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  2. The Main Manuscript Collection

The Main Manuscript Collection

This collection includes every aspect of the Irish oral tradition. More information

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  1. (no title)

    “There is a hawthorn bush near Castlebridge in the Co. Wexford and is supposed to be haunted...”

    CBÉ 0221

    to look for the bottom of the lamp, for the lamp went out when the bottom fell off it. I was a long time looking for it and at last I got it, a good piece away form the place where it fell off the bicycle. I wouldn't care to travel on that road in the nights, especially if it was a stormy one.
    There is another place on that raod nearer to Castlebridge and it is also supposed to be haunted, or the fairies are supposed to have a patway straight across the road. There was a man one time left his home at about ten o clock one night to go to the shop for tobacco and he was never heard of afterwards. Some people say that he was taken with the fairies. About a couple of years ago, a motor car went in on the ditch at that particular place, and

  2. Fairies

    CBÉ 0221

    There is a great belief in fairies in the Wexford. Almost every place a farmer goes he will fear fairy stories. The most of the people believe in them and what is more they believe in them up to the present day, and wouldn't for the world have anything to do with places that belong to them. For instance a large (?) which has got the name of a fairy (?) or rings in fields in which the mushrooms grow or old raths or forts or anything of that kind.
    There in an old (?) in boola Fullawn and it is there for thousands of years and it was always believed that the fairies had something to do with it. None of the old people would alow anybody to meddle with it or molest in any way, for fear of the good people. It is very

  3. Whirlwinds

    CBÉ 0221

    Whirlwinds or "She-gees" as the people in Wexford call them are supposed to be the fairies travelling around from place to place. The fairies used to travel in them long ago and some people say that they travel in them still. It is courted very dangerous to be in the say of a She-gee for a person could be disfigured for life or if it was a small child that was in it, it might be taken away with them and a fairy changling left in the place of it. When a whirlwind comes along a person should throw what-ever they had in their hand after it. supposing it was their pipe or their purse or whatever it would be, if not they might be disfigured or wouldn't have any luck for seven years.
    There was once a man out in a hay field

  4. (no title)

    “Long ago mushrooms were more plentiful than they are nowadays.”

    CBÉ 0221

    mushrooms and went down to the middle of it. When he got there he found a ring of fairies and they were all seated on the mushrooms. He rushed home as fast as he could. When he got up the next morning he went to the same field, and he saw the mushrooms there alright, but he was afraid to touch them.
    The old people will also tell you that mushrooms will always grow in rings or circles, and that is another reason why they have something to do with the "good people" and there is also a greener patch of grass in that circle than in the rest of the field. People sometimes die after eating mushrooms and the old folk say that the fairies have something to do with such a person

  5. (no title)

    “It is surprising what stories one hears...”

    CBÉ 0221

    was any of the neighbours trying to play tricks on him. At last things went so bad with him that he heard noises all around the kitchen and then he began to wonder were there really fairies. At last he put the place up for another but nobody would buy it at all, for they heard about the bad luck that the man had in it. So the only thing that he had to do was to take down the house and build it in a different part of the farm. Not long after this he got on fairly well and things prospered with him and he became a wealthy man.
    The old folk all say that it is very unlucky to have anything at all to do with the fairies and people should keep away from them as far as far as they could and have

  6. (no title)

    “I was another night out for a walk...”

    CBÉ 0221

    a standstill, and we heard the next day that a woman in that house had died the night before. So there must be such things as fairies and Banshees.
    I was down there on my holidays the following year and I was talking to a friend of mine wan night and we were talking about the queer things that we had seen the year before. We were talking about fairies and banshees and everything of that kind, as Fethard is one of the greatest places in the county I'm sure for things of that kind. I started to tell him that I never saw or heard anything in the world that wasn't right until last year and I also told him that I didn't believe in them until then. I told him that I often had

  7. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Hunchback

    CBÉ 0265

    Sarne
    Jas Coleman - Wed. Thurs. Frid. Hunchback
    There was a fairy rath over there in Tonbay and the fairies used always be singing & playing a melodeon in it & it used to be a shortcut to the town & this night there was a man coming with a harp on his back from the town drunk & these fairies were singing Wed. Thurs. & Friday (that was the song they were singing). & the lad said "Ay & Saturday" & they brought him in & took the harp off of his back. Some short time after another fellow with a harp heard tell of this man losing his harp & he went off to this man & he told him the way got off his harp & he went to the Trun & he got a sip of drink & he coming back & they were

  8. A Legend of Ballindoon Castle

    CBÉ 0485

    the firsht fella, that he heard the sound o' music. He lishtened for a file, an' sure enough it grew louder an' the louder it was growin' the sweeter it was getting. The hunchback was delighted wit it, an' he thought to himsel that maybe they be glad o' a little more help so they war only about have way in their tune when he chimed in along wit them, an' if it was a mad cow that jusht stharted ta low at that minit, there couldn't have come agreater change over the choir. The hunch backs voice was loud an' courshe, an' when he stharted the fairies had ta sthope. He kep' on wit his song, but when he had finished he was lifted up off the road, an' brought inta the fort. All the fairies got round him, an' they bet him with bohalanens, until he was black an' blue in the hide an' when they had enough bet on him, the said that in ordher that he might remember that night that they'd give him atoken o' it.
    They then clapped the hump on his back, that they tuck off the other man the night before, an' he went home a far worshe case than he came for he had two humps on his back.

  9. Old Game

    CBÉ 0189

    Long ago a great game among children was "tig". One child would "tig" another and say at the same time:
    "Tig toe, blast blow
    follow the fairies
    wherever they/you go"
    If you weren't able to return the tig you would be taken off by the fairies.

  10. Fairies

    CBÉ 0190

    again and bring her in somethin but he said he wasn't gettin any pay for his work so and he wasn't goin to do any more. She told him he must do it and told him to bring the horse again. He asked her would it make any difference if he walked and she said it didn't. So he set out on foot. He went straight to his own house and never came back, and the fairies never troubled him afterwards.

  11. (no title)

    “A poor boy one time went out to seek his fortune. ”

    CBÉ 0190

    in a graveyard. He got in under a flag and lay down and started to cry. It wasn't long until the fairies came along to hold their meeting and they sat up on the flag over their heals.
    The king spoke. "We are very clever people" says he. "We know more than the ordinary people". The kings daughter is blind and no one can cure her. If she washed her eyes in the well at the bottom of this graveyard she would be cured". Bill began to listen. Soon afterwards the fairies went away, and Bill stumbled down to the bottom of the graveyard and found the well. He washed his eyes with the water and he was cured. Then he got a bottle and filled it with the water and brought it to the king's palace. The kings daughter was sitting on a chair in front of the palace. Bill slob up to her and rubbed her eyes with the water and immediately she saw.
    She was so delighted that she bought Bill into the palace and gave him a

  12. Another Tale of the Moate of Regorey

    CBÉ 0220

    Monday Tuesday Wednesday" he was to shout out "and Thursday."
    So the little hump backed man was delighted with himself and he set off for the moate at twelve o' clock and waited until he heard the fairies singing "Monday Tuesday Monday Tuesday Monday Tuesday Wednesday" Well when they came to Wednesday he shouted out "and Thursday" and begor the singing stopped inside and begor he started singing outside on the road and he began:
    "Monday Tuesday, Monday Tuesday, Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday
    Monday Tuesday, Monday Tuesday Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday"
    When he had finished the door opened in the moate and out walks the little fairy and brings him into the moate with her and when he went in he saw the queen sitting on her golden throne and all the rest of fairies sitting near her and every fairy and especially the queen had a very cross face on and coming into the moate the queen asked the humpy man what did he mean by destroying

  13. (no title)

    “Well talking about fairies how is it that there are no such things as fairies...”

    CBÉ 0220

    “Well talking about fairies how is it that there are no such things as fairies in any other country in the world." Begor I don't know" says I. "Well I'll tell you" he says.
    "Long long ago there was a fallin' out above in Heaven whatever bedamned happened and I think it was Lucifer that was the cause of it all. He made out that he was son and heir to the heavenly throne, and he thought that the time would never come for him to rule so he rebelled and like all the other divils like him he thought he'd take the throne by force.
    So a battle started in heaven. Lucifer called all his subjects and St. Michael called all his together. Well wan third I hear of all the angels in heaven lined up behind Lucifer and another third lines up behind Michael
    Well another kind took no part at all in the fight so they remained neutral. So the war started then between St Michael and Lucifer and begor a man it lasted from sunrise to sunset, and in the battle

  14. Swan's House

    CBÉ 0220

    That house of Swan's there on the hill into Galbally was said to be haunted. There was a pane of glass out of the back window, and no matter how often they'd put it in 'twould be gone out of it again next morning. It was said that it was a path for the fairies at night.

  15. (no title)

    “If a person is out at night and has lost his way...”

    CBÉ 0221

    If a person is out at night and has lost his way, all he has to do is to sit down and take off this clothes and turn them and put them on again and the fairies won't harm him in any way.

  16. (no title)

    “There was a man wan time and he was a bit silly in his mind.”

    CBÉ 0221

    come here again. He was taken out of hell and away home and he had to live away the same as ever for the three wishes brought nothin' only hardships and troubles. He never bodered his head looking for fairies after that, but minded his farm and grew to be a rich man, and his wife gave up scolding him and they lived happily ever afterwards.

  17. (no title)

    “There is another story told of a man who was always drinking.”

    CBÉ 0221

    him that he wouldn't have a bit of luck until he would take the pledge. So then and there Tom made up his mind to take the pledge never to break it. He took the pledge anyhow and he kept it and he grew to be a rich man and he was never troubled with other fairies or ghosts form that time until the time he died.

  18. (no title)

    “There is a hawthorn bush near Castlebridge in the Co. Wexford and is supposed to be haunted...”

    CBÉ 0221

    "summersaulted" down a very steep incline that was inside the ditch to the river and all the occupants of the car were thrown in the water but none of them were seriously injured. This happened for a fact, and it is the general belief that it was the fairies that caused it.

  19. (no title)

    “There was a man wan time and he went out wan morning...”

    CBÉ 0221

    when he said he would sit down and have a smoke. Where did he sit down only on a fairy path and he was sittin there for some time when he got five or six stings in his lower part and looking down he saw five or six needles disaphearin down in the ground. It was the fairies that were stinging him for sitting on their path.