Folklore

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County Clare Folk-Tales and Myths, I.

Thos. J. Westropp

To cite this article: Thos. J. Westropp (1913) Folk-Tales and Myths, I., Folklore, 24:1, 96-106, DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.1913.9719552

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Published online: 06 Feb 2012.

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Download by: [University of Sydney Library] Date: 06 June 2016, At: 03:58 96 Collectanea.

J8. Vintinov crave e na fiimma A fan trenta bestie. Twenty-nine goats and one woman Make thirty beasts.

To the last proverb women reply:— 29. 6m, 1'asu e 1'pitu a s'asmiu. A man, an ass, and a turkey are the same.

E. CANZIANI.

COUNTY CI.ARE FOI.K-TAI.ES AND MYTHS, I.

IN continuation of Folklore Survey of County Clare} I now present a collection of quasi-historic tales and traces of tales, ranging from mythical times to the early eighteenth century. Few counties can boast such a rich and unbroken series, and, although I dare not assert that all the tales have been passed from mouth to mouth " without book,"—and indeed hold an opposite view in certain cases,—it is probable that many were so transmitted. In some examples it may be instructive to compare the tradition with written history. I have arranged the tales in chronological order, and tried to eliminate all clearly derived from books in recent years. I shall, however, show how modern books on King Brian have veneered the purer tradition of 1890 near Killaloe, and record the oldest written tales about the district. There is no reason to believe that the local accounts of De Clare's wars, the Armada, or the great Civil War of 1641-51, go back to any other

Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 than a remote traditional source.'- The tales of the saints were probably drawn, long ago, from the actual legetida read in the churches. The wild stories of gods and heroes probably came down orally from incredibly remote periods.3

I Vols, xxi., xxii., and xxiii. Map, vol. xxi., I'l. xi. JThe tales have, however, been touched up ami remodelled since 1892. II do not refer to the cuhemerized tales of the Tuatha De Danann, of which the recension dates probably little, if at all, before the Norse wars, and far later than the introduction of Christianity. Collectanea. 97

The belief that the "torch of tradition" has burned continu­ ously, without rekindling, is strengthened by the slight and bald narrations about the all-important Mound of Inauguration at Magh Adhair,4 despite its appearance in accessible works, from the Collectanea of Vallancey onwards. It is also noteworthy that the bulk of the Clare stories are Dalcassian, the great tribes of the Corcabaiscinn only appearing in the tales of St. Senan, and those naming the Corca Modruad having seemingly died out.8

i. The Gods.

Ana or Danann, Mother of the Gods, is still kept in mind by Irish speakers in naming certain hills in Kerry,6 and her children, the Tuatha De Danann, are not forgotten in ancient . Slieve Boughty or Aughty (Sliabh n Echtgha), on the north­ eastern border of Clare, is named from " Echtghe the Awful," the divine daughter of the god Nuada Silver-Arm.7 These hills were given to her by her lover, the cup-bearer of Gann and Genann, the eponymous ancestors of the Ganganoi of Ptolemy.8 Tuath Aughty is the parish of Feakle. The god Lugh had a daughter Tailti, and a rath-builder, Alestar, dug a fort to appease her anger at a slight offered when her husband, Eochy Garbh, was clearing a forest to make a fair green in her honour. This fort lay at Cluan Alestair on Sliabh Leitreach (or Mount Callan),' but its site is now forgotten. The two tales are recorded in ancient books, and the place-names themselves are still preserved.9 I have already noted10 a warning in 1905 by two natives at

'Cf. vol. xxii., p. 208. 5 Cf. vol. xxi., pp. 181-2. •The Paps of Kerry are called Da chiih Danainiu ("The Two Breasts of Ana"), Annals of the Four Masters (ed. O'Donovan), vol. i., p. 24 ». 7" Dindsenchas" (ed. Whitley Stokes), Revue Cellique, vol. xv. (1894), Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 p. 458. See also the later "Agallamh na Senorach" (The Colloquy with the Ancients), S. II. O'Grady, Silia Gadelica, vol. ii., p. 126. • See paper by Mr. G. H. Orren in The foumal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxiv., p. 119. •"Dindsenchas," Revue Celtique, vol. xv. (1894), p. 317. 14 Vol. xxi., p. 198. So in Silva Gadelica, vol. ii., pp. 123-6, people are afraid to sit on certain tulachs or mounds from fear of the Tuatha Di Danann. For a description of this remarkable district see The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxxv., pp. 343-52. G 98 Collectanea.

Croaghateeaun, north-west of Ballinalacken Castle, to cross our­ selves as a protection " against «the Dananns," and not far away to the east, near Castle, is the entrenched natural green hillock of Lissateeaun (Lios an t siodhain), the "fairy fort," which was in 1839 a recognised palace of the De Danann. This name recalls the early passages relating to the Sidh. The fifth- century hymn of Fiacc says,—"On Erin's folk lay darkness, the tribes worshipped the Sidh," while Tirechan's annotations in the Book 0/ Armagh11 tell of the " viros side aut deorum terrenorum," for whom Patrick and his clerics were mistaken. Much later Seaan MacCraith1* tells how, in 1317, the hideous hag Bronach revealed herself at Lough Rask to Prince Dermot O'Brien as one of the Tuatha De Danann, and again, as a lodger in the green fairy hills, in the following year, to Sir Richard de Clare at the ford of the river Fergus. She is still vaguely remembered in northern Burren.13 In 1684 Roderic O'Flaherty tells us that the Irish call "aerial spirits or phantoms" sidhe "because they come out of pleasant hills." Another of the Danann who played a large part in Clare was the smith Lon Mac Liomhtha. Perhaps the banshee Aibhill and the lady Gillagreine were of the same race.14 The latter may have been a daughter of Greine the sun, but in late legend (the " Agallamh ") she is a daughter of Finn mac Cum- hail.

2. The Red Branch Heroes. The great Setanta, surnamed Cuchulainn, (the Hound of Uladh and for a long time its sole defender against the hosts of Queen Medbh, whether a real hero or the Brocken spectre of one, a sun god, or the son of the god Lugh), has set his mark in place-names 11 See Rolls series, Tripartite Life of St. Tatrick, vol. ii., p. 315, for Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 Tirechan, and p. 409 for Fiacc. Tirechan died A.I>. 656. 11 Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh, written about 1345-60, not, as usually slated, 1459, an error arising from a date in the original of an eighteenth-centuiy copy. 11 Cf. vol. xxi., pp. 187-9 Her name in 1839 was Caileaeh Cinn ftoime(the " Hag of Black Head "). The old name of the Hag's Head in Moher Cliffs, not far south from Black Head, was Ceann Cailighe (Kan Kallye in the 1580 maps). The Calliagh (cloaked woman) in older legend was younger, i.e. a Caillin. "Vol. xxi., p. 186. Collectanea. 99

far and wide, from the Cuchullin Hills in Scotland to Cuchullin's Leap15 at the mouth of the Shannon. At the latter place a huge and lofty rock tower, rising some fiftyo r sixty feet away from the end of , appears at one time to have been walled, and may, like other cliff forts, have been approached by a plank or natural bridge before the chasm widened. Before 850 Irish writers called it Leim Chonchulainn, so that probably his name and a story were attached to it in the ages left without record by the ravages of the Norse and Danes. But in later days his name was forgotten. "A hero," said the natives, was loved by Mai (a " Hag," though not necessarily old or ugly), and was pursued by her into the extreme angle at Loop Head. Closely pressed by her the hero leaped over to the island, was followed by her, and gathered his strength and sprang back to the headland. Mai was not to be discouraged, and followed, but fell short, and her blood stained all the sea as far as Hag's Head, her abode.18 Local ety­ mology says that Malbay owes its name to her. The same tale of Cuchulainn and the too fond dame is told in the Dindsenchas, but located at Fich m buana, near Dromsna, on the upper Shannon.17 Cuchulainn and the Red Branch Heroes, Conall Cernach, Cet, and Ross, fought the champions of the Firbolg Clann Umoir, and slew them. Several of the chiefs of the sons of Umor are com­ memorated in Clare; Irghus at the fort Caherdooneerish or Dunirias (not Caherdoonfergus as on the maps), on Rinn Boirne or Black Head; Daelach at Lissadeely, Ballydeely, and the

"Such *' leaps" abound up the coast. There is Leamanivore (" Big Man's Leap") in North Mayo, the "Giant's Leap" at Downpatrick Head, Leima- taggart ("Priest's Leap") and the "Leap of (Fiachra's) Sea Horse" in the Mullet at Dun Fiachrach Fort, Leim Conor, Leim Chaite, near Donegal Fort, Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 and Cuchulainn's Leap in Clare, the Leap of Ballingarry in Kerry, and the " Heir's " Leap near Ardmore in Co. Waterford. There are also inland leaps such as that at Ardnurcher Castle. '•O'Curry, in the Battle of Magh Leana, p. 92, gives the tale rather differently: the hero's paramour (Cannan) pursued him from Emania, and struck her back against a stone slightly below the edge, leaving an impression, whence it was called Leac na Cannain, and people believed that anyone with nerve enough to turn on one heel in the mark could obtain any wish. ''"Dindsenchas," Revue Cellique, vol. xvi., p. 57-8. IOO Collectanea.

Daelach river; Ennach at Tech n Ennach, up the same river, where the great fort of Doon stands above ; Beara at Finnavarra; and Adhar at Magh Adhair.18 Unless the story at Magh Adhair,—that " it is the tomb of a king,"—refers to Adhar, no trace of the tale has survived except the place-names. I am myself rather inclined to think that the localities in the tale are places of similar name in Co. Mayo, where early writers place a branch of Clann Uathmor. The O'Conors and O'Loughlins of Corcomroe claimed descent from Fergus mac Roigh and Medbh, and possibly they, rather than the intruding , preserved the Red Branch stories.

3. Finn Cycle. Clare has been less forgetful of the far later saga cycle refer­ ring to Finn mac Cumhail and his warriors, the events of which are attributed to the third century. Finn, Conan, Caeilte, Dermot, and Oisin have left obvious traces in the place-names. The Agallamh says that Cluan Chepain in the mountains of Echtghe was named from Chepan, son of Morna, who fell there.19 The site is now forgotten, but was to the south of Lough Graney. The elopement of Dermot and Grainne, Finn's wife, has given many names. I have already recorded their association with dolmens,20 at one of which, Tobergrania, the use of a flooded dolmen as a holy well has replaced the pagan lovers by two Christian ascetics from Feakle. Several hill tops are called Seefin or Finn's Seat, viz. on Slieve Bernagh, on Inchiquin Hill, and a cairn at Black Head. The tale of the Glasgeivnagh, or Grey-green Cow, on Slievena- glasha has been already alluded to,21 and runs as follows:—Lon mac Liomhtha (Loon mac Leefa), of the Tuatha De Danann, was

Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 the first smith to make an edged weapon in Ireland. He had only one leg, with which he could spring over hills and valleys, but as compensation he had a third arm and hand growing out of his chest, with which he held the iron on the anvil while forging it with

" " Dindsenchas," loc. til., vol. xv., pp. 478-481. ** Silva Gadelica, vol. ii., p. 126. "Vol. xxiii., pp. 91-2. '•"Vol. xxiii., p. 89; see also The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxv., p. 227-9, vol. xxvi., p. 150. Collectanea. 101

the huge hammer held by his other hands. He had stolen a wonderful grey-green cow from Spain, and lived on its unlimited milk. After long seeking he found a " desert" sufficiently fruitful to support her in Teeskagh. Many tried to steal her, but failed, because her hoofs grew backwards and she could not be tracked. One of Lon's seven sons took charge of her on each day of the week, holding her tail while she grazed. When she reached the edge of the plateau, he pulled her round by the tail, and let her graze back to Lon's fort, Mohernagartan ("the smith's fort"). She drank of the seven streams of Teeskagh,22 and the rocks were marked in every direction with her hoof prints. At last the fame of Finn mac Cumhail reached Lon, and he, unlike the rest of his race, (who sulked in the fairy hills after their defeat by the ), determined to recognize the chief hero of the new race and to make for him a wondrous sword. Lon set off to make himself known, and springing over the intervening plains and hills reached Ben Edair, the Hill of Howth, on the east coast. Finn and his warriors were holding a court when the strange being dropped into their midst, and Finn demanded the name and errand of the intruder. " I am Lon, skilled in the smith's craft, a servant to the King of Lochlan," the visitor replied. " I lay on ye a gets (obligation) to overtake me ere I reach my home," and off he sprung. The Fianna were soon outdistanced, except Caeilte " of the slender, hard legs," who came up with Lon hard by his forge, a cave with heaps of slaggy material in a nook still called Garraidh na gceardchan. Caeilte slapped Lon on the shoulder with the words, "Stay, smith. Enter not thy cave." " Success and welcome, true man of the Fianna," replied Lon, in delight. " Not for witchcraft did I visit thee, but to lead thee to my forge and make thee a fame-giving weapon." The two had

Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 already wrought in the forge for two days when Finn and his followers arrived, and Lon sold them eight swords. He resumed work aided by Goll and Conan, sons of Morna, but their mighty blows split the anvil and ended the work.83

*' Seacht srotha na Teiscaighe. ** Ordnance Survey Letters (Co. Clare), vol. ii., p. 71 ; taken down in 1839- from Shane Reagh O'Cahane, an old tailor and shanachy (story-teller) in Corofin, by O'Donovan and E. O'Curry. 102 Collectanea.

The Scottish versions of this tale are well known, and have more classical analogies than the Clare tale.24 In the versions of north Ireland the Glasgavlin cow descends from the sky, and more closely resembles the rain cows of the Vedas, to which also a striking analogy is found in a subsequent appendix to the Clare tale. The cow has habitats at Cluainte (Kerry), Howth (Dublin), Glen an Arrible (Waterford), Ballynascreen (Londonderry), and opposite Torry Island in Donegal, where she and another smith figure in the archaic tale of Balor and Mac Kineely.2* The cow is also found in Kerry, and in Glenganlen in Cavan. Finn's cow, the Glasghoilean, has a bed in the Isle of Skye. The tale was minutely localised on Glasgeivnagh Hill and Slievenaglasha before 1839. At first our enquiries seemed to show that the story had died out, but after a couple of years Dr. MacNamara found it still subsisting amongst a few old folk and herdsmen near Teeskagh. As neither of us referred to the 1839 story, we were much struck by the perfect agreement after the lapse of two generations. I took down one recension at Tullycommaun in 1896, from John Finn. The main story is identical with that given above, and it ends as follows:—" At Slievenaglasha were the Glas cow's beds. No grass ever grows on them. She used to feed near the herd's house [at the dolmen of Slievenaglasha] and over Cahill's moun­ tain, where she could get plenty of water out of Teeskagh. And

841 refer to a few in The Journal of tht Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxv., p. 227. ** Journal ofArchaeology, vol. i. (O.S.). See also Annals ofthe Four Masters (ed. O'Donovan), vol. i., p. 18 n.; P. A. Joyce, Irish Names of Places, vol. i., cap. iv. ; Curtin, Hero Tales of Ireland, pp. I, 2S3 ; The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 315, for Ilowth. The Bothairna bo ruadh is said, p. 318, to run all round the Irish coast at a dis­ Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 tance of three easts of a dart from high-water mark. I only note one Boru well on Ardoilean or High Island. Like the Bo ruadh well at Elmvale, Clare, it is now misnamed after King Brian Born. The Rev. P. Power of Portlaw gives a Waterford legend of the Glas cow's tail cutting Cleann an earball in Desies without Drum, (The fournal of the Waterford and South East Ireland Archaeological Society, vol. x. (1907), p. 117). The Balor legend is also given, from Shane O'Dugan of Co. Donegal, by O'Donovan in Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i., p. 18 n. W. Larminie, West Irish Folk Tales, p. 1, gives a Class Gavlen tale from Achill, and J. Curtin, Hero Tales of Ireland, the tale of the sieve in Elin Gow and the cow Glas Gainach at Cluainte, Co. Kerry. Collectanea. 103

she went away, and how do I know where ? And there were no tidings." Another tale, extant and in 1839, tells that the cow could fill any vessel with milk, until an ill-conditioned woman brought a sieve; the milk ran through and became the Seven Streams; and the cow, mortified at being unable to fill the sieve, ran away and (or, in one version) died. With reference to another appendix to the tale,—"an Ulsterman took the cow,"—I have already given the tale of the hero and wonderful cow concealed in a cave until "the last great battle."26 The Oughtdarra people say that this cow is not the Glas, but that the latter made the foot­ prints on the neighbouring crags. There is mention of the cow near Shallee Castle, between Dysert O'Dea and Ennis, and at Ballymarkahan, near Quin. In one of the 1839 addenda, apparently now forgotten, O'Donovan and O'Curry were told that the Tuatha De Danann posted ambuscades to waylay Finn and his men at the fords of the Fergus opposite to the Glasgeivnagh Hill at Corofin (Coradh Finne), Corravickeown (Coradh mhic Eoghain), a mile to the west of the former, and Corravicburrin (Coradh mhic Dhaboirean), at Kells Bridge, to the east of the first named. The attempts failed, and in a pitched battle on the summit of Keentlae (Ceann t sliabh, ancient Cenn uathrach)27 or Inchiquin Hill the Fianna slew all their enemies, whose bones are still turned up at Seefin or Keen­ tlae. The same summit is the scene of the early saga Feis tighe chonain and Finn's fatal feast, but the site of Conan's house is forgotten and the saga only known from books. Finn's gifted son, the bard Oisin, dwelt in a large two-ringed fort, hence called Caherussheen (Cathair Oisin), close to Corofin, and Finn's hound Bran gives the name Tirmicbrain to a small basin-like tarn in a marshy valley and evidently the remnant of a Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 larger lake. The hero and his soldiers hunted a magic deer (white, with golden hoofs), which fled to Keentlae with Bran in close pursuit. All the men save Finn were outpaced, and he and the quarry and dog reached the eastern brow of the hill as the sun set, and then dashed down the slope. At the cliff of Tirmic-

"Vol. xxiii., p. 89. "Nathrach is a man's name [e.g. St Senan's smith), and not a literal •' serpent." 104 Collectanea.

brain the deer made a wondrous leap into the pool, and Bran followed. Neither was ever seen again.48 Finn had " hunting lodges" at Formoyle to the west of Inchiquin, and at Shallee {Selga, a hunting seat). In eastern Clare Finn, Oisin, Dermot, and Grainne were in my boyhood usually described as giants. The next important Finn saga is found at Loop Head, where in 1839 it remained much the same as written by Comyn about 1750 in The Adventures 0/ the Three Sons of Thorailbh mac Stairn. Crochan, Sal, and Dahlin were three brothers to whom a druid foretold a fearful end if their beautiful and only sister ceased to be a virgin. Accordingly, they built a fort for her, still called Cathair na haon mna (" the fort of the lone woman "), and three other forts to guard her at Cahercrochaun (" the fort of the knoll"), Caher- saul ("the fort of the brine"), and Dundahlin. For long they guarded her, until their cattle were carried away by three other brothers,—Ceanuir of Liscannor, Ruidhin of Moherui ruidhin at the giant , and Stuithin of Kilstuitheen (now under the waves of Liscannor Bay). The Loop Head chiefs overtook and slew two of the raiders (Stuithin escaping to his magic home, which sank under the waves), and returned home with the spoils. Now the amorous Diarmuid Ua Duine was waiting on Mount Brandon, and, as soon as he knew of their absence from his ring,2' he set off in his magic square currach (boat) of wax. He choked with his ring the hideous piast Dabhran which opened its jaws to seize him at the cliff, and reached the lady. She consented gladly to fly with him, and her brothers returned to see her landing far away in Kerry. They tracked her footsteps as far as Aill an triur, where yawned the deep chasm of Poulnapeiste, the dragon's lair. Fearing a worse doom, they seized each other's hands, and sprang over the cliff into the hungry waves.*0 Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 MDr. O. U. MacNamara, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxxi., p. 206. The name, of course, means Mac Brain's land. ** It was given by Angus of the Brugh on the Boyne and had a red stone ; when the desired event occurred, the stone turned green. *•Ordnance Survey letters (Co. Clare), vol. ii., p. 71 ; The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, voL xxxviii., p. 350. It will be noted that Crochan and Sal are the " humped knoll" and the " brine " of that wild peninsula. Much of the story is given in the Journal of the Kilkenny Arch.ro- logical Society, vol. ii., pp. 303-6. Collectanea.

An old tale of the same neighbourhood related that Finn threw a " finger stone " of a ton weight across the Shannon from Knock- anure in Kerry to in Clare. A similar story was told to me in 1869 by an old man, Shaneen O'Halloran, a retainer of the Stacpooles of Edenvale. A giant named Hughey in the days of Finn threw an enormous boulder from either Mount Callan or Loughnaminna Hill at a hostile giant whom it just missed, breaking into two. The pieces stand at the northern end of the Edenvale ridge, opposite the Kennels. The " Irish militia " (i.e. Finn's troops) made the huge, mysterious, many-gated stone fort on the summit of the Turlough Hill, south from ; so I was told by an old herdsman who crossed the ridge while I was plotting the fort in 1905. Other rock memorials of Finn I have already mentioned,31 and the Dindsenchas gives a similar legend of another rock, the Clock nan arm, " on which the Fianne ground their weapons yearly." The tale previously narrated about the Tuam an goskaigh stone38 may belong to the Finn period, as it is placed in a Glasgeivnagh locality. The same nameless "champion" is commemorated in Barnagoskaigh; he was defeated and slain at Doonaunmore fort because he had lost his " druid's staff." The sentence in certain copies of The Battle of Magh Rath, which states that Chonan maol, the Thersites of Finn's court, was, while worshipping the sun, slain and buried on Mount Callan, is undoubtedly a forgery of the late eighteenth century. It is by no means so certain that the ogham stone, so long read, " Beneath this stone lies Conan the fierce and swift-footed," is also forged.33 The name on the stone is very doubtful, and possibly Collas, and the epitaph probably a late scholastic freak.' It played a great part in Irish archaeology by reviving an interest in oghamic Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 script, but all legends connecting it with the band of Finn are

"Vol. xxiii., p. 90.

wVol. xxiii., p. 92. •"The five readings extracted by Theophilus O'Flanagan in 1788 (Transac­ tions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. i.), surpass those of Oldbuck and Pickwick. I have told the story in The foitmal oj the Limerick Field Club* vol. ii, p. 250. 106 Collectanea.

probably later than the earliest accounts of its discovery in 1778."* Hence I hesitate even to name the Finn items in the tale of the sinking of Kilstapheen or Kilstuitheen as being of any great age, though the main tale is doubtless ancient. In 1839 men said at Lehincli that the golden key of the enchanted island of Kilsta­ pheen lay under Conan's tomb.85 The present-day tale narrates that in the battle of Bohercrochaun84 Stapheen, attacking the spoilers of his cattle, lost the golden key, and his island and fort immediately sank under the waves.87 (To be continued)

THOS. J. WESTROPP.

WELSH FOLKLORE. ITEMS, I.

Hiring Fairs.

I ENCLOSE a list [of Hiring Fairs]. Of course the custom is dying out. " At the fairs the servants wishing to be hired stood with a straw in their mouths." "Llanover Estate hire their servants Oct. and Nov." Hay and Brecon fairs are very interesting, and hiring is still done there. The letter I send is from the farmer's wife in this neighbourhood who supplies me with butter etc.1

14 It was first published by John Lloyd in An Impartial Tour in Clare, 1778, but may be alluded to in 1750 by Comyn in his romance, unless the allusion is also interpolated. " General Vallancey tells the same tale of the mirage land of Tir Hudi off the Donegal coast; its key, too, lay hidden under a druidical monument

Downloaded by [University of Sydney Library] at 03:58 06 June 2016 " Note the name Crochaun, as in the Loop Head story. "For further particulars of Kilstuitheen see vol. xxi., pp. 485-6. The whole subject of spectral islands and their legends is dealt with in The Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx., part v. 1 " There is a Fair in Abergavenny on May 14th, and one the first Monday in May in Monmouth. They are the hiring fairs, but there are very few girls go to them now. The custom seems to be dying out. There used to be one in Caerleon, May 1st, but there are no servants go there for hire now. The farm seivants about here change very much the same as a town girl would. They don't mind when they leave, as they think they can always get a place."