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The Main Manuscript Collection

This collection includes every aspect of the Irish oral tradition. More information

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  1. Old Game

    CBÉ 0189

    Long ago a great game among children was "tig". One child would "tig" another and say at the same time:
    "Tig toe, blast blow
    follow the fairies
    wherever they/you go"
    If you weren't able to return the tig you would be taken off by the fairies.

  2. Fairies

    CBÉ 0190

    again and bring her in somethin but he said he wasn't gettin any pay for his work so and he wasn't goin to do any more. She told him he must do it and told him to bring the horse again. He asked her would it make any difference if he walked and she said it didn't. So he set out on foot. He went straight to his own house and never came back, and the fairies never troubled him afterwards.

  3. (no title)

    “A poor boy one time went out to seek his fortune. ”

    CBÉ 0190

    in a graveyard. He got in under a flag and lay down and started to cry. It wasn't long until the fairies came along to hold their meeting and they sat up on the flag over their heals.
    The king spoke. "We are very clever people" says he. "We know more than the ordinary people". The kings daughter is blind and no one can cure her. If she washed her eyes in the well at the bottom of this graveyard she would be cured". Bill began to listen. Soon afterwards the fairies went away, and Bill stumbled down to the bottom of the graveyard and found the well. He washed his eyes with the water and he was cured. Then he got a bottle and filled it with the water and brought it to the king's palace. The kings daughter was sitting on a chair in front of the palace. Bill slob up to her and rubbed her eyes with the water and immediately she saw.
    She was so delighted that she bought Bill into the palace and gave him a

  4. (no title)

    “Well talking about fairies how is it that there are no such things as fairies...”

    CBÉ 0220

    “Well talking about fairies how is it that there are no such things as fairies in any other country in the world." Begor I don't know" says I. "Well I'll tell you" he says.
    "Long long ago there was a fallin' out above in Heaven whatever bedamned happened and I think it was Lucifer that was the cause of it all. He made out that he was son and heir to the heavenly throne, and he thought that the time would never come for him to rule so he rebelled and like all the other divils like him he thought he'd take the throne by force.
    So a battle started in heaven. Lucifer called all his subjects and St. Michael called all his together. Well wan third I hear of all the angels in heaven lined up behind Lucifer and another third lines up behind Michael
    Well another kind took no part at all in the fight so they remained neutral. So the war started then between St Michael and Lucifer and begor a man it lasted from sunrise to sunset, and in the battle

  5. Swan's House

    CBÉ 0220

    That house of Swan's there on the hill into Galbally was said to be haunted. There was a pane of glass out of the back window, and no matter how often they'd put it in 'twould be gone out of it again next morning. It was said that it was a path for the fairies at night.

  6. (no title)

    “If a person is out at night and has lost his way...”

    CBÉ 0221

    If a person is out at night and has lost his way, all he has to do is to sit down and take off this clothes and turn them and put them on again and the fairies won't harm him in any way.

  7. (no title)

    “There was a man wan time and he was a bit silly in his mind.”

    CBÉ 0221

    come here again. He was taken out of hell and away home and he had to live away the same as ever for the three wishes brought nothin' only hardships and troubles. He never bodered his head looking for fairies after that, but minded his farm and grew to be a rich man, and his wife gave up scolding him and they lived happily ever afterwards.

  8. (no title)

    “There is another story told of a man who was always drinking.”

    CBÉ 0221

    him that he wouldn't have a bit of luck until he would take the pledge. So then and there Tom made up his mind to take the pledge never to break it. He took the pledge anyhow and he kept it and he grew to be a rich man and he was never troubled with other fairies or ghosts form that time until the time he died.

  9. (no title)

    “There is a hawthorn bush near Castlebridge in the Co. Wexford and is supposed to be haunted...”

    CBÉ 0221

    "summersaulted" down a very steep incline that was inside the ditch to the river and all the occupants of the car were thrown in the water but none of them were seriously injured. This happened for a fact, and it is the general belief that it was the fairies that caused it.

  10. (no title)

    “There was a family of people living in Galbally by the name of Laffan...”

    CBÉ 0221

    There was a family of people living in Galbally by the name of Laffan and they had a horse one time and he used to be galloping around the field all night. This used to happen every night. They wondered greatly at this and couldn't get over it at all. After some time the poor horse died from sheer exhaustion. The old people said that it was the fairies that were riding him all night It is also the general belief that a horse will see an apparition or a fairy before a human being will. That is often the reason why a horse and rider will often get into difficulties at night.
    I have heard a
    story about a man and his horse
    out one night. They were going along a lonesome part of the country and when they were passin' by a place which was supposed to be

  11. (no title)

    “There was a boy wan time and when he was about two years old...”

    CBÉ 0221

    There was a boy wan time and when he was about two years old he got silly and never could do anything and was always in the cradle and the cradle was always in the door porch. Some of the people thought that he had some-thing to do with the fairies for he was able to tell a lot of

  12. (no title)

    “There was a man wan time coming home from the fair...”

    CBÉ 0221

    and he hardly knew himself that it was him that was in it for when he looked in the looking glass he found that all his hair had turned grey. After some time however he got better and it wasn't long until he was allright. But he was never heard to say that there were no fairies from that out.

  13. (no title)

    “There was a man one night and he was going along the road..”

    CBÉ 0221

    getting good at it. Anyhow he couldn't stop kicking, something was keeping him at it, and at last he heard the cuch crowing not fair from where he was and all the fairies rushed off towards the rath. He was so tired that he wasn't able to walk home and he lay down on the field and remained there until morning.

  14. Wife Taken by Fairies

    CBÉ 0265

    This story is also told with the infamous Saunders of Saunders Grove taking the leading part as his sister was taken by the fairies for his cruelty & she came back & told to save here as apposite. When he failed she cried out. "Gone Gone for ever more".

  15. Raheen

    CBÉ 0265

    was she going with two dinners. She said she was not there before. It was a fairy dinner he got first & he did not live long afterwards.

  16. (no title)

    “There was a boy living in Rathnagrew...”

    CBÉ 0265

    him. They went in & sat at the fire & that night they heard a whirlwind of fairies going across the house. When they got up in the morning they saw the track of the boys knees & hands where he fell but there was no marks where he should have walked away so they went to cut sticks again & they found him on the rath ditch crying & he was unlucky ever after.

  17. Wife Taken by Fairies

    CBÉ 0265

    Once there was a man & his wife was taken by the fairies & another woman was left in her place. After a bit the wife that was left died & the man waked her as his wife. A workman used

  18. (no title)

    “I visited this district which has been subject of considerable research...”

    CBÉ 0265

    who lived at the edge of the Curragh & people used to go to her to get their sick animals cured & their profits back. He knew of one neighbour who went after much persuasion to her to cure a sick mare & when she met him she said before he could speak "Your journey is idle because your mare was cured when you left your own house" & sure enough when he came home the mare was well.
    (5) In another case Moll got back a mare for a man which was gone for two years.
    (6) He often heard of fairy children replacing peoples own.
    (7) Two hunch backs joined a fairy funeral & carried the corpse. As a reward they took the hump off one of them but they put it on the other

  19. Changeling

    CBÉ 0437

    river, and then she'd see whether he was a fairy or not. Begob she did. She brought him to the river and threw him in. He roared and bawled first and then he cursed and damned. The last she saw of him was going off down the river and he playing the flute. When the woman came back her own child was in the cradle before her.