1. dúchas.ie
  2. The Main Manuscript Collection

The Main Manuscript Collection

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

Filter results

Results

133 results

  1. (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.

  2. (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.

  3. (no title)

    “There was a boy wan time and when he was about two years old...”

    CBÉ 0221

    There was a boy wan time and when he was about two years old he got silly and never could do anything and was always in the cradle and the cradle was always in the door porch. Some of the people thought that he had some-thing to do with the fairies for he was able to tell a lot of

  4. (no title)

    “There was a man wan time coming home from the fair...”

    CBÉ 0221

    and he hardly knew himself that it was him that was in it for when he looked in the looking glass he found that all his hair had turned grey. After some time however he got better and it wasn't long until he was allright. But he was never heard to say that there were no fairies from that out.

  5. (no title)

    “There was a man one night and he was going along the road..”

    CBÉ 0221

    getting good at it. Anyhow he couldn't stop kicking, something was keeping him at it, and at last he heard the cuch crowing not fair from where he was and all the fairies rushed off towards the rath. He was so tired that he wasn't able to walk home and he lay down on the field and remained there until morning.

  6. Wife Taken by Fairies

    CBÉ 0265

    This story is also told with the infamous Saunders of Saunders Grove taking the leading part as his sister was taken by the fairies for his cruelty & she came back & told to save here as apposite. When he failed she cried out. "Gone Gone for ever more".

  7. (no title)

    “A Quigley girl was goint through a ratheen...”

    CBÉ 0265

    Kilcarney Upper, Co. Wicklow

    A Quigley girl was going through a raheen in Kilcarney with a bucket of buttermilk one day & it is said she was taken by the fairies & kept for a year. Every night music could be heard in her room at home. The girl that came back with the buttermilk was a fairy.

  8. (no title)

    “There was a boy living in Rathnagrew...”

    CBÉ 0265

    him. They went in & sat at the fire & that night they heard a whirlwind of fairies going across the house. When they got up in the morning they saw the track of the boys knees & hands where he fell but there was no marks where he should have walked away so they went to cut sticks again & they found him on the rath ditch crying & he was unlucky ever after.

  9. Wife Taken by Fairies

    CBÉ 0265

    Once there was a man & his wife was taken by the fairies & another woman was left in her place. After a bit the wife that was left died & the man waked her as his wife. A workman used

  10. Fairies

    CBÉ 0481

    We always heard that there was fairies in the Moat of Ragorey. There is lights seen there and music heard playing in it, and fellows were put astray there too.

  11. (no title)

    “I'm a great ould seanachaidhe, am I, well ta tell ye the thruth, girleen, it reminds me o' ould times when ye come in an' sit here...”

    CBÉ 0485

    dozen women there too, an' them all dancin' to the music. The cripple was there presidin' over the whole affair, him sthandin' out on the fhire, an' now an' agin givin' a few stheps o' a dance, along wit the resht o' the company.
    The minnit he saw the father, however, he hopped into bed, an' the resht o' the company disappeared like clockwork The father then knew that he wastnt aright child at all, so when he tould the neighbours, the sthory they came to the conclusion that he had something ta do wit the fairies, or maybe some evil spirits, so they decided that the besht thing ta do was ta get rid o' him.
    There was an ould cushtom in Ireland, an' I think it was in agood may ether counthries is well, an' it was ta burn, anywan that had anything unnatural about them On the day that they war ta burn the buachaillin na Cruiche, all the neighbours had gethered ta see the performance. The Buachaillin was brought out to the place where he was ta be burned, an' they war jusht bindin' his hands an' feet, when he spoke up, an' sez he "Ye might is well spare me, for its hardly worth yer while ta do away wit me for in three days time I'll die, an' sez he the day o' funeral 'ill never beforgotten. They spared him an no doubt, he had some part in wit the fairies, because his prophecy about his funeral came thrue sure enough

  12. (no title)

    “There was always something quare about ould Pether D- Micky the Smith's brother.”

    CBÉ 0485

    "Will you give me your horshe" sez he to the man from Curlisheen.
    "I will" sez he, for he was afraid to refuse Pether especially when he heard that he had business to Mayo. For Mayo is the place where the fairies go. "I'd have him anyway sez Pether, for I bring him the journey every night
    The man from Curlisheen then saw the reashon fie his horshe ushed ta be so fatigued, an' from wan thing to anether the sthory was put tagether, an' the final conclusion that everywan came ta was that Pether D____ was in the fairies, an' that that was how he possessed all the knowledge that he had. But to come back to the part about the horshes. The nexht mornin' the man from Curlisheen went out ta look at his bashte, an' he found him quite well only that he was a bit fatigued, but fot di ye know about the man that refushed Pether the horshe Ora boboo the nexht mornin' when he went ta look at him, he found him dead in the field.
    Well that was that sometime afther Pether died, an' the horshe that he ushed ta ride so often outlived him a good many yhears, for none o' the good people ever borrowed im for a night's ride afther.

  13. (no title)

    “Ora Begob, sure Kingsborough was always a quare place...”

    CBÉ 0485

    Ora Begob, sure Kingsborough was always a quare place (sure that was the ould name they ushed ta call Ballindoon,) an' ye wouldn't want ta be a coward indeed ta go through them big dark lonely woods all be yershrel at night. [UNCLEAR] it was often said, that there was more than fairies in them, even though Ballindoon is supposhed ta get its name from all the forts thats in it. There was more than wan ghosht seen in it in ould times, in the lonely ould walks that goes through the woods, an' sure in the ould house itsel, that was built be nearly the firsht settlers that tuk over Ball-

  14. When the Fairies Didn't Want a Good-Looking Girl

    CBÉ 0485

    but they couldn't, an' is the misht cleared up, they found themselves in a very sthrange place, an' there seemed ta be great amussment on it, for there was fiddles a playin an' all kinds o' diabaileacht goin on.
    The boy afther watchin the proceedins for a time began ta get afraid that maybe they meant ta keep him for good, for he knew well that it was the fairies that was havin' a little game on him, an fot was more he thought that he had losht the girl entirely, for she was sportin' around wit the little fairies, an' throwin' no heed at all on him, an' the wind up o' it was that he began ta get very jealous o' her, an' he made up his mind that he'd thry an' get out o' the place is besht he could, an' lave her there if she wanted to sthay.
    He went is far is fot he thought looked like the fairy king, an' he begged o' him, ta let him home to his mother, an' that he could keep the girl if he liked. The fairy king who was sittin up on a high perch like the branch o' a three never said a word only dhrew out from him, an' gave him a kick in the mouth, that made him yowl out wit apin, an' jusht the same is if every fairy in the place knew fot he was afther sayin, they all stharted ta shout out is loud

  15. She gees or whirlwinds are very plentiful down in Bannow. They are always called She-gees by the local people.

    CBÉ 0190

    She gees or whirlwinds are very plentiful down in Bannow. They are always called she-gees by the boat people. A big one came one day and took away a pair of socks that was on a hedge and they were seen going away in the air. They firmly believe in Bannow that the fairies have something to do with the whirlwinds and when telling a person of them they speak in a very low tone, as if they were afraid that the good people would hear them. They also say that it isn't lucky at all to be in the way of a whirlwind for it might take you

  16. Fairies

    CBÉ 0190

    life. There is a field in Bannow called Chapel field and there is a fairy rath in it and the people say that the fairies live there many years ago. The luaracawns were often seen creeping around it on the grass smoking their little pipes. There is another rath in Ballygar and it was in the middle of a big field. The field used be ploughed all around it but no one would think of ploughing the rath. There was one man however would think of ploughing it. His father told him not to have anything to do with it, but he wouldn't listen to him. He yoked the horses and he drove them into the field and right around the rath. When he went around it once he got an awful pain in his head and he was never the better of it.

  17. Fairies

    CBÉ 0190

    they could do to hold her in the bed. In the morning she was changed into a kind of a witch.
    It is counted very unlucky to molest the fairies in any way for they will have their revenge sooner or later.

  18. (no title)

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

    CBÉ 0220

    cobblers outfit. He gave them a last a hammer an awl and leather to sole all the boots. But he told them that when the end would come they would have to give up all to prepare their soul for the last and that is the reason why all the shoemakers to this day lays down their awl to prepare their sole for the last. So the angels became the fairies and the ould angels became the Leprecauns and they are always seen putting soles on boots, and it also explains why they were called the "good people" because they were angels in the first of their days and also it gives use to the ould saying "I left Ireland and went to Taghmon."

  19. Fairies

    CBÉ 0220

    surer and begor they were lovely big mushrooms and he brought them home and ate them and the next morning the ring was again covered with mushrooms and the same happened every morning until the season was out, but nothing ever happened to the man or to the field of corn and he died a natural death.
    It is said that these mushrooms are the seats of the fairies and they hold councils and meetings on these when they are all seated in a ring.