School: Tamhnach, Inis

Location:
Toonagh, Co. Clare
Teacher:
Proinnsias Gordún
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0613, Page 227

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0613, Page 227

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  2. XML Page 227
  3. XML “Biddy Early”

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  1. (continued from previous page)
    Once upon a time there was a farmer who had a son about seventeen years old. This boy was very much admired and very handsome. He got very sick and the doctor could not tell what was wrong with him. The boy's father went to Biddy Earley and asked what was wrong him. Biddy Early Early looked into her bottle. She said she saw him in bed in a little room where the window was raised a little bit. She said to the man, "This is not your son who is there, for your son has been taken by the good people . But, if you can get home before he has time to escape through the opening of the window for if he gets across the river he will never get well." The man had a long journey to go and before he reached home the boy had escaped and gone to the river where he was captured by some neighbours and taken home where he died shortly afterwards.
    One time a priest threatened to horse-whip Biddy Early on account of her practising charms. So she came in front of him on the road one day and caused his horse to drop as if dead. The priest again threatened her and when she spoke again his horse raised again.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. agents (~1)
      1. supernatural and legendary beings (~14,864)
        1. Biddy Early (~186)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Vera Henchy
    Gender
    Female
    Address
    Fountain Cross, Co. Clare
    Informant
    Michael Henchy
    Relation
    Parent
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    39
    Address
    Fountain Cross, Co. Clare