School: Ballydurrow

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1. Marriage Customs and Stories Concerning Marriages (continued)

   

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   the marriage was duly arranged. Several tales are told about "seeking a wife". Once a man went to ask the parents for their daughter. They asked him about his financial position. The parents refused to give their daughter because he was not an equal for her as he had only one goat and they had two. Another story is told of a man that had two girls in view to be his wife and he did not know which of them to take. One day he thought of a plan. He put a bandage around his hand and went to the home of one of the girls. He told her that he had a very sore hand and that he heard a poultice of flour from a dish that a cake of bread was made in was a great cure for it The girl was very delighted and said that there was plenty of it as she had not washed the dish for the past fortnight. Then the man went to the home of the other girl and he said the same to her but this girl said she always washed the dish after making bread, but if he wished she would keep some wet flour at baking next time.
   The man made the clean girl his wife. Long ago the women washed all the house - linen at the riverside. One day a girl was washing and her future husband was working in the field opposite. When she came to wash an article of her own clothing she gave it a light wash and said "that is good enough". The man overheard her and he said "if that is the way you wash your clothes, you would do the same with mine." So I shall not make you my wife. These stories are told

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. social activities (~7)
         1. rites of passage (~573)
            1. marriage (~4,283)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Líam Hetherton

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   Pat Brady

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Ballaghdorragh, Co. Cavan