Irish Folk Tales (82 page)

26
A HUNGRY HIRED BOY
Michael J. Murphy,
Now You’re Talking
(1975), pp. 19–21.

27
THE FIRST MIRROR
Séamas Ó Catháin,
The Bedside Book of Irish Folklore
(1980), pp. 8-10. Ireland shares this tale, Aarne-Thompson international type 1336A, with Finland, Greece, Turkey, China, and the southern United States.

28
ROBIN’S ESCAPE
Lady Gregory,
Poets and Dreamers
(1903), pp. 150–153. Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1641 is known throughout Ireland, the rest of Europe, the Orient, and North and South America.

29
JONATHAN SWIFT, DEAN OF SAINT PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan History Book
(1926), pp. 56–58. Swift does not appear in the first edition (1909). The popularity of Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) as a folktale character in Ireland is described by Mackie L. Jarrell, “ ‘Jack and the Dane,’ ”
Journal of American Folklore
(1964), pp. 99–117.

30
DANIEL O’CONNELL
Seumas MacManus,
Through the Turf Smoke
(1899); two of the three stories on pp. 171–188. Tales of the wit of Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847), the Liberator, are common in Ireland. Other versions of the first of these tales can be found in Sean O’Sullivan’s books
Folktales of Ireland
(1966), pp. 231–232, and
Legends from Ireland
(1977), pp. 128–131.

31
OWEN ROE O’SULLIVAN
Eric Cross,
The Tailor and Ansty
(1964), pp. 204–208. The first of these stories about the Kerry poet O’Sullivan (1748–1784) is found told about Daniel O’Connell in Michael J. Murphy’s
Now You’re Talking
(1975), p. 54.

32
ROBERT BURNS
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Peter Flanagan, November 12, 1972. He told the first and second of these tales, which he learned from two sisters named Farmer in South Fermanagh, on December 29, 1973. A 1979 telling of the first of Mr. Flanagan’s Burns stories appears in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 709–710. On December 12, 1983, he told the second story again and added a new one in which a boy climbs a tree and sits eating a bun while watching Burns make love to a woman behind a bush. Burns tells him: “Go on, my son, and eat your bun./Nature’s work must be done.”

33
TERRY THE GRUNTER
Séamas Ó Catháin,
Irish Life and Lore
(1982), p. 78. Recorded for the Irish Folklore Commission by Bríd Ní Ghamhnáin. The first of Terry’s poems, which Peter Flanagan attributes to Robert Burns, is also attributed to Jonathan Swift in Ireland. See Michael J. Murphy,
Now You’re Talking
(1975), p. 60.

34
THOMAS MOORE AND THE TRAMP
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Peter Flanagan, November 12, 1972. The tramp’s poem is attributed in Cork to a specific local poet. See D. K. Wilgus, “Irish Traditional Narrative Songs in English: 1800–1916,” in Daniel J. Casey and Robert E. Rhodes, eds.,
Views of the Irish Peasantry
(1977), pp. 114–115.

35
JOHN BRODISON AND THE POLICEMAN
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Michael Boyle, November 25, 1972. This tale, conceivably related to Aarne-Thompson international type 1529, which is not listed in O’Sullivan and Christiansen’s
Types of the Irish Folktale
, was also told by Mr. Buckley of Cork. See Eric Cross,
The Tailor and Ansty
(1964), p. 98.

36
A BIG POTATO
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, November 28, 1972. This tale, which would be classed as Aarne-Thompson international type 1960D, was also told by Mr. Nolan on November 22, 1972, and August 14, 1978, and I recorded it from Michael Boyle, who also attributed it to John Brodison, on November 25, 1972. Mr. Nolan and Mr. Boyle are gone, but Joe Murphy learned their tale and, crediting it to Brodison, told it to me on December 13, 1983.

37
THE FOX AND THE RANGER
Samuel Lover,
Legends and Stories of Ireland
(first series, 1834 [1831]), pp. 229–234; (complete edition, 1875), pp. 142–146. I guessed Wicklow from the mention of Blessington and Lover’s home in Dublin. A good version of this tale—Aarne-Thompson international type 67**, found widely in Ireland—appears in George A. Little,
Malachi Horan Remembers
(1944), pp. 109–110.

38
THE HORSE’S LAST DRUNK
Eric Cross,
The Tailor and Ansty
(1964), pp. 79–80. I recorded this story—Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1911A—from Hugh Nolan, November 8, 1972, and June 16, 1977. The story, as O’Sullivan and Christiansen demonstrate in
Types of the Irish Folktale
, pp. 326–327, is common in Ireland. Other interesting texts can be found in Sean O’Sullivan,
Folktales of Ireland
(1966), pp. 249–252; Séamas Ó Catháin,
The Bedside Book of Irish Folklore
(1980), pp. 40–41.

39
HARE AND HOUND
Michael J. Murphy, “Folk Stories of Dan Rooney,”
Ulster Folklife
(1965), p. 85. This is connected to number 110 in Sean O’Sullivan’s catalogue of humorous tales in
A Handbook of Irish Folklore
(1963), p. 648.

40
SLEEPY PENDOODLE
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Michael Boyle, October 26, 1972. Hugh Nolan also learned this tale from his neighbor Hugh McGiveney, and I recorded it from him on November 8, 1972, June 11, 1977, and June 22, 1977.

41
A MEDICAL EXPERT FROM LISNASKEA
Paddy Tunney,
The Stone Fiddle
(1979), pp. 102–103. This is Aarne-Thompson international tale type 660 remade into a tall tale, as in America. See William Hugh Jansen,
Abraham “Oregon” Smith
(New York: Arno Press, 1977), pp. 236–243.

42
GEORGE ARMSTRONG’S RETURN
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, June 16, 1977. An earlier telling of this tale by Mr. Nolan appears in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 51–54, and in
Irish Folk History
(1982), pp. 117–121. Tall tales are called “pants” in Ballymenone.

43
THE LAWYER AND THE DEVIL
Michael J. Murphy,
Now You’re Talking
(1975), pp. 116–117. Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1187, famous from its appearance in Greek myth, is found across Europe and is particularly common in Ireland. Samuel Lover built a sketch out of this tale,
Legends and Stories of Ireland
(first series, 1834 [1831]), pp. 141–156, which William Butler Yeats edited for inclusion in his
Irish Fairy Tales
of 1892. See W. B. Yeats,
Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland
(1973), pp. 335–340.

44
COALS ON THE DEVIL’S HEARTH
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, December 18, 1979. An earlier telling of this tale, which Mr. Nolan learned from James Quigley and which plays on the idea in Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1187, can be found in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 538–540, and in
Irish Folk History
(1982), pp. 121–125.

45
NO MAN GOES BEYOND HIS DAY
Robin Flower,
The Western Island
(1945), pp. 120–121. Ó Crithin is the same man as Tomás Ó Crohan (1856–1937), whose life unfolds through his grand autobiography,
The Islandman
(1935).

46
A LIGHT TOKENS THE DEATH OF MR. CORRIGAN
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, November 15, 1972.

47
A CLOCK TOKEN
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), p. 174.

48
THE BANSHEE CRIES FOR THE O’BRIENS
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), pp. 266–267.

49
THE BANSHEE CRIES FOR THE BOYLES
T. G. F. Paterson,
County Cracks
(1945), p. 75.

50
EXPERIENCE OF THE BANSHEE
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Joseph and Peter Flanagan, June 12, 1977.

51
GRANDFATHER’S GHOST
Ronald Buchanan, “Folklore of an Irish Townland,”
Ulster Folklife
(1956), p. 47. Ronald Buchanan generously supplied me with the name of the storyteller in a letter dated October 15, 1984.

52
TERRIBLE GHOSTS
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Peter Flanagan, July 30, 1972. I recorded the second of these stories from Mr. Flanagan again on June 12, 1977.

53
THE SOLDIER IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE
James H. Delargy, “Clare Folk Tales,”
Béaloideas
(1935), pp. 25–27. Delargy comments that the tale is popular in Ireland. It seems related to Aarne-Thompson international tale type 326A
^*
.

54
DANIEL CROWLEY AND THE GHOSTS
Jeremiah Curtin,
Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World
(1895), pp. 46–53.

55
GHOSTS ALONG THE ARNEY
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, August 30, 1972. The last story in the sequence appears in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 68–69. I first heard about the headless ghost of Arney from Hugh Patrick Owens, and recorded the story from Mr. Nolan again on Novembers 8, 1972.

56
THE GRAVE OF HIS FATHERS
Robin Flower,
The Western Island
(1945), pp. 55–57. Peig Sayers (1873–1958) has left us two autobiographical books:
An Old Woman’s Reflections
(1962), and
Peig
(1974).

57
THE COFFIN
Kevin Danaher,
Folktales of the Irish Countryside
(1967), pp. 70–72. This one among the stories of women who are away has received the number 990
^*
in O’Sullivan and Christiansen’s
Types of the Irish Folktale
.

58
THE CAPTURE OF BRIDGET PURCELL
T. Crofton Croker,
Fairy Legends
(1862), pp. 39–41.

59
TAKEN
Robin Flower,
The Western Island
(1945), pp. 135–137. Ó Crithin is Tomás Ó Crohan, author of
The Islandman
(1935).

60
HOW THE SHOEMAKER SAVED HIS WIFE
Seán Ó hEochaidh,
Fairy Legends from Donegal
(1977), pp. 57–61.

61
THE MOUNTAIN ELF
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Peter Flanagan, July 30, 1972. You will learn about Peter Flanagan, the mummer, in
All Silver and No Brass
(1976).

62
INISHKEEN’S ON FIRE
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Ellen Cutler, August 7, 1972. Inishkeen is an island in Upper Lough Erne. Mrs. Cutler said that steel tongs placed across the cradle would have protected the baby from the fairies. Irish tales repetitively display iron and steel as defense against supernatural forces. Mrs. Cutler’s story is O’Sullivan-Christiansen Irish folktale type 501
^*
, found throughout Ireland. Another recent version of the tale appears in Linda-May Ballard, “Ulster Oral Narrative: The Stress on Authenticity,”
Ulster Folklife
26 (1980): 35–37: See tale 79 in this collection for a parallel conclusion, tale 72 for a reversal of the conclusion.

63
THE BLOOD OF ADAM
Kevin Danaher,
Folktales of the Irish Countryside
(1967), pp. 41–42. This story, known widely in Ireland, is founded on the general belief that fairies are fallen angels. It is Christiansen migratory legend type 5050, common in Norway.

64
WE HAD ONE OF THEM IN THE HOUSE FOR A WHILE
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), pp. 219–220. Mr. Kelleher’s story of “Geoffrey-a-wee” is structured like Aarne-Thompson international tale type 113A. See also tale 83.

65
FAIRY PROPERTY
Robert Gibbings,
Lovely Is the Lee
(1945), pp. 64–67. See also tale 92.

66
THE BLACKSMITH OF BEDLAM AND THE FAIRY HOST
Seán Ó hEochaidh,
Fairy Legends from Donegal
(1977), pp. 307–311.

67
FAIRY FORTHS
Henry Glassie,
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 543–545.

68
GORTDONAGHY FORTH
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Ellen Cutler, August 7, 1972. She told the first and last of these stories, dealing with the forth that stands next to her home atop Gortdonaghy Hill, again on June 22, 1977.

69
THE FAIRIES RIDE FROM GORTDONAGHY TO DRUMANE
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Hugh Nolan, August 30, 1972.

70
LANTY’S NEW HOUSE
William Carleton,
Tales and Stories of the Irish Peasantry
(1846), pp. 76–77. This is Christiansen migratory legend type 5075.

71
JACK AND THE CLURICAUNE
Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall,
Ireland
(1850), 3: 35–37. The classic text of this popular story is Crofton Croker’s “The Field of Boliauns,”
Fairy Legends
(1862), pp. 102–105.

72
BRIDGET AND THE LURIKEEN
Patrick Kennedy,
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts
(1866), pp, 130–131. After he presents this tale, Kennedy compares it with a Wexford version of a story like tale 71.

73
FAIRY TALES
Unpublished. Tape-recorded from Peter Flanagan, June 12, 1977. An earlier telling of the last in this sequence by Mr. Flanagan (which relates intriguingly to tale 111), can be found in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 545–546. His brother, Joseph, also told me that tale on June 9, 1977.

74
THE FAIRY SHILLING
Seán Ó hEochaidh,
Fairy Legends from Donegal
(1977), pp. 138–143. This is connected to O’Sullivan-Christiansen Irish folktale type 580
^*
. A comparable Donegal story of the rejection of fairy wealth appears in Sean O’Sullivan’s
Folktales of Ireland
(1966), pp. 174–175. There, p. 272, O’Sullivan notes parallels from Israel and Norway.