged the fragments into -some pattern, till I believed myself the discoverer of a vast -generalization. I lived in excitement, amused to make Holloway -interpret Aran, and constantly comparing my discoveries with what I -have learned of mediĉval tradition among fellow students, with the -reveries of a Neo-platonist, of a seventeenth-century Platonist, of -Paracelsus or a Japanese poet. Then one day I opened _The Spiritual -Diary_ of Swedenborg, which I had not taken down for twenty years, -and found all there, even certain thoughts I had not set on paper -because they had seemed fantastic from the lack of some traditional -foundation. It was strange I should have forgotten so completely a -writer I had read with some care before the fascination of Blake and -Boehme had led me away. - - - II - -It was indeed Swedenborg who affirmed for the modern world, as -against the abstract reasoning of the learned, the doctrine and -practice of the desolate places, of shepherds and of midwives, and -discovered a world of spirits where there was a scenery like that of -earth, human forms, grotesque or beautiful, senses that knew pleasure -and pain, marriage and war, all that could be painted upon canvas, -or put into stories to make one's hair stand up. He had mastered the -science of his time, he had written innumerable scientific works in -Latin, had been the first to formulate the nebular hypothesis and -wrote a cold abstract style, the result it may be of preoccupation -with stones and metals, for he had been assessor of mines to the -Swedish Government, and of continual composition in a dead language. - -In his fifty-eighth year he was sitting in an inn in London, where -he had gone about the publication of a book, when a spirit appeared -before him who was, he believed, Christ himself, and told him that -henceforth he could commune with spirits and angels. From that moment -he was a mysterious man describing distant events as if they were -before his eyes, and knowing dead men's secrets, if we are to accept -testimony that seemed convincing to Emmanuel Kant. The sailors who -carried him upon his many voyages spoke of the charming of the waves -and of favouring winds that brought them sooner than ever before -to their journey's end, and an ambassador described how a queen, he -himself looking on, fainted when Swedenborg whispered in her ear -some secret known only to her and to her dead brother. And all this -happened to a man without egotism, without drama, without a sense -of the picturesque, and who wrote a dry language, lacking fire and -emotion, and who to William Blake seemed but an arranger and putter -away of the old Church, a Samson shorn by the churches, an author not -of a book, but of an index. He considered heaven and hell and God, -the angels, the whole destiny of man, as if he were sitting before a -large table in a Government office putting little pieces of mineral -ore into small square boxes for an assistant to pack away in drawers. - -All angels were once men, he says, and it is therefore men who have -entered into what he calls the Celestial State and become angels, -who attend us immediately after death, and communicate to us their -thoughts, not by speaking, but by looking us in the face as they -sit beside the head of our body. When they find their thoughts are -communicated they know the time has come to separate the spiritual -from the physical body. If a man begins to feel that he can endure -them no longer, as he doubtless will, for in their presence he can -think and feel but sees nothing, lesser angels who belong to truth -more than to love take their place and he is in the light again, but -in all likelihood these angels also will be too high and he will -slip from state to state until he finds himself after a few days -"with those who are in accord with his life in the world; with them -he finds his life, and, wonderful to relate, he then leads a life -similar to that he led in the world." This first state of shifting and -readjustment seems to correspond with a state of sleep more modern -seers discover to follow upon death. It is characteristic of his whole -religious system, the slow drifting of like to like. Then follows a -period which may last but a short time or many years, while the soul -lives a life so like that of the world that it may not even believe -that it has died, for "when what is spiritual touches and sees what -is spiritual the effect is the same as when what is natural touches -what is natural." It is the other world of the early races, of those -whose dead are in the rath or the faery hill, of all who see no place -of reward and punishment but a continuance of this life, with cattle -and sheep, markets and war. He describes what he has seen, and only -partly explains it, for, unlike science which is founded upon past -experience, his work, by the very nature of his gift, looks for the -clearing away of obscurities to unrecorded experience. He is revealing -something and that which is revealed, so long as it remains modest -and simple, has the same right with the child in the cradle to put -off to the future the testimony of its worth. This earth-resembling -life is the creation of the image-making power of the mind, plucked -naked from the body, and mainly of the images in the memory. All our -work has gone with us, the books we have written can be opened and -read or put away for later use, even though their print and paper have -been sold to the buttermen; and reading his description one notices, -a discovery one had thought peculiar to the last generation, that the -"most minute particulars which enter the memory remain there and are -never obliterated," and there as here we do not always know all that -is in our memory, but at need angelic spirits who act upon us there as -here, widening and deepening the consciousness at will, can draw forth -all the past, and make us live again all our transgressions and see our -victims "as if they were present, together with the place, words, and -motives"; and that suddenly, "as when a scene bursts upon the sight" -and yet continues "for hours together," and like the transgressions, -all the pleasure and pain of sensible life awaken again and again, all -our passionate events rush up about us and not as seeming imagination, -for imagination is now the world. And yet another impulse comes and -goes, flitting through all, a preparation for the spiritual abyss, -for out of the celestial world, immediately beyond the world of form, -fall certain seeds as it were that exfoliate through us into forms, -elaborate scenes, buildings, alterations of form that are related -by "correspondence" or "signature" to celestial incomprehensible -realities. Meanwhile those who have loved or fought see one another -in the unfolding of a dream, believing it may be that they wound one -another or kill one another, severing arms or hands, or that their lips -are joined in a kiss, and the countryman has need but of Swedenborg's -keen ears and eagle sight to hear a noise of swords in the empty -valley, or to meet the old master hunting with all his hounds upon the -stroke of midnight among the moonlit fields. But gradually we begin to -change and possess only those memories we have related to our emotion -or our thought; all that was accidental or habitual dies away and we -begin an active present life, for apart from that calling up of the -past we are not punished or rewarded for our actions when in the world -but only for what we do when out of it. Up till now we have disguised -our real selves and those who have lived well for fear or favour have -walked with holy men and women, and the wise man and the dunce have -been associated in common learning, but now the ruling love has begun -to remake circumstance and our body. - -Swedenborg had spoken with shades that had been learned Latinists, or -notable Hebrew scholars, and found, because they had done everything -from the memory and nothing from thought and emotion, they had become -but simple men. We have already met our friends, but if we were to meet -them now for the first time we should not recognize them, for all has -been kneaded up anew, arrayed in order and made one piece. "Every man -has many loves, but still they all have reference to his ruling love -and make one with it or together compose it," and our surrender to that -love, as to supreme good, is no new thought, for Villiers de l'Isle -Adam quotes Thomas Aquinas as having said, "Eternity is the possession -of one's self, as in a single moment." During the fusing and rending -man flits, as it were, from one flock of the dead to another, seeking -always those who are like himself, for as he puts off disguise he -becomes unable to endure what is unrelated to his love, even becoming -insane among things that are too fine for him. - -So heaven and hell are built always anew and in hell or heaven all do -what they please and all are surrounded by scenes and circumstance -which are the expression of their natures and the creation of their -thought. Swedenborg because he belongs to an eighteenth century not yet -touched by the romantic revival feels horror amid rocky uninhabited -places, and so believes that the evil are in such places while the good -are amid smooth grass and garden walks and the clear sunlight of Claude -Lorraine. He describes all in matter-of-fact words, his meeting with -this or that dead man, and the place where he found him, and yet we -are not to understand him literally, for space as we know it has come -to an end and a difference of state has begun to take its place, and -wherever a spirit's thought is, the spirit cannot help but be. Nor -should we think of spirit as divided from spirit, as men are from each -other, for they share each other's thoughts and life, and those whom he -has called celestial angels, while themselves mediums to those above, -commune with men and lower spirits, through orders of mediatorial -spirits, not by a conveyance of messages, but as though a hand were -thrust within a hundred gloves,[1] one glove outside another, and so -there is a continual influx from God to man. It flows to us through the -evil angels as through the good, for the dark fire is the perversion -of God's life and the evil angels have their office in the equilibrium -that is our freedom, in the building of that fabulous bridge made out -of the edge of a sword. - -To the eyes of those that are in the high heaven "all things laugh, -sport, and live," and not merely because they are beautiful things but -because they arouse by a minute correspondence of form and emotion -the heart's activity, and being founded, as it were, in this changing -heart, all things continually change and shimmer. The garments of all -befit minutely their affections, those that have most wisdom and most -love being the most nobly garmented, in ascending order from shimmering -white, through garments of many colours and garments that are like -flame, to the angels of the highest heaven that are naked. - -In the west of Ireland the country people say that after death every -man grows upward or downward to the likeness of thirty years, perhaps -because at that age Christ began his ministry, and stays always in -that likeness; and these angels move always towards "the springtime -of their life" and grow more and more beautiful, "the more thousand -years they live," and women who have died infirm with age, and yet -lived in faith and charity, and true love towards husband or lover, -come "after a succession of years" to an adolescence that was not in -Helen's Mirror, "for to grow old in heaven is to grow young." - -There went on about Swedenborg an intermittent "Battle of the -Friends" and on certain occasions had not the good fought upon his -side, the evil troop, by some carriage accident or the like, would -have caused his death, for all associations of good spirits have an -answering mob, whose members grow more hateful to look on through the -centuries. "Their faces in general are horrible, and empty of life -like corpses, those of some are black, of some fiery like torches, -of some hideous with pimples, boils, and ulcers; with many no face -appears, but in its place a something hairy or bony, and in some one -can but see the teeth." And yet among themselves they are seeming men -and but show their right appearance when the light of heaven, which -of all things they most dread, beats upon them; and seem to live in a -malignant gaiety, and they burn always in a fire that is God's love -and wisdom, changed into their own hunger and misbelief. - - - III - -In Lady Gregory's stories there is a man who heard the newly dropped -lambs of faery crying in November, and much evidence to show a -topsy-turvydom of seasons, our spring being their autumn, our winter -their summer, and Mary Battle, my Uncle George Pollexfen's old -servant, was accustomed to say that no dream had a true meaning after -the rise of the sap; and Lady Gregory learned somewhere on Sleive -Ochta that if one told one's dreams to the trees fasting the trees -would wither. Swedenborg saw some like opposition of the worlds, for -what hides the spirits from our sight and touch, as he explains, -is that their light and heat are darkness and cold to us and our -light and heat darkness and cold to them, but they can see the -world through our eyes and so make our light their light. He seems -however to warn us against a movement whose philosophy he announced -or created, when he tells us to seek no conscious intercourse with -any that fall short of the celestial rank. At ordinary times they do -not see us or know that we are near, but when we speak to them we -are in danger of their deceits. "They have a passion for inventing," -and do not always know that they invent. "It has been shown me many -times that the spirits speaking with me did not know but that they -were the men and women I was thinking of; neither did other spirits -know the contrary. Thus yesterday and today one known of me in life -was personated. The personation was so like him in all respects, so -far as known to me, that nothing could be more like. For there are -genera and species of spirits of similar faculty (? as the dead whom -we seek), and when like things are called up in the memory of men and -so are represented to them they think they are the same persons. At -other times they enter into the fantasy of other spirits and think -that they are them, and sometimes they will even believe themselves -to be the Holy Spirit," and as they identify themselves with a man's -affection or enthusiasm they may drive him to ruin, and even an angel -will join himself so completely to a man that he scarcely knows "that -he does not know of himself what the man knows," and when they speak -with a man they can but speak in that man's mother tongue, and this -they can do without taking thought, for "it is almost as when a man -is speaking and thinks nothing about his words." Yet when they leave -the man "they are in their own angelical or spiritual language and -know nothing of the language of the man." They are not even permitted -to talk to a man from their own memory for did they do so the man -would not know "but that the things he would then think were his when -yet they would belong to the spirit," and it is these sudden memories -occurring sometimes by accident, and without God's permission that -gave the Greeks the idea they had lived before. They have bodies -as plastic as their minds that flow so readily into the mould of -ours and he remembers having seen the face of a spirit change -continuously and yet keep always a certain generic likeness. It had -but run through the features of the individual ghosts of the fleet it -belonged to, of those bound into the one mediatorial communion. - -He speaks too, again and again, of seeing palaces and mountain ranges -and all manner of scenery built up in a moment, and even believes -in imponderable troops of magicians that build the like out of some -deceit or in malicious sport. - - - IV - -There is in Swedenborg's manner of expression a seeming -superficiality. We follow an easy narrative, sometimes incredulous, -but always, as we think, understanding, for his moral conceptions are -simple, his technical terms continually repeated, and for the most -part we need but turn for his "correspondence," his symbolism as we -would say, to the index of his _Arcana Celestia_. Presently, however, -we discover that he treads upon this surface by an achievement of -power almost as full of astonishment as if he should walk upon -water charmed to stillness by some halcyon; while his disciple and -antagonist Blake is like a man swimming in a tumbling sea, surface -giving way to surface and deep showing under broken deep. A later -mystic has said of Swedenborg that he but half felt, half saw, half -tasted the kingdom of heaven, and his abstraction, his dryness, his -habit of seeing but one element in everything, his lack of moral -speculation have made him the founder of a church, while William -Blake, who grows always more exciting with every year of life, grows -also more obscure. An impulse towards what is definite and sensuous, -and an indifference towards the abstract and the general, are the -lineaments, as I understand the world, of all that comes not from the -learned, but out of common antiquity, out of the "folk" as we say, -and in certain languages, Irish for instance--and these languages are -all poetry--it is not possible to speak an abstract thought. This -impulse went out of Swedenborg when he turned from vision. It was -inseparable from this primitive faculty, but was not a part of his -daily bread, whereas Blake carried it to a passion and made it the -foundation of his thought. Blake was put into a rage by all painting -where detail is generalized away, and complained that Englishmen -after the French Revolution became as like one another as the dots -and lozenges in the mechanical engraving of his time, and he hated -histories that gave us reasoning and deduction in place of the -events, and St. Paul's Cathedral because it came from a mathematical -mind, and told Crabb Robinson that he preferred to any others a -happy, thoughtless person. Unlike Swedenborg he believed that the -antiquities of all peoples were as sacred as those of the Jews, and -so rejecting authority and claiming that the same law for the lion -and the ox was oppression, he could believe "all that lives is holy," -and say that a man if he but cultivated the power of vision would -see the truth in a way suited "to his imaginative energy," and with -only so much resemblance to the way it showed in for other men, as -there is between different human forms. Born when Swedenborg was a -new excitement, growing up with a Swedenborgian brother, who annoyed -him "with bread and cheese advice," and having, it may be, for -nearest friend the Swedenborgian Flaxman with whom he would presently -quarrel, he answered the just translated _Heaven and Hell_ with the -paradoxical violence of _The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_. Swedenborg -was but "the linen clothes folded up" or the angel sitting by the -tomb, after Christ, the human imagination, had arisen. His own memory -being full of images from painting and from poetry he discovered more -profound "correspondences," yet always in his boys and girls walking -or dancing on smooth grass and in golden light, as in pastoral scenes -cut upon wood or copper by his disciples Palmer and Calvert one -notices the peaceful Swedenborgian heaven. We come there, however, by -no obedience but by the energy that "is eternal delight," for "the -treasures of heaven are not negations of passion but realities of -intellect from which the passions emanate uncurbed in their eternal -glory." He would have us talk no more "of the good man and the bad," -but only of "the wise man and the foolish," and he cries, "Go put off -holiness and put on intellect." - -Higher than all souls that seem to theology to have found a final -state, above good and evil, neither accused, nor yet accusing, live -those, who have come to freedom, their senses sharpened by eternity, -piping or dancing or "like the gay fishes on the wave when the moon -sucks up the dew." Merlin, who in the verses of Chrétien de Troyes -was laid in the one tomb with dead lovers, is very near and the -saints are far away. Believing too that crucifixion and resurrection -were the soul's diary and no mere historical events, which had been -transacted in vain should a man come again from the womb and forget -his salvation, he could cleave to the heroic doctrine the angel in -the crystal made Sir Thomas Kelly renounce and have a "vague memory" -of having been "with Christ and Socrates"; and stirred as deeply -by hill and tree as by human beauty, he saw all Merlin's people, -spirits "of vegetable nature" and fairies whom we "call accident and -chance." He made possible a religious life to those who had seen the -painters and poets of the romantic movement succeed to theology, but -the shepherd and the midwife had they known him would have celebrated -him in stories, and turned away from his thought, understanding that -he was upon an errand to their masters. Like Swedenborg he believed -that heaven came from "an improvement of sensual enjoyment," for -sight and hearing, taste and touch grow with the angelic years, but -unlike him he could convey to others "enlarged and numerous senses," -and the mass of men know instinctively they are safer with an -abstract and an index. - - - V - -It was, I believe, the Frenchman Allen Cardec and an American -shoemaker's clerk called Jackson Davis, who first adapted to the séance -room the philosophy of Swedenborg. I find Davis whose style is vague, -voluble, and pretentious, almost unreadable, and yet his books have -gone to many editions and are full of stories that had been charming or -exciting had he lived in Connaught or any place else, where the general -mass of the people has an imaginative tongue. His mother was learned -in country superstition, and had called in a knowledgeable man when -she believed a neighbour had bewitched a cow, but it was not till his -fifteenth year that he discovered his faculty, when his native village, -Poughkeepsie, was visited by a travelling mesmerist. He was fascinated -by the new marvel, and mesmerized by a neighbour he became clairvoyant, -describing the diseases of those present and reading watches he could -not see with his eyes. One night the neighbour failed to awake him -completely from the trance and he stumbled out into the street and -went to his bed ill and stupefied. In the middle of the night he heard -a voice telling him to get up and dress himself and follow. He wandered -for miles, now wondering at what seemed the unusual brightness of the -stars and once passing a visionary shepherd and his flock of sheep, and -then again stumbling in cold and darkness. He crossed the frozen Hudson -and became unconscious. He awoke in a mountain valley to see once more -the visionary shepherd and his flock, and a very little, handsome, old -man who showed him a scroll and told him to write his name upon it. - -A little later he passed, as he believed, from this mesmeric condition -and found that he was among the Catskill Mountains and more than forty -miles from home. Having crossed the Hudson again he felt the trance -coming upon him and began to run. He ran, as he thought, many miles -and as he ran became unconscious. When he awoke he was sitting upon a -gravestone in a graveyard surrounded by a wood and a high wall. Many -of the gravestones were old and broken. After much conversation with -two stately phantoms, he went stumbling on his way. Presently he found -himself at home again. It was evening and the mesmerist was questioning -him as to where he had been since they lost him the night before. -He was very hungry and had a vague memory of his return, of country -roads passing before his eyes in brief moments of wakefulness. He now -seemed to know that one of the phantoms with whom he had spoken in the -graveyard was the physician Galen, and the other, Swedenborg. - -From that hour the two phantoms came to him again and again, the -one advising him in the diagnosis of disease, and the other in -philosophy. He quoted a passage from Swedenborg, and it seemed -impossible that any copy of the newly translated book that contained -it could have come into his hands, for a Swedenborgian minister in -New York traced every copy which had reached America. - -Swedenborg himself had gone upon more than one somnambulistic -journey, and they occur a number of times in Lady Gregory's stories, -one woman saying that when she was among the faeries she was often -glad to eat the food from the pigs' troughs. - -Once in childhood, Davis, while hurrying home through a wood, heard -footsteps behind him and began to run, but the footsteps, though they -did not seem to come more quickly and were still the regular pace of -a man walking, came nearer. Presently he saw an old, white-haired -man beside him who said: "You cannot run away from life," and asked -him where he was going. "I am going home," he said, and the phantom -answered, "I also am going home," and then vanished. Twice in later -childhood, and a third time when he had grown to be a young man, he -was overtaken by the same phantom and the same words were spoken, -but the last time he asked why it had vanished so suddenly. It said -that it had not, but that he had supposed that "changes of state" -in himself were "appearance and disappearance." It then touched him -with one finger upon the side of his head, and the place where he was -touched remained ever after without feeling, like those places always -searched for at the witches' trials. One remembers "the touch" and -"the stroke" in the Irish stories. - - - VI - -Allen Cardec, whose books are much more readable than those of Davis, -had himself no mediumistic gifts. He gathered the opinions, as he -believed, of spirits speaking through a great number of automatists -and trance speakers, and all the essential thought of Swedenborg -remains, but like Davis, these spirits do not believe in an eternal -Hell, and like Blake they describe unhuman races, powers of the -elements, and declare that the soul is no creature of the womb, -having lived many lives upon the earth. The sorrow of death, they -tell us again and again, is not so bitter as the sorrow of birth, -and had our ears the subtlety we could listen amid the joy of lovers -and the pleasure that comes with sleep to the wailing of the spirit -betrayed into a cradle. Who was it that wrote: "O Pythagoras, so -good, so wise, so eloquent, upon my last voyage, I taught thee, a -soft lad, to splice a rope"? - -This belief, common among continental spiritists, is denied by those -of England and America, and if one question the voices at a séance -they take sides according to the medium's nationality. I have even -heard what professed to be the shade of an old English naval officer -denying it with a fine phrase: "I did not leave my oars crossed; I -left them side by side." - - - VII - -Much as a hashish eater will discover in the folds of a curtain a -figure beautifully drawn and full of delicate detail all built up out -of shadows that show to other eyes, or later to his own, a different -form or none, Swedenborg discovered in the Bible the personal symbolism -of his vision. If the Bible was upon his side, as it seemed, he had -no need of other evidence, but had he lived when modern criticism -had lessened its authority, even had he been compelled to say that -the primitive beliefs of all peoples were as sacred, he could but -have run to his own gift for evidence. He might even have held of -some importance his powers of discovering the personal secrets of the -dead and set up as medium. Yet it is more likely he had refused, for -the medium has his gift from no heightening of all the emotions and -intellectual faculties till they seem as it were to take fire, but -commonly because they are altogether or in part extinguished while -another mind controls his body. He is greatly subject to trance and -awakes to remember nothing, whereas the mystic and the saint plead -unbroken consciousness. Indeed the author of _Sidonia the Sorceress_, -a really learned authority, considered this lack of memory a certain -sign of possession by the devil, though this is too absolute. Only -yesterday, while walking in a field, I made up a good sentence with an -emotion of triumph, and half a minute after could not even remember -what it was about, and several minutes had gone by before I as suddenly -found it. For the most part, though not always, it is this unconscious -condition of mediumship, a dangerous condition it may be, that seems -to make possible "physical phenomena" and that overshadowing of the -memory by some spirit memory, which Swedenborg thought an accident and -unlawful. - -In describing and explaining this mediumship and so making -intelligible the stories of Aran and Galway I shall say very seldom, -"it is said," or "Mr. So-and-So reports," or "it is claimed by the -best authors." I shall write as if what I describe were everywhere -established, everywhere accepted, and I had only to remind my reader -of what he already knows. Even if incredulous he will give me his -fancy for certain minutes, for at the worst I can show him a gorgon -or chimera that has never lacked gazers, alleging nothing (and I do -not write out of a little knowledge) that is not among the sober -beliefs of many men, or obvious inference from those beliefs, and if -he wants more--well, he will find it in the best authors.[2] - - - VIII - -All spirits for some time after death, and the "earth-bound," as -they are called, the larvĉ, as Beaumont, the seventeenth-century -Platonist, preferred to call them, those who cannot become -disentangled from old habits and desires, for many years, it may be -for centuries, keep the shape of their earthly bodies and carry on -their old activities, wooing or quarrelling, or totting figures on a -table, in a round of dull duties or passionate events. Today while -the great battle in Northern France is still undecided, should I -climb to the top of that old house in Soho where a medium is sitting -among servant girls, some one would, it may be, ask for news of -Gordon Highlander or Munster Fusilier, and the fat old woman would -tell in Cockney language how the dead do not yet know they are dead, -but stumble on amid visionary smoke and noise, and how angelic -spirits seek to awaken them but still in vain. - -Those who have attained to nobler form, when they appear in the -séance room, create temporary bodies, commonly like to those they -wore when living, through some unconscious constraint of memory, or -deliberately, that they may be recognized. Davis, in his literal -way, said the first sixty feet of the atmosphere was a reflector and -that in almost every case it was mere images we spoke with in the -séance room, the spirit itself being far away. The images are made -of a substance drawn from the medium who loses weight, and in a less -degree from all present, and for this light must be extinguished or -dimmed or shaded with red as in a photographer's room. The image will -begin outside the medium's body as a luminous cloud, or in a sort of -luminous mud forced from the body, out of the mouth it may be, from -the side or from the lower parts of the body.[3] One may see a vague -cloud condense and diminish into a head or arm or a whole figure of a -man, or to some animal shape. - -I remember a story told me by a friend's steward in Galway of the -faeries playing at hurley in a field and going in and out of the -bodies of two men who stood at either goal. Out of the medium will -come perhaps a cripple or a man bent with years and sometimes the -apparition will explain that, but for some family portrait, or for -what it lit on while rumaging in our memories, it had not remembered -its customary clothes or features, or cough or limp or crutch. -Sometimes, indeed, there is a strange regularity of feature and -we suspect the presence of an image that may never have lived, an -artificial beauty that may have shown itself in the Greek mysteries. -Has some cast in the Vatican, or at Bloomsbury been the model? Or -there may float before our eyes a mask as strange and powerful as the -lineaments of the Servian's _Frowning Man_ or of Rodin's _Man with -the Broken Nose_. And once a rumour ran among the séance rooms to -the bewilderment of simple believers, that a heavy middle-aged man -who took snuff, and wore the costume of a past time, had appeared -while a French medium was in his trance, and somebody had recognized -the Tartuffe of the Comédie Française. There will be few complete -forms, for the dead are economical, and a head, or just enough of -the body for recognition, may show itself above hanging folds of -drapery that do not seem to cover solid limbs, or a hand or foot is -lacking, or it may be that some _Revenant_ has seized the half-made -image of another, and a young girl's arm will be thrust from the -withered body of an old man. Nor is every form a breathing and -pulsing thing, for some may have a distribution of light and shade -not that of the séance room, flat pictures whose eyes gleam and move; -and sometimes material objects are thrown together (drifted in from -some neighbour's wardrobe, it may be, and drifted thither again) -and an appearance kneaded up out of these and that luminous mud or -vapour almost as vivid as are those pictures of Antonio Mancini which -have fragments of his paint tubes embedded for the high lights into -the heavy masses of the paint. Sometimes there are animals, bears -frequently for some unknown reason, but most often birds and dogs. If -an image speak it will seldom seem very able or alert, for they come -for recognition only, and their minds are strained and fragmentary; -and should the dogs bark, a man who knows the language of our dogs -may not be able to say if they are hungry or afraid or glad to meet -their master again. All may seem histrionic or a hollow show. We are -the spectators of a phantasmagoria that affects the photographic -plate or leaves its moulded image in a preparation of paraffin. We -have come to understand why the Platonists of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries, and visionaries like Boehme and Paracelsus -confused imagination with magic, and why Boehme will have it that it -"creates and substantiates as it goes." - -Most commonly, however, especially of recent years, no form will show -itself, or but vaguely and faintly and in no way ponderable, and -instead there will be voices flitting here and there in darkness, -or in the half-light, or it will be the medium himself fallen into -trance who will speak, or without a trance write from a knowledge and -intelligence not his own. Glanvil, the seventeenth-century Platonist, -said that the higher spirits were those least capable of showing -material effects, and it seems plain from certain Polish experiments -that the intelligence of the communicators increases with their -economy of substance and energy. Often now among these faint effects -one will seem to speak with the very dead. They will speak or write -some tongue that the medium does not know and give correctly their -forgotten names, or describe events one only verifies after weeks -of labour. Here and there amongst them one discovers a wise and -benevolent mind that knows a little of the future and can give good -advice. They have made, one imagines, from some finer substance than -a phosphorescent mud, or cobweb vapour that we can see or handle, -images not wholly different from themselves, figures in a galanty -show not too strained or too extravagant to speak their very thought. - -Yet we never long escape the phantasmagoria nor can long forget -that we are among the shape-changers. Sometimes our own minds shape -that mysterious substance, which may be life itself, according to -desire or constrained by memory, and the dead no longer remembering -their own names become the characters in the drama we ourselves -have invented. John King, who has delighted melodramatic minds for -hundreds of séances with his career on earth as Henry Morgan the -buccaneer, will tell more scientific visitors that he is merely -a force, while some phantom long accustomed to a decent name, -questioned by some pious Catholic, will admit very cheerfully that he -is the devil. Nor is it only present minds that perplex the shades -with phantasy, for friends of Count Albert de Rochas once wrote out -names and incidents but to discover that though the surname of the -shade that spoke had been historical, Christian name and incidents -were from a romance running at the time in some clerical newspaper no -one there had ever opened. - -All these shadows have drunk from the pool of blood and become -delirious. Sometimes they will use the very word and say that we -force delirium upon them because we do not still our minds, or that -minds not stupefied with the body force them more subtly, for now -and again one will withdraw what he has said, saying that he was -constrained by the neighbourhood of some more powerful shade. - -When I was a boy at Sligo, a stable boy met his late master going -round the yard, and having told him to go and haunt the lighthouse, -was dismissed by his mistress for sending her husband to haunt -so inclement a spot. Ghosts, I was told, must go where they are -bid, and all those threatenings by the old _grimoires_ to drown -some disobedient spirit at the bottom of the Red Sea, and indeed -all exorcism and conjuration affirm that our imagination is king. -_Revenants_ are, to use the modern term, "suggestable," and may be -studied in the "trance personalities" of hypnoses and in our dreams -which are but hypnosis turned inside out, a modeller's clay for our -suggestions, or, if we follow _The Spiritual Diary_, for those of -invisible beings. Swedenborg has written that we are each in the -midst of a group of associated spirits who sleep when we sleep and -become the _dramatis personĉ_ of our dreams, and are always the other -will that wrestles with our thought, shaping it to our despite. - - - IX - -We speak, it may be, of the Proteus of antiquity which has to be -held or it will refuse its prophecy, and there are many warnings in -our ears. "Stoop not down," says the Chaldĉan Oracle, "to the darkly -splendid world wherein continually lieth a faithless depth and Hades -wrapped in cloud, delighting in unintelligible images," and amid that -caprice, among those clouds, there is always legerdemain; we juggle, -or lose our money with the same pack of cards that may reveal the -future. The magicians who astonished the Middle Ages with power as -incalculable as the fall of a meteor were not so numerous as the more -amusing jugglers who could do their marvels at will; and in our own -day the juggler Houdin, sent to Morocco by the French Government, was -able to break the prestige of the dervishes whose fragile wonders -were but worked by fasting and prayer. - -Sometimes, indeed, a man would be magician, jester, and juggler. In -an Irish story a stranger lays three rushes upon the flat of his hand -and promises to blow away the inner and leave the others unmoved, and -thereupon puts two fingers of his other hand upon the outer ones and -blows. However, he will do a more wonderful trick. There are many -who can wag both ears, but he can wag one and not the other, and -thereafter, when he has everybody's attention, he takes one ear between -finger and thumb. But now that the audience are friendly and laughing -the moment of miracle has come. He takes out of a bag a skein of silk -thread and throws it into the air, until it seems as though one end -were made fast to a cloud. Then he takes out of his bag first a hare -and then a dog and then a young man and then "a beautiful, well-dressed -young woman" and sends them all running up the thread. Nor, the -old writers tell us, does the association of juggler and magician -cease after death, which only gives to legerdemain greater power and -subtlety. Those who would live again in us, becoming a part of our -thoughts and passion have, it seems, their sport to keep us in good -humour, and a young girl who has astonished herself and her friends in -some dark séance may, when we have persuaded her to become entranced -in a lighted room, tell us that some shade is touching her face, while -we can see her touching it with her own hand, or we may discover her, -while her eyes are still closed, in some jugglery that implies an -incredible mastery of muscular movement. Perhaps too in the fragmentary -middle world there are souls that remain always upon the brink, always -children. Dr. Ochorowicz finds his experiments upset by a naked girl, -one foot one inch high, who is constantly visible to his medium and -who claims never to have lived upon the earth. He has photographed her -by leaving a camera in an empty room where she had promised to show -herself, but is so doubtful of her honesty that he is not sure she did -not hold up a print from an illustrated paper in front of the camera. -In one of Lady Gregory's stories a countryman is given by a stranger -he meets upon the road what seems wholesome and pleasant food, but a -little later his stomach turns and he finds that he has eaten chopped -grass, and one remembers Robin Goodfellow and his joint stool, and -witches' gold that is but dried cow dung. It is only, one does not -doubt, because of our preoccupation with a single problem, our survival -of the body, and with the affection that binds us to the dead, that all -the gnomes and nymphs of antiquity have not begun their tricks again. - - - X - -Plutarch, in his essay on the dĉmon, describes how the souls of -enlightened men return to be the schoolmasters of the living, whom -they influence unseen; and the mediums, should we ask how they escape -the illusions of that world, claim the protection of their guides. One -will tell you that when she was a little girl she was minding geese -upon some American farm and an old man came towards her with a queer -coat upon him, and how at first she took him for a living man. He -said perhaps a few words of pious commonplace or practical advice and -vanished. He had come again and again, and now that she has to earn her -living by her gift, he warns her against deceiving spirits, or if she -is working too hard, but sometimes she will not listen and gets into -trouble. The old witch doctor of Lady Gregory's story learned his cures -from his dead sister whom he met from time to time, but especially at -Hallowe'en, at the end of the garden, but he had other helpers harsher -than she, and once he was beaten for disobedience. - -Reginald Scott gives a fine plan for picking a guide. You promise some -dying man to pray for the repose of his soul if he will but come to -you after death and give what help you need, while stories of mothers -who come at night to be among their orphan children are as common -among spiritists as in Galway or in Mayo. A French servant girl once -said to a friend of mine who helped her in some love affair: "You -have your studies, we have only our affections"; and this I think is -why the walls are broken less often among us than among the poor. Yet -according to the doctrine of Soho and Holloway and in Plutarch, those -studies that have lessened in us the sap of the world may bring to us -good, learned, masterful men who return to see their own or some like -work carried to a finish. "I do think," wrote Sir Thomas Browne, "that -many mysteries ascribed to our own invention have been the courteous -revelations of spirits; for those noble essences in heaven bear a -friendly regard unto their fellow creatures on earth." - - - XI - -Much that Lady Gregory has gathered seems but the broken bread -of old philosophers, or else of the one sort with the dough they -made into their loaves. Were I not ignorant, my Greek gone and my -meagre Latin all but gone, I do not doubt that I could find much -to the point in Greek, perhaps in old writers on medicine, much in -Renaissance or Medieval Latin. As it is, I must be content with what -has been translated or with the seventeenth-century Platonists who -are the handier for my purpose because they found in the affidavits -and confessions of the witch trials, descriptions like those in our -Connaught stories. I have Henry More in his verse and in his prose -and I have Henry More's two friends, Joseph Glanvil, and Cudworth in -his _Intellectual System of the Universe_, three volumes violently -annotated by an opposed theologian; and two essays by Mr. G. R. S. -Meade clipped out of his magazine, _The Quest_. These writers quote -much from Plotinus and Porphyry and Plato and from later writers, -especially Synesius and John Philoponus in whom the School of Plato -came to an end in the seventh century. - -We should not suppose that our souls began at birth, for as Henry -More has said, a man might as well think "from souls new souls" to -bring as "to press the sunbeams in his fist" or "wring the rainbow -till it dye his hands." We have within us an "airy body" or "spirit -body" which was our only body before our birth as it will be again -when we are dead and its "plastic power" has shaped our terrestrial -body as some day it may shape apparition and ghost. Porphyry is -quoted by Mr. Meade as saying that "Souls who love the body attach -a moist spirit to them and condense it like a cloud," and so become -visible, and so are all apparitions of the dead made visible; though -necromancers, according to Henry More, can ease and quicken this -condensation "with reek of oil, meal, milk, and such like gear, -wine, water, honey." One remembers that Dr. Ochorowicz's naked -imp once described how she filled out an appearance of herself by -putting a piece of blotting paper where her stomach should have been -and that the blotting paper became damp because, as she said, a -materialization, until it is completed, is a damp vapour. This airy -body which so compresses vapour, Philoponus says, "takes the shape -of the physical body as water takes the shape of the vessel that it -has been frozen in," but it is capable of endless transformations, -for "in itself it has no especial form," but Henry More believes that -it has an especial form, for "its plastic power" cannot but find -the human form most "natural," though "vehemency of desire to alter -the figure into another representation may make the appearance to -resemble some other creature; but no forced thing can last long." -"The better genii" therefore prefer to show "in a human shape yet -not it may be with all the lineaments" but with such as are "fit -for this separate state" (separate from the body that is) or are -"requisite to perfect the visible features of a person," desire and -imagination adding clothes and ornament. The materialization, as we -would say, has but enough likeness for recognition. It may be that -More but copies Philoponus who thought the shade's habitual form, the -image that it was as it were frozen in for a time, could be again -"coloured and shaped by fantasy," and that "it is probable that -when the soul desires to manifest it shapes itself, setting its own -imagination in movement, or even that it is probable with the help -of dĉmonic co-operation that it appears and again becomes invisible, -becoming condensed and rarefied." Porphyry, Philoponus adds, gives -Homer as his authority for the belief that souls after death live -among images of their experience upon earth, phantasms impressed -upon the spirit body. While Synesius, who lived at the end of the -fourth century and had Hypatia among his friends, also describes the -spirit body as capable of taking any form and so of enabling us after -death to work out our purgation; and says that for this reason the -oracles have likened the state after death to the images of a dream. -The seventeenth century English translation of Cornelius Agrippa's -_De Occulta Philosophia_ was once so famous that it found its way -into the hands of Irish farmers and wandering Irish tinkers, and -it may be that Agrippa influenced the common thought when he wrote -that the evil dead see represented "in the fantastic reason" those -shapes of life that are "the more turbulent and furious ... sometimes -of the heavens falling upon their heads, sometimes of their being -consumed with the violence of flames, sometimes of being drowned -in a gulf, sometimes of being swallowed up in the earth, sometimes -of being changed into divers kinds of beasts ... and sometimes of -being taken and tormented by demons ... as if they were in a dream." -The ancients, he writes, have called these souls "hobgoblins," and -Orpheus has called them "the people of dreams" saying "the gates of -Pluto cannot be unlocked; within is a people of dreams." They are -a dream indeed that has place and weight and measure, and seeing -that their bodies are of an actual air, they cannot, it was held, -but travel in wind and set the straws and the dust twirling; though -being of the wind's weight they need not, Dr. Henry More considers, -so much as feel its ruffling, or if they should do so, they can -shelter in a house or behind a wall, or gather into themselves as it -were, out of the gross wind and vapour. But there are good dreams -among the airy people, though we cannot properly name that a dream -which is but analogical of the deep unimaginable virtues and has, -therefore, stability and a common measure. Henry More stays himself -in the midst of the dry learned and abstract writing of his treatise -_The Immortality of the Soul_ to praise "their comely carriage ... -their graceful dancing, their melodious singing and playing with -an accent so sweet and soft as if we should imagine air itself to -compose lessons and send forth musical sounds without the help of -any terrestrial instrument" and imagines them at their revels in -the thin upper air where the earth can but seem "a fleecy and milky -light" as the moon to us, and he cries out that they "sing and play -and dance together, reaping the lawful pleasures of the very animal -life, in a far higher degree than we are capable of in this world, -for everything here does, as it were, taste of the cask and has some -measure of foulness in it." - -There is, however, another birth or death when we pass from the -airy to the shining or ethereal body, and "in the airy the soul may -inhabit for many ages and in the ethereal for ever," and indeed it -is the ethereal body which is the root "of all that natural warmth in -all generations" though in us it can no longer shine. It lives while -in its true condition an unimaginable life and is sometimes described -as of "a round or oval figure" and as always circling among gods and -among the stars, and sometimes as having more dimensions than our -penury can comprehend. - -Last winter Mr. Ezra Pound was editing the late Professor Fenollosa's -translations of the Noh Drama of Japan, and read me a great deal of -what he was doing. Nearly all that my fat old woman in Soho learns -from her familiars is there in an unsurpassed lyric poetry and in -strange and poignant fables once danced or sung in the houses of -nobles. In one a priest asks his way of some girls who are gathering -herbs. He asks if it is a long road to town; and the girls begin to -lament over their hard lot gathering cress in a cold wet bog where -they sink up to their knees and to compare themselves with ladies -in the big town who only pull the cress in sport, and need not when -the cold wind is flapping their sleeves. He asks what village he -has come to and if a road near by leads to the village of Ono. A -girl replies that nobody can know that name without knowing the -road, and another says: "Who would not know that name, written on -so many pictures, and know the pine trees they are always drawing." -Presently the cold drives away all the girls but one and she tells -the priest she is a spirit and has taken solid form that she may -speak with him and ask his help. It is her tomb that has made Ono so -famous. Conscience-struck at having allowed two young men to fall -in love with her she refused to choose between them. Her father -said he would give her to the best archer. At the match to settle -it both sent their arrows through the same wing of a mallard and -were declared equal. She being ashamed and miserable because she had -caused so much trouble and for the death of the mallard, took her -own life. That, she thought, would end the trouble, but her lovers -killed themselves beside her tomb, and now she suffered all manner -of horrible punishments. She had but to lay her hand upon a pillar -to make it burst into flame; she was perpetually burning. The priest -tells her that if she can but cease to believe in her punishments -they will cease to exist. She listens in gratitude but she cannot -cease to believe, and while she is speaking they come upon her and -she rushes away enfolded in flames. Her imagination has created all -those terrors out of a scruple, and one remembers how Lake Harris, -who led Laurence Oliphant such a dance, once said to a shade, "How -did you know you were damned?" and that it answered, "I saw my own -thoughts going past me like blazing ships." - -In a play still more rich in lyric poetry a priest is wandering in -a certain ancient village. He describes the journey and the scene, -and from time to time the chorus sitting at the side of the stage -sings its comment. He meets with two ghosts, the one holding a red -stick, the other a piece of coarse cloth and both dressed in the -fashion of a past age, but as he is a stranger he supposes them -villagers wearing the village fashion. They sing as if muttering, -"We are entangled up--whose fault was it, dear? Tangled up as the -grass patterns are tangled up in this coarse cloth, or that insect -which lives and chirrups in dried seaweed. We do not know where are -today our tears in the undergrowth of this eternal wilderness. We -neither wake nor sleep and passing our nights in sorrow, which is -in the end a vision, what are these scenes of spring to us? This -thinking in sleep for some one who has no thought for you, is it more -than a dream? And yet surely it is the natural way of love. In our -hearts there is much, and in our bodies nothing, and we do nothing -at all, and only the waters of the river of tears flow quickly." To -the priest they seem two married people, but he cannot understand -why they carry the red stick and the coarse cloth. They ask him to -listen to a story. Two young people had lived in that village long -ago and night after night for three years the young man had offered a -charmed red stick, the token of love, at the young girl's window, but -she pretended not to see and went on weaving. So the young man died -and was buried in a cave with his charmed red sticks, and presently -the girl died too, and now because they were never married in life -they were unmarried in their death. The priest, who does not yet -understand that it is their own tale, asks to be shown the cave, and -says it will be a fine tale to tell when he goes home. The chorus -describes the journey to the cave. The lovers go in front, the priest -follows. They are all day pushing through long grasses that hide the -narrow paths. They ask the way of a farmer who is mowing. Then night -falls and it is cold and frosty. It is stormy and the leaves are -falling and their feet sink into the muddy places made by the autumn -showers; there is a long shadow on the slope of the mountain, and an -owl in the ivy of the pine tree. They have found the cave and it is -dyed with the red sticks of love to the colour of "the orchids and -chrysanthemums which hide the mouth of a fox's hole"; and now the two -lovers have "slipped into the shadow of the cave." Left alone and -too cold to sleep the priest decides to spend the night in prayer. -He prays that the lovers may at last be one. Presently he sees to -his wonder that the cave is lighted up "where people are talking and -setting up looms for spinning and painted red sticks." The ghosts -creep out and thank him for his prayer and say that through his pity -"the love promises of long past incarnations" find fulfilment in -a dream. Then he sees the love story unfolded in a vision and the -chorus compares the sound of weaving to the clicking of crickets. -A little later he is shown the bridal room and the lovers drinking -from the bridal cup. The dawn is coming. It is reflected in the -bridal cup and now singers, cloth, and stick break and dissolve like -a dream, and there is nothing but "a deserted grave on a hill where -morning winds are blowing through the pine." - -I remember that Aran story of the lovers who came after death to the -priest for marriage. It is not uncommon for a ghost, "a control" as -we say, to come to a medium to discover some old earthly link to fit -into a new chain. It wishes to meet a ghostly enemy to win pardon or -to renew an old friendship. Our service to the dead is not narrowed -to our prayers, but may be as wide as our imagination. I have known -a control to warn a medium to unsay her promise to an old man, to -whom, that she might be rid of him, she had promised herself after -death. What is promised here in our loves or in a witch's bond may be -fulfilled in a life which is a dream. If our terrestrial condition -is, as it seems the territory of choice and of cause, the one ground -for all seed sowing, it is plain why our imagination has command -over the dead and why they must keep from sight and earshot. At the -British Museum at the end of the Egyptian Room and near the stairs -are two statues, one an august decoration, one a most accurate -looking naturalistic portrait. The august decoration was for a public -site, the other, like all the naturalistic art of the epoch, for -burial beside a mummy. So buried it was believed, the Egyptologists -tell us, to be of service to the dead. I have no doubt it helped a -dead man to build out of his spirit-body a recognizable apparition, -and that all boats or horses or weapons or their models buried in -ancient tombs were helps for a flagging memory or a too weak fancy -to imagine and so substantiate the old surroundings. A shepherd at -Doneraile told me some years ago of an aunt of his who showed herself -after death stark naked and bid her relatives to make clothes and to -give them to a beggar, the while remembering her.[4] Presently she -appeared again wearing the clothes and thanked them. - - - XII - -Certainly in most writings before our time the body of an apparition -was held for a brief, artificial, dreamy, half-living thing. One -is always meeting such phrases as Sir Thomas Browne's "they steal -or contrive a body." A passage in the _Paradiso_ comes to mind -describing Dante in conversation with the blessed among their -spheres, although they are but in appearance there, being in truth -in the petals of the yellow rose; and another in the Odyssey where -Odysseus speaks not with "the mighty Heracles," but with his phantom, -for he himself "hath joy at the banquet among the deathless gods and -hath to wife Hebe of the fair ankles, child of Zeus, and Hero of the -golden sandals," while all about the phantom "there was a clamour of -the dead, as it were fowls flying everywhere in fear and he, like -black night with bow uncased, and shaft upon the string, fiercely -glancing around like one in the act to shoot." - - W.B.Y. - - _14th October, 1914._ - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The Japanese _Noh_ play _Awoi no Uye_ has for its theme the -exorcism of a ghost which is itself obsessed by an evil spirit. This -evil spirit, drawn forth by the exorcism, is represented by a dancer -wearing a "terrible mask with golden eyes." - -[2] Besides the well-known books of Atsikof, Myers, Lodge, Flammarion, -Flournoy, Maxwell, Albert De Rochas, Lombroso, Madame Bisson, Delanne, -etc., I have made considerable use of the researches of D'Ochorowicz -published during the last ten or twelve years in _Annales des Science -Psychiques_ and in the English _Annals of Psychical Science_, and of -those of Professor Hyslop published during the last four years in the -_Journal_ and _Transactions of the American Society for Psychical -Research_. I have myself been a somewhat active investigator. - -[3] Henry More considered that "the animal spirits" were "the -immediate instruments of the soul in all vital and animal functions" -and quotes Harpocrates, who was contemporary with Plato, as saying, -"that the mind of man is ... not nourished from meats and drinks -from the belly but by a clear and luminous substance that redounds -by separation from the blood." Ochorowicz thought that certain small -oval lights were perhaps the root of personality itself. - -[4] Herodotus has an equivalent tale. Periander, because the ghost -of his wife complained that it was "cold and naked," got the women -of Corinth together in their best clothes and had them stripped and -their clothes burned. - - - - - NOTES - - - - - NOTES - - -NOTE 1. A woman from the North would probably be a faery woman or -at any rate a "knowledgeable" woman, one who was "in the faeries" -and certainly not necessarily at all a woman from Ulster. The North -where the old Celtic other world was thought to lie is the quarter of -spells and faeries. A visionary student, who was at the Dublin Art -School when I was there, described to me a waking dream of the North -Pole. There were luxuriant vegetation and overflowing life though -still but ice to the physical eye. He added thereto his conviction -that wherever physical life was abundant, the spiritual life was -vague and thin, and of the converse truth. - -NOTE 2. St. Patrick prayed, in _The Breastplate of St. Patrick_, to -be delivered from the spells of smiths and women. - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - -Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been fixed throughout. - -Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Visions and Beliefs in the West of -Ireland, Second Series, by Lady Gregory - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VISIONS AND BELIEFS (2/2) *** - -***** This file should be named 43974-8.txt or 43974-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/9/7/43974/ - -Produced by Douglas L. 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