Folklore of County Leitrim (Folklore History Series)
4/5
()
About this ebook
Related to Folklore of County Leitrim (Folklore History Series)
Related ebooks
Tales From The Land Of The Brave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorthen European Fairy Tales Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Celtic Fairy Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ould Lammas Fair: Ballycastle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOther Famine: The 1822 Crisis in County Leitrim Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Irish Ghost Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Irish Eccentrics Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sookin' Berries: Tales of Scottish Travellers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prophecies of the Brahan Seer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5West Midlands Folk Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Book of Irish Landmarks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA–Z of Irish Names for Children and Their Meanings: Finding the Perfect Irish Name for Your New Baby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIrish Nationality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdinburgh Book of Days Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Death of an Irish Tradition: A Peter McGarr Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lanarkshire Folk Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFermanagh Folk Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMini Kilt Tours Self-Drive Touring Guide Stirling to Fort William via Glencoe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTraditional Irish Cooking: The Fare of Old Ireland and Its History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Irish Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMini Kilt Tours Self-Drive Touring Guide Stirling and Trossachs From/To Edinburgh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimals, Beasties and Monsters of Scotland: Folk Tales for Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkelligside Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Shall Bear You Up: Memories of a Catholic Priest Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Derbyshire Folk Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skelligs Sunset Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Walking in Carmarthenshire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkelligs Calling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Social Science For You
Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slaves in the Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women Don't Owe You Pretty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Folklore of County Leitrim (Folklore History Series)
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Folklore of County Leitrim (Folklore History Series) - Leland L. Duncan
FOLK-LORE GLEANINGS FROM COUNTY LEITRIM.
THE district from whence these notes are derived lies to the south-east of the lower end of Lough Allen, and comprises part of the parishes of Kiltubrid and Fenagh, in County Leitrim, the latter better known on account of the Book of Fenagh and the remains of St. Caillin’s Abbey. This part of the county is fairly hilly, with wide stretches of bog, and many lakes; while towards the north of Kiltubrid lies the wild mountain district of Slieve-an-iarain. At the present time it is devoid of timber, except such as has been planted round the houses of the gentry, and this absence of trees and hedges gives the whole district a rather desolate appearance. Until the Cavan, Leitrim, and Roscommon Light Railway was constructed, a few years ago, Kiltubrid was quite cut off from outside influence. Carrick-on-Shannon is ten miles off; and Drum-shanbo and Ballinamore, five and seven miles away respectively, are only small country towns. The people, therefore, have not yet lost the old traditions of the place, in spite of the fact that the native tongue has almost died out; but they are fast disappearing, and it is to be feared will ere long be extinct, as they have become under similar circumstances elsewhere.
The stories in English which I have heard told by the peasantry in co. Leitrim are, of course, not to be compared with those collected in Irish by Dr. Hyde in the next county (Roscommon), but they are interesting, I think, as showing the form that the tales have taken at the present day. As regards the general superstitions, etc., current in the district, my informants were as a rule people of over forty years of age, who referred to such matters as having been told them by their parents, who were Irish speakers.
The tales were related to me by a little lad
of fourteen, whose mother, in her turn, heard them in her youth from her father, John Tighe, of the townland of Cordery Peyton, the son of Peter Tighe of Corrick-beside-Laheen Peyton (co. Leitrim), both of whom were Irish speakers, and spoken of as great story-tellers. The lad, Michael McManus by name, son of Patrick McManus of Aughrim in Kiltubrid, very kindly wrote the tales down for me—for which I owe him my best thanks—and I have thought it proper to put them forward here in his own words without alteration. It may be worth while to add that, so far as the family knew, the tales had never appeared in print.
There do not appear to be any customs peculiar to the immediate neighbourhood, but it may here be noted that fires are still lighted on the hills and along the sides of the roads on Saint John’s Eve.
THE GOOD PEOPLE.
That the fairies are fallen angels is a widely spread belief, but still it is interesting to compare the ideas of the people in different localities on this subject. This is the Kiltubrid version: Who are the fairies?
I asked one evening of a country woman. The Good People (God speed them!) is it?
said she. Well, I have heard that when there was war in heaven, and the wicked angels were being cast out, that St. John asked the Almighty would he waste the whole heavens and earth? So God said, ‘Let everything stand as it is!’ and so everything remained as it was that instant, and that is why there are fairies in the air (you’ve heard noises in the air, haven’t you?), and on the earth, and under the earth.
A belief in the good people
is, of course, very general. Cashels or forts in the fields—those round earthworks, common in many parts of the country—are held to be specially the place of meeting, and no one would willingly disturb one. There are stories of persons being struck dead for even cutting bushes round a fort. It is also said to be unwise to attempt to build on a walk
; buildings so put up are invariably thrown down during the night. A tale is told of a man who attempted to add an outbuilding to his house, in spite of the advice of a friend—for it is in that way the fairies dissuade one from building. What he built in the day was promptly thrown down at night, because the good people
had a walk on that side of the house, and he finally had to take his friend’s advice and build on the other side.
That the good people
take away infants from their parents, and leave an old stick of a thief
in the guise of a child in their place is also believed. There are several tales of these changelings and their doings. Here is one: Once on a time there was a woman whose child was taken away, and an old thief left in its place, yet was he so disguised that the woman never found out the difference. Now, there lived in the same house a tailor, and one day when the woman had gone into the town, to the tailor’s surprise, the baby got out some pipes and began to play. He played away merrily until he thought the woman would be returning, and then he told the tailor that he must on no account tell her, or it would be no more tunes he’d be playing him. However, the tailor did tell the woman, and sent her out to the town with directions to return speedily. So she came back in a short time and found the young old man
sitting up in the cradle and playing to the tailor; but when she came in at the door he put the pipes under the pillow, and was as though he were an infant again. The woman was afraid when she saw that it was not her child, for when she heard the pipes