School: Tobar Rua (roll number 15427)
- Location:
- Toberroe East, Co. Galway
- Teacher: Eibhlín, Bean Uí Mhuireagáin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0016, Page 191
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Tobar Rua
- XML Page 191
- XML “Farm Animals”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Poultry of all kinds are kept on the farms around here. Every farm is not complete without its flock of hens. This story is told of the hens; It says that they first came from Denmark and every night when they go to sleep they dream they are in their native land. Before going to roost each evening they say that they will return to Denmark next day, but when they awaken they pick up all the grain about them and put off their journey until the morrow. Hens are called by saying "Ciock Ciock" and driven away by saying "shull" or "scearc". When chickens are hatched they are not fed for a few days then they are given some oatmeal and a drink of milk. Oats is not given to them for some time as it would kill them.
It is very easy to rear ducks but when they are very young they stray away to drains and rivers. They are called by saying "What What"
Cows are also very useful as they give milk, butter, and cheese. When they are calves they are fed on milk. In olden days cows and all other animals were kept in the kitchen tied to the gable of the house. Many stories are told of cows and superstitions concerning milking and churning. This is one of the many stories; A cow one time grazed in a five acre field in which there was a fort which was believed to be inhabited by fairies or good people. Every evening and morning(continues on next page)
