School: Dromlachan

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1. Fairy Story (continued)

   

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   as stones. These pipes were very small some of them so small that a lead pencil would not go down into the bowl. The shank was very long and then and there was a little bit at the end of the bowl. For years I have been interested in these pipes and have got a collection of them together. Of the very small ones I have only two or three and they bear no mark as to where they were made or show no trace of being used for smoking purposes. The oldest men I have talked to tell me that these pipes have been found in the ground, and that there is no tradition as to how they came there. They are called Dane's pipes, but it was customary for the old people to regard anything they didn't understand as belonging to the Danes. I talked about these pipes to old Pat Rourke of Drumshanbo. He is 97 years of age. He told me when he was a lad of 10 or 12 he heard very old men talk around the fireside about these pipes. The same story was to be told then. Their origin was lost in antiquity. Could it be possible that the Irish smoked before the days of Sir Walter Raleigh!

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. agents (~1)
      1. supernatural and legendary beings (~14,864)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   P. Mac Giolla Choinnigh

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   Pat Brady

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Sunnagh Beg, Co. Leitrim