Irish Folk Tales (83 page)

75
THE BREAKING OF THE FORTH
T. G. F. Paterson,
Country Cracks
(1945), pp. 74–75.

76
DREAMS OF GOLD
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), p. 166. The second story is Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1645, known from Sweden to Turkey and as far east as Japan.

77
THE CASTLE’S TREASURE
William Wilde,
Irish Popular Superstitions
(1852), pp. 96–98.

78
THE AIR IS FULL OF THEM
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), pp. 211–212.

79
THE FEET WATER
Kevin Danaher,
Folktales of the Irish Countryside
(1967), pp. 127–129.

80
THE FAIRY RABBIT AND THE BLESSED EARTH OF TORY
Seán Ó hEochaidh,
Fairy Legends from Donegal
(1977), pp. 247–249.

81
THE CATS’ JUDGMENT
Robert Gibbings,
Lovely Is the Lee
(1945), pp. 72–73.

82
NEVER ASK A CAT A QUESTION
George A. Little,
Malachi Horan Remembers
(1944), pp. 143–145.

83
CATS ARE QUEER ARTICLES
Eric Cross,
The Tailor and Ansty
(1964), pp. 48–51. Especially common in Germany and Ireland, this is Aarne-Thompson international tale type 113A. I recorded it from Hugh Nolan on October 27, 1972, and June 11, 1977.

84
TOM MOORE AND THE SEAL WOMAN
Jeremiah Curtin,
Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World
(1895), pp. 151–154. This is Christiansen migratory legend type 4080, known in Norway and common in Ireland. Here are some other versions: Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan Wonder Book
(1910), pp. 52–55; John O’Donoghue,
In Kerry Long Ago
(1960), pp. 124–126; Seán Ó hEochaidh,
Fairy Legends from Donegal
(1977), pp. 222–225.

85
THE SWINE OF THE GODS
W. B. Yeats,
The Celtic Twilight
(1902), pp. 113–114.

86
A PIG ON THE ROAD FROM GORT
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), p. 89.

87
THE CROOKENED BACK
T. Crofton Croker,
Fairy Legends
(1862), pp. 149–152. When the tale ended, the narrator’s grandson asked, “Granny, what was it?” She answered, “It was the Phooka.”

88
MAURICE GRIFFIN THE FAIRY DOCTOR
Jeremiah Curtin,
Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World
(1895), pp. 81–87.

89
BIDDY EARLY
Lady Gregory,
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), pp. 45–47.

90
THE BLACK ART
Henry Glassie,
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 535–536. In his notes to Lady Gregory’s
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland
(1970), p. 302, W. B. Yeats remarks that the story of the witch who changes into a hare is “the best remembered of all witch stories” in Ireland.

91
MAGICAL THEFT
Séamas Ó Catháin,
Irish Life and Lore
(1982), pp. 25–27.

92
PAUDYEEN O’KELLY AND THE WEASEL
Douglas Hyde,
Beside The Fire
(1890), pp. 72–91.

93
ONE QUEER EXPERIENCE
Clifton Johnson,
The Isle of the Shamrock
(1901), pp. 202–204. Johnson does not name the narrator. I gathered it out of a book by another American traveler: Samuel Bayne,
On an Irish Jaunting-Car
(1902), p. 78.

94
MANY A ONE SAW WHAT WE SAW
George A. Little,
Malachi Horan Remembers
(1944), pp. 30–32.

95
THE OLD TIMES IN IRELAND
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan History Book
(1926), pp. 13–14. The text in the first edition (1909) contains a different middle section. The opening, shared in both editions, derives from the
Book of Invasions of Ireland
, for which see Douglas Hyde,
A Literary History of Ireland
(1967), pp. 281-292, and Thomas O’Rahilly,
Early Irish History and Mythology
(1976), pp. 75–170, 193–208.

96
THE BATH OF THE WHITE COWS
Patrick Kennedy,
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts
(1866), pp. 304–307. The story seems to derive from Geoffrey Keating’s
General History of Ireland
.

97
THE BATTLE OF THE FORD OF BISCUITS
Henry Glassie,
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 213–215. Contemporary accounts of the battle, which took place in 1594, agree basically with Mr. Nolan’s telling. See
Ballymenone
, pp. 630–633. A later telling of this story by Mr. Nolan appears in
Ballymenone
, pp. 656–659, and
Irish Folk History
(1982), pp. 41–44.

98
CROMWELL
Séamas Ó Catháin,
The Bedside Book of Irish Folklore
(1980), pp. 57–58. Recorded for the Irish Folktale Commission by Seán Ó Flanagáin. Oliver Cromwell’s violent Irish campaign of 1649–1650 engendered a great body of Irish legend.

99
CROMWELL’S BIBLE
Sean O’Sullivan, “Cromwell in Oral Tradition,” in Linda Dégh, Henry Glassie, and Felix Oinas, eds.,
Folklore Today
(1976), pp. 479–480. While other versions of tale 98 have been found in Ireland (O’Sullivan provides one, pp. 477–478, and refers to others), this tale, though it incorporates international types (Aarne-Thompson type 1174, Christiansen migratory legend type 3020), has been recorded but once. Sean O’Sullivan supplies a pair of tales of Cromwell in
Folktales of Ireland
(1966), pp. 236–242. In letters of October 30 and November 19, 1984, Séamas Ó Catháin kindly supplied me with the name of the teller of this tale and the recording dates for tales of his own that he has allowed me to reprint in this anthology.

100
PATRICK SARSFIELD
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan History Book
(1909), p. 18; (1926), pp. 46–47. Sarsfield was second in command at the defense of Limerick in 1690. Peter Flanagan sings a song commemorating his major success then:
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 694–695. The next year Sarsfield surrendered to the Williamite forces and left for France. Soon he was dead on the battlefield.

101
SARSFIELD SURRENDERS AND RORY TAKES TO THE HILLS
Seumas MacManus,
Heavy Hangs the Golden Grain
(1952), pp. 158–159.

102
BLACK FRANCIS
Henry Glassie,
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 47–49. Black Francis was hanged at Enniskillen in 1782.

103
SHAN BERNAGH
Rose Shaw,
Carleton’s Country
(1930), pp. 69–74. The Irish outlaw displayed his nobility in his gifts to the poor, his deference to women, his defense of the priest. Black Francis (tale 102) comparably fights for the priest in
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), pp. 132–136.

104
WILLIE BRENNAN
Sean O’Sullivan,
Legends from Ireland
(1977), pp. 139–141. Recorded for the Irish Folklore Commission by Tomás Ó Ciardha. The first story is Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1527A; the second has attached itself to noble outlaws from Robin Hood to Jesse James, including Black Francis (tale 102): Peadar Livingstone,
The Fermanagh Story
(Enniskillen: Cumann Seanchais Chlochair, 1969), p. 131. Brennan has survived in memory from his time in the early nineteenth century to our own largely because of the folksong “Brennan on the Moor,” for which see Colm O Lochlainn,
More Irish Street Ballads
(Dublin: Three Candles, 1965), pp. 144–145, 147.

105
WICKLOW IN THE RISING OF
1798 Pádraig Ó Tuathail, “Wicklow Traditions of 1798,”
Béaloideas
(1935), pp. 155–187. The three extracts I lifted from Mrs. O’Toole’s narrative are found on pp. 155–157, 174–176, 168–174. Séamas Ó Catháin includes a different excerpt from her account in
The Bedside Book of Irish Folklore
(1980), pp. 29–31.

106
THE FAMINE
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan History Book
(1926), pp. 77–80. The first of these two statements also appears in the first edition (1909), pp. 34–35. The dreadful tale of the Famine of 1846–1848 is told by Cecil Woodham-Smith in
The Great Hunger
(London: Hamish Hamilton, 1962).

107
VICTORY IN THE TIME OF FAMINE
Henry Glassie,
Passing the Time in Ballymenone
(1982), p. 518;
Irish Folk History
(1982), pp. 95–96. This tale is possibly a transformation of Aarne-Thompson international type 832. The late Alex McConnell, father of the great musician Cathal, recorded a version of this legend from Michael Boyle’s uncle for the Irish Folklore Commission. It is found in manuscript book 1403 (1955), pp. 26–27, in the archive at the Department of Irish Folklore of the University of Dublin College at Belfield.

108
RUINED BY POETRY
Robin Flower,
The Western Island
(1945), pp. 19–21. Ó Crithin is Tomás Ó Crohan, author of
The Islandman
(1935).

109
THE BIRTH OF FINN MAC CUMHAIL
Jeremiah Curtin,
Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland
(1906), pp. 204–220. In 1887, Curtin collected mainly in Limerick, Donegal, and Galway; my ascription to Donegal is but a guess. This tale begins as number 1 of Sean O’Sullivan’s catalogue of Tales of the Fianna in
A Handbook of Irish Folklore
(1963), pp. 589–590, then it swings out to embrace Aarne-Thompson international tale types 1137, famous from the
Odyssey
, and 300 (see tales 114 and 115 in this collection). Curtin’s tale brings Finn into the world. A good selection of tales of Finn at his peak awaits you within part 2 of Sean O’Sullivan’s
Folktales of Ireland
(1966). Finn at the end is amusingly, sadly portrayed in Flann O’Brien’s wonderful novel
At Swim-Two-Birds
(1939).

110
THE HIGH KING OF LOCHLANN AND THE FENIANS OF ERIN
Jeremiah Curtin,
Irish Folk-Tales
(1943), pp. 113–124. First published in the
New York Sun
, November 6, 1892. Much of Curtin’s work in 1892 was conducted in Kerry, but my attribution to Kerry is only a guess. In his notes to the tale (p. 163), James H. Delargy says this is a folk version of a literary tale, the earliest text of which dates to 1603. It has been found in oral tradition in Scotland and in Donegal.

111
USHEEN’S RETURN TO IRELAND
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan History Book
(1926), pp. 20–22. This sequence of two tales does not appear in the first edition (1909). This is number 18 in Sean O’Sullivan’s typology of Fenian tales in
A Handbook of Irish Folklore
(1963), p. 593, and is O’Sullivan-Christiansen Irish folktale type 470
^*
, known especially in Connacht and Munster and related to Aarne-Thompson international tale type 470
^*
, most usual in northern and eastern Europe.

112
FAIR, BROWN, AND TREMBLING
Jeremiah Curtin,
Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland
(1906), pp. 78–92. In 1887, Curtin collected mainly in Limerick, Donegal, and Galway; my ascription to Galway is but a guess. This is Aarne-Thompson international tale type 510, Cinderella, common throughout Europe, with type 403 as an appendage.

113
THE CORPSE WATCHERS
Patrick Kennedy,
Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts
(1866), pp. 54–57. Versions of Aarne-Thompson international tale type 480, The Kind and the Unkind Girls, are common throughout Europe. Kennedy wrote of this tale that it was the “one which was repeated oftenest in our hearing during our country experience. It probably owed its popularity to the bit of a rhyme, and the repetition of the adventures of the three sisters, nearly in the same words. It may seem strange that this circumstance, which would have brought
ennui
and discomfort on our readers, should have recommended it to the fireside audiences. Let it be considered that they expected to sit up to a certain hour, and that listening to a story was the pleasantest occupation they could fancy for the time. Length, then, in a tale was a recommendation, and these repetitions contributed to that desirable end.”

114
A WIDOW’S SON
John Millington Synge,
The Aran Islands
(1911), pp. 78–84. After opening with a suggestion of Aarne-Thompson international tale type 1640, this settles into the usual Irish version of Aarne-Thompson type 300, the most common
Märchen
in Ireland. See Sean O’Sullivan,
Storytelling in Irish Tradition
(1973), p. 16. The distribution of this tale type is global. It is known in Africa and America, and it is particularly common in India, Greece, Russia, Hungary, Germany, France, Denmark, and Norway, though Ireland has yielded the largest number of versions.

115
JACK AND BILL
W. B. Yeats,
The Celtic Twilight
(1902), pp. 209–230. This story, combining Aarne-Thompson international tale types 303 and 300, came from the fieldwork Lady Gregory reported in
Poets and Dreamers
(1903). Her version of the tale appears in
The Kiltartan Wonder Book
(1910), pp. 31–51.

116
THE MULE
Lady Gregory,
The Kiltartan Wonder Book
(1910), pp. 1–7. This story seems to gather Aarne-Thompson international tale types 550, 531, and 329 into a distinctly Irish form.

117
THE KING OF IRELAND’S SON
Brendan Behan,
Brendan Behan’s Island
(1962), pp. 136–141. As can be seen from O’Sullivan and Christiansen’s
Types of the Irish Folktale
, pp. 116–117, the incorporation of Aarne-Thompson international tale type 329 into type 550 is frequent in Ireland.