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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)

    “An incident which is considered very unlucky at a wedding party is, the breaking down of a car.”

    CBÉ 0463

    There was a wedding in this parish a few years ago, and it was remarked that a few cars broke down The man who was married has died since.

  2. (no title)

    “There was two ould women livin' down near Geevagh at war time, all they had ta depend on for a livin' was a few shillins' wages...”

    CBÉ 0463

    There was two ould women livin' down near Geevagh at war time, all they had ta depend on for a livin' was a few shillins' wages from the local landlord, an' a few fowl that they kept. Wan evenin wan o' the ould women was out coverin alock o' spuds in a pratie field near the house. It was well afther dusk at the time

  3. (no title)

    “Mesel' an Georgie was comin' home from ramblin' wan night in ould Biddy ---'s out there the road.”

    CBÉ 0463

    Mesel 'an Georgie was comin' home from ramblin' wan night in ould Biddy ---'s out there the road. It was afther twelve when we left the house, an' I was feelin" very tired, for I was at the fair O' Ballyfarnow that same day, an o courche ta tell the thruth a man does feel a bit fatigued afther thrampin to a town in the early hours o' the mornin' an' sthaudin on the fair green all the day thryin ta seel a few ould thieves o' bullocks, that was badly worht their throuble, an' then comin' back, an' countin' the few odd shillins yid have left after spendin them on- well

  4. Jackee the Lantern

    CBÉ 0220

    Wan night that [?] of the Briens was dead - I cant remember now which of 'em was dead. But, anyway, there was a woman living a few fields away from the place in a farmer's house and she used 'lay people out". She was always called in when anyone about the place died.
    She came to Brien's house and layed out the corpse. She spent a few hours at the wake. When 'twas getting a bit late she said she would go home and have a few hours sleep. The night was dark. But she could see the light of a cottage near her own house and she said she would face for that ___ that she'd be all right, that she'd be home in ten minutes.
    She went off by herself. She face for the light; but she was going around

  5. Burying Animals

    CBÉ 0481

    to be buried standing up. This was done to prevent the rest of the cattle from taking it.
    There was a man living in Tinnerath, a few miles from here, and he was in awful hard luck with horses. He couldn't keep a horse, they'd all die on him. The last horse that died on him he buried it at the bawn gate. He trained a bullock then and he did all the work with him.
    He used go to Ross every Saturday, and the chaps used be all jeering at him. He used take a few pints in Ross, and when he'd have the few pints in he used get two penny buns and stick wan on each horn of the bullock going home. My grandmother remembered well to see the bullocks working.

  6. Great Eaters

    CBÉ 0600

    that day was the wife was not out with him at all. So begor this fella went into a pub and he got a few drinks and then he said that he owuld go and have the feed. The two of us went into this dining place and he ordered the dinner for the two of us and we went and got it and that was the gas to look at that fella the way he let down that feed.
    He ate away and ate away and begor I thought that he would burst and we stood up from the table and he paid for the two dinners alright to give him his merit and he went off around the town again and he said after about an hour or so that he was getting hungry again and we said that we would go into a pub and have a few drinks for ourselves. So we had the few drinks and the had said that that only made him a lot more hungrier and he never stopped at me until he brought me into

  7. (no title)

    “There was a king wan time and had three sons.”

    CBÉ 0221

    out of doors for a few weeks for fear of him getting a relapse of the sickness. He remained inside all right for the first week. The next week was a very fine one and the king said to himself that he would go for a walk unknown to the doctors. So he took his stick and his coat and set off. He walked about a mile away from the palace and then he found himself getting weaker and weaker and then he returned homewards. He was about half way home when there came a great shower of rain and the poor king could take shelter nowhere from it, with the result that he was drowned wet. He got home anyway and, he went to bed, and in a few minutes he was in an awful state with the

  8. Stories of '98 Recorded from Thos. Ellis, Ballasalla, Hacketstown

    CBÉ 0265

    Ballysallagh Upper, Co. Carlow

    me to bring the Ediphone to him a few nights shortly afterwards but with this awe inspiring instrument the poor old fellow was completely dumbfounded + several hours resulted in a complete failure. When the mouthpiece was out of his hand a moment he would give a detailed account of an incident but when tried with the Ediphone a minute afterwards monosyllables was all that he could reproduce.
    On a few occasions afterwards when I called to see the man of the house who was seriously ill & from home I thought there might possibly be something to be got. I would notice poor

  9. Jack Bound to a Robber

    CBÉ 0265

    gardener out of him so that he could take my place when I wouldn't be able to work". "Oh well" said Lord C. "he is too fine a boy for that & there is many fine trades in the world & you must send him away". "Sir" he says "What is the best thing to put him to" "Well he says the best thing to put him to is to bind him to a robber". The poor man didn't like to lose his job so he started off with Jack to bind him to a robber. He went off to a wood where there was two notorious robbers & he bound Jack to the robber & Jack was very lonesome for the first few days in the wood & he longed for his mother & father & in particular for the girl but after a few days they planned a robbery on a gentlemans place

  10. A Tale about Cromwell

    CBÉ 0460

    thought also that if they did manage to get them under control that the woman mightn't have any more bees in the place. But when the woman threw out four or five other swarms of bees the soldiers had no chance at all of keeping the horses under control and away they went as fast as lightning and some of the soldiers got such a fright that they fell off the horses. When they were gone a few hundred yards they brought the horses to a standstill, and they considered returning to the castle and taking the woman out of it but the bees followed em up and stung the horses and the men again and they had to retreat again as fast as possible. They didn't come to the castle for a few days after that. They came on then again and wan of em opened the big door leading in to the kitchen and the moment he did there was a swarm of bees met him in the door, and stung him so much that he faintest

  11. Ghosts

    CBÉ 0460

    we brought him in he was certainly a sight to see. He was lying down on the floor and we were a long time with him before he came to at all. When he did come to we asked him what it was that he had seen but he did nothing only waved his hand at us to keep away from him altogether. We put him in the bed and gave him a few hot drinks and after a few minutes he fell sound asleep and remained asleep for about an hour or so. Then he wakened up in an awful fit and we thought sure that he was dying and we sent for the priest although it was only about six oclock in the morning. The priest came and prayed over him for a long time and begor he came to somewhat and was a whole lot better but we we told that he was in a great fever and that it would be a very advisable thing to send for the doctor. The doctor came on and examined him and then when he was going away he told us

  12. (no title)

    “There was a woman wan time and had wan son named Mick...”

    CBÉ 0460

    doing a few things for me but he will be in in a few minutes. She went outside and brought him in and he took off his cap allright when he saw the priest and sat down in the parlour. The priest then asked him did he know his prayers and the mother spoke up and said that he was beginning to learn 'em. "Well" said the priest "it is cetainly about time you had 'em. Will you show me like a good boy how you bless yourself. Mick stopped for a while to think and then he started off "In the name of the Father," and then he stopped for he wasn't able to go any further. "I say Mammy" said he to his mother "what are the names of the other two gentlemen you spoke of" The poor woman was annoyed out of her wits when she heard this coming from her son, and what the priest of him nobody ever thought, but he left the house that day in an awful rage, and never came back again

  13. Valuable Objects

    CBÉ 0520

    it remained where he had put it until a few years when somebody else found it and it happened to be a gold collar and it was worth a lot of money.

  14. Blessed Wells

    CBÉ 0106

    saying it was a very unlucky thing to do to take anything away from a blessed well escept water. So she brought back the rose and left it where she got it. When she was coming back from the well the pain left her, and in a few minutes was as well as ever.
    There is another well in Ballinaslany, St. David is the patron St. It is a famous well for curing almost everything, sore eyes, head-aches, tooth-aches and pains of all kinds. It also cured cripples. My father and mother went over to see the well a few years ago and they saw an old man with a crutch and a walking kneeling clown beside the well and he praying. It was not long until he got up and was perfectly cured and he left

  15. Wake in Camross

    CBÉ 0189

    There was a Protestant woman waking in Camross wan night, and there was a big crowd there.
    'Twas a terrible place of whiskey the same night. I got whiskey, and I wanted to mix some water through it, and what did I mix through it but more whiskey. I went out the back of the house where there was an orchard. I only went a few yards when I fell down on some black soft hairy thing. I got up and ran and struck my head against the bough of an apple tree and fell. I lay there for a few seconds and the next thing I felt was an ass snuffing and snorting at me. Well, I was full sure 'twas the devil was in it.
    Recorded from James Carroll, Taghmon, 60 yrs., Shopkeeper

  16. The Adventures of Patsy

    CBÉ 0220

    There was an ould fellow lived in Lambstown many years ago and he was and he was wan of the greatest braggers and boasters the ever lived. This fellows name was Patsy, and no matter what story he was telling he always came out on top himself.
    Once upon a time he was working with a gentleman farmer. This farmer had two sons an' they were going to a town school and the farmer used to be always talking about how bright and smart they were. Well when they were home on their holidays wan of them would always be out working on the land would Patsy.
    Well this day anyhow Patsy was after sowing corn and he couldn't keep the crows off of it, so he sent wan of the boys back for the gun till he'd shoot down a few of them as he says he was wan of the greatest shots that ever lived. The chap came back would the gun anyhow and a few bullets "says Patsy "and I put wan of 'em in the gun and went down to the field and there it was black with crows. The very minnit they saw me the all "[?]lug" up into the heavens and

  17. The Adventures of Patsy

    CBÉ 0220

    knife to cut a bit of tobacco but he said he had no knife as he didn't smoke at all. Well" says I " maybe I'd get to cut a bit off the tobacco with the blade of the scythe. So I opened the gate and went in. I took up the scythe and started to cut the bit of tobacco but it wouldn't cut butter in the dog days it was so blunt. How do you mow would that says I" Well" he says I'm sharpenin' it every five minutes and i cant keep an edge on it at all" Well says Patsy" I took up the scythe and just gave the blade a few rubs up and down and I had it as sharp as a lance. I then cut the bit of tobacco without any bother and when I had me pipe filled and full steam ahead I gave the blade a few more rubs and handed the scythe to him and toulf him could he mow any better now. He made a big swipe and went through the grass so quick that he says "Begor I missed it". "Well says Patcy" there was a sharp edge for you, he thought he missed it." Well I left him there and strolled , [?] near night I was growing tired and I strolled into a farmer's house. The farmer and the woman were sitting near the fire and there were three or four

  18. Superstitions

    CBÉ 0220

    Taghmon, Co. Wexford

    It is never right to whitewash a house during the month of May.
    Mostly all the houses were whitewashed and cleaned up in Taghmon during April, and in a few cases men worked very hard during hte last few days of April in order to have the work done before 1st May.
    It is also said that one should not get married in month of May.
    Tomás O Ciapda.

  19. (no title)

    “There was a king wan time and had three sons.”

    CBÉ 0221

    fever. He was worse now than ever he was before, and all the doctors came to him again the same as before, but this time they had a bit of a job with him. He got worse and worse, and everyone said that he would die.
    There was an old witch living about a mile from the palace and she heard of the King's illness and she went to see him. She was allowed to see him all right, but only for a few minutes. She told him that there was nothing in the world would cure him but a few drops of water that was in a well in a far off distant land. The king asked her where it was and she told him that she didn't know but told him to get his three sons together, and ask them which

  20. (no title)

    “There was a woman one time lived in the County Wexford.”

    CBÉ 0221

    sleep in any house where there would be rats, or where there would be an old man saying "ocón ocón" or sleep in any house where there would be two dogs, or in a house where he would see a black cat.
    John then took the loaf of bread and started off down to the harbour. He got his ticket and went down to where he saw a ship ready to sail for Waterford. He produced his ticket and got into the boat and in a few minutes she was ready to go. John kept walking around to see were there any rats in her but he could see none. Then the ship was ready to sail and everybody was sayin goodbye and waving handkerchiefs, and in a few seconds the ship was in motion and was about five or six yards away from the quay when John say two rats runnin' around the