Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, Second Series
General
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, Second Series
Atlantic Coast (Ireland) -- Social life and customs; Folklore -- Ireland; Ireland -- Social life and customs
One time at home I was out about dusk, and presently I heard a
creaking, and a priest walked by reading his prayers. But when he
came close I saw it was Father Ryan that was dead some time before.
And I ran in and told a woman, who used to help in milking, what I
had seen, and she said, "If it's Father Ryan you saw I don't wonder,
for I saw him myself at the back of the door there only a week ago."
* * * * *
There was a boy was making a wall near Cruachmaa and a lot of _them_
came and helped him, and he saw many neighbours that were dead among
them. And when they had the wall near built another troop of them
came running and knocked it down. And the boy died not long after.
_A Young Man:_
My father told me that he was down one time at the north shore
gathering wrack, and he saw a man before him that was gathering
wrack too and stooping down. He had a black waistcoat on him and the
rest of his clothes were flannel just like the people of this island.
And when my father drew near him, he stooped himself down behind a
stone; and when he looked there, there was no sight or mind of him.
One time myself when I was a little chap, about the size of Michael
there, I was out in the fields, and I saw a woman standing on the top
of a wall, and she having a child in her hand. She had a long black
coat about her. And then she got down and crossed over the field, and
it seemed to me all the time that she was only about so high (three
feet) and that there was only about two feet between her and the
ground as she walked, and the child always along with her. And then
she passed over another wall and was gone.
_The Spinning Woman:_
There was a new-married woman, and the husband was going out and he
gave her wool to spin and to have ready for him. And she couldn't
know what in the world to do, for she never learned to spin. And she
was there sitting at it and a little man came in, and when she told
him about it he said he'd bring it away and spin it for her and bring
it back again. And she asked for his name, but he wouldn't tell that.
And soon after there was a ragman going the road and he saw a hole
and he looked down and there he saw the little man, and he stirring
a pot of stirabout with one hand and spinning with the other hand,
and he was singing while he stirred: "---- is my name (that's his
name in Irish but I won't tell you the meaning of it) and she doesn't
know it, and so I'll bring her along with me." So the ragman went in
and came to the young woman's house, and told her what the man was
singing. So when he came with the wool she called him by his name,
and he threw the wool down and went away; for he had no power over
her when she knew his name.
_Mary Glynn of Slieve Echtge:_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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