Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, First Series
History
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, First Series
Atlantic Coast (Ireland) -- Social life and customs; Folklore -- Ireland; Ireland -- Social life and customs
The way she got the touch was one day after we left the place we used
to be in. And we got our choice place in the estate, and my father
chose Cahirbohil, but a great number of the neighbours went to Moneen.
And one day a woman that had been our neighbour came over from Moneen,
and my mother showed her everything and told her of her way of living.
And she walked a bit of the way with her, and when they were parting
the woman said, "You'll soon be the same as such a one," and as she
turned away she felt a pain in her hand. And from that day she lost her
health. My father went to Biddy Early, but she said it was too late,
she could do nothing, but she would take nothing from him.
* * * * *
There was a man out at Roxborough, Colevin was his name, was known to
be away with them. And one day there were a lot of the people footing
turf, and a blast of wind came and passed by. And after it passed a
joking fellow that was among them called out, "Is Colevin with you?"
And the blast turned and knocked an eye out of him, that he never had
the sight of it again.
_J. Joyce:_
There was a little chap I used to go to school with was away. He was in
bed for three or four years, and then he could only walk on two sticks,
till one day his father was going into Clough and he wanted to go, and
the father said, "They'll be laughing at you going on your two sticks."
So then he said, "Well, I'll go on one," and threw one away and after
that he got rid of the other as well--and got all right. He never would
tell anything about where he was, but if any one asked him he'd begin
to cry. He was very smart at his books, and very handy, so that when he
got well he got a good offer of work and went to America.
_An Islander:_
There was a girl on the middle island used to be away every night,
and they never missed her, for there was something left in her place,
but she got thin in the face and wasted away. She told the priest at
last, and he bid her go and live in some other place, and she went to
America, and there she is still. And she told them after, it was a
comrade she had among them used to call her and to bring her about to
every place, and that if she took a bit of potato off the skib in the
house, it might be on Black Head she'd be eating it. And to parties the
other girl would bring her, and she'd be sitting on her lap at them.
But those that are brought away would be glad to be back. It's a poor
thing to go there after this life. Heaven is the best place, Heaven
and this world we're in now.
_A Man whose Son is Said to be Away:_
I don't know what's wrong with my son unless that he's a real
regular Pagan. He lies in the bed the most of the day and he won't
go out till evening and he won't go to Mass. And he has a memory for
everything he ever heard or read. I never knew the like. Most people
forget what they read in a book within one year after.
_A Travelling Man:_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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