School: Muff
- Location:
- Muff, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: Irene Russell
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1113, Page 188
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- There are many birds in this district that do not migrate. Some of them are the thrush, the blackbird, the robin, and the wren. There are also some that do migrate as, the swallow, the cuckoo, and the corncake.
There are several stories of how the robin was supposed to have got his red breast. Once upon a time, long ago before people knew of matches or of flint, they had only one fire. This fire was watch by a little boy who kept it burning. One day, as the little boy was sitting by the fire watching it he fell fast asleep. He slept so long that the fire nearly went out. Then the robin came along and saw what had happened. He looked into the fire and saw one red spark, so he rose above the fire and flapped his wing until he had lit the fire again. As he was flapping his wings he blew the ashes and they stuck to his breast and this is supposed to be how he got his red breast.(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Jack Dinsmore
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Muff, Co. Donegal
