School: Druim Míleadh (roll number 14898)
- Location:
- Drumeela, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Ailbeard Mac an Ríogh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0229, Page 113
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)Afterwards he took the child outside and put his head three times into a thorn bush in the name of the Holy Trinity. Finally he removed the roll of linen from the child's breast where he had placed it before emerging from the house, and scrutinized it quite closely. At this point he was able to say quite definitely if the child had worms or not.
He showed me that the thread which had been placed round linen, all being rolled up and inserted over the baby's heart and inside the shirt next the skin, came out with both ends running down one side of the linen. This was a proof, he said, that worms were present, otherwise the thread would be discovered just as it had been put on.
It was all very baffling to me but although I could find no logical explanation to fit the circumstances I feel that there must be a natural explanation to it.
Each child had to return for 3 Saturdays when he then declared them free, but not indefinitely.
He particularly warned me against the giving of biscuits.(continues on next page)
