School: Leamh-choill
- Location:
- Drumsillagh, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Cáit Ní Ghadhra
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0232, Page 093
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- XML “Folk Charms and Cures”
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- Nowhere perhaps is the mysticism and mysterious spirituality of the Irish race demonstrated as in the belief in charms and cures.Children listen spellbound to the fireside stories, told by their grandfathers and grandmothers. My grandfather told me about an old woman who lived in a lonely cabin on the hillside. She had long black hair and black brown eyes and people seldom visited her home owing to a certain fear of her. Mothers trembled when she praised their children lest the little ones should suffer from the ill effects of the "evil eye". Men hated to see her pass across their fields where the animals grazed as very frequently an animal admired by her sickened and died. This old hag had also the power of "taking butter". When people saw a white hare at the cowhouse door they knew that no matter how long they churned the milk that no butter would appear. In some cases the cows yielded no milk whatsoever. One night a man was out fowling on the hills. He noticed a hare amongst the cows and he took aim and hit the hare in the leg. The hare crawled off and the man lost sight of it. After a few days the news was sptread in the district that this old woman(continues on next page)
