Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of IrelandFolk Magic / White MagicLegend / Oral TraditionEnglish with Irish folklore source materialShareAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 171919 edition - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 available1919 editionLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 1Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 2Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 3Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 4Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 5Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 6Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 7Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 8Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 9Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 10Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 11Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 12Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 13Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 14Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 15Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 16Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 17Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 18Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 19Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 20Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 21Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 22Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 23Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 24Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 25Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 26Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 27Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 28Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 29Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 30Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 31Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 32Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 33Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 34Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 35Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 36Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 37Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 38Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 39Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 40Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 41Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 42Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 43Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 44Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 45Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 46Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 47Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 48Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 49Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 50Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 51Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 52Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 53Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 54Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 55Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 56Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 57Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 58Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 59Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 60Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 61Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 62Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 63Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 64Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 65Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 66Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 67Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 68Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 69Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 70Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 71Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 72Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 73Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 74Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 75Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 76Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 77Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 78Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 79Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 80Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 81Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 82Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 83Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 84Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 85Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 86Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 87Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 88Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 89Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 90Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 91Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 92Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 93Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 94Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 95Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 96Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 97Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 98Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 99Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 100Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 101Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 102Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 103Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 104Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 105Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 106Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 107Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 108Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 109Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 110Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 111Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 112Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 113Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 114Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 115Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 116Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 117Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 118Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 119Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 120Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 121Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 122Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 123Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 124Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 125Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 126Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 127Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 128Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 129Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 130Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 131Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 132Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 133Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 134Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 135Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 136Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 137Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 138Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 139Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 140Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 141Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 142Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 143Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 144Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 145Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 146Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 147Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 148Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 149Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 150Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 151Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 152Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 153Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 154Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 155Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 156Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 157Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 158Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 159Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 160Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 161Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 162Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 163Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 164Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 165Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 166Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 167Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 168Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 169Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 170Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 171Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 172Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 173Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 174Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 175Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 176Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 177Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 178Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 179Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 180Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 181Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 182Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 183Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 184Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 185Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 186Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 187Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 188Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 189Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 190Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 191Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 192Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 193Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 194Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 195Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 196Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 197Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 198Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 199Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 200Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 201Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 202Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 203Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 204Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 205Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 206Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 207Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 208Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 209Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 210Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 211Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 212Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 213Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 214Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 215Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 216Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 217Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 218Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 219Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 220Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 221Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 222Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 223Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 224Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 225Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 226Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 227Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 228Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 229Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 230Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 231Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 232Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 233Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 234›The Farmer Punished.Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 17ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The fairies, with their free, joyous temperament and love of beauty and luxury, hold in great contempt the minor virtues of thrift and economy, and, above all things, abhor the close, hard, niggardly nature that spends grudgingly and never gives freely. Indeed, they seem to hold it as their peculiar mission to punish such people, and make them suffer for the sins of the hard heart and niggard hand, as may be seen by the following tale:— 2A farmer once lived near the Boyne, close to an old churchyard. He was very rich, and had crops and cattle, but was so hard and avaricious that the people hated him; for his habit was to get up very early in the morning and go out to the fields to watch that no one took a cabbage or a turnip, or got a cup of milk when the cows were being milked, for the love of God and the saints. 3One morning, as he was out as usual by sunrise spying about the place, he heard a child crying bitterly— 4“Oh, mother, mother! I am hungry. Give me something, or I’ll die.” 5“Hush, darling,” said the mother, “though the hunger is on you, wait; for the farmer’s cow will be milked presently, and I’ll knock down the pail so the milk will be spilt upon the ground, and you can drink your fill.”[6] 6[6] The fairies have a right to whatever is spilt or falls upon the ground. 7When the farmer heard this he sent a stout man to watch the girl that milked, and to tie the cow’s feet that she should not kick. So that time no milk was spilled upon the ground. 8Next morning he went out again by sunrise, and he heard the child crying more bitterly even than before— 9“Mother, mother! I am hungry. Give me to eat.” 10“Wait, my child,” said the mother; “the farmer’s maid bakes cakes to-day, and I’ll make the dish to fall just as she is carrying them from the griddle. So we shall have plenty to eat this time.” 11Then the farmer went home and locked up the meal, and said— 12“No cakes shall be baked to-day, not till the night.” 13But the cry of the child was in his ears, and he could not rest. So early in the morning he was out again, and bitter was the cry of the child as he passed the copse— 14“Mother, mother!” it said, “I have had no milk, I have had no cake; let me lay down my head on your breast and die.” 15“Wait,” said the mother, “some one will die before you, my darling. Let the old man look to his son, for he will be killed in battle before many days are over; and then the curse will be lifted from the poor, and we shall have food in plenty.” 16But the farmer laughed. “There is no war in Ireland now,” he said to himself. “How then can my son be killed in battle?” And he went home to his own house, and there in the courtyard was his son cleaning his spear and sharpening his arrows. He was a comely youth, tall and slender as a young oak-tree, and his brown hair fell in long curls over his shoulders. 17“Father,” he said, “I am summoned by the king, for he is at war with the other kings. So give me the swiftest horse you have, for I must be off to-night to join the king’s men. And see, I have my spears and arrows ready.” 18Now at that time in Ireland there were four great kings, and each of them had two deputies. And the king of Leinster made a great feast for the deputies, and to seven of them he gave a brooch of gold each, but to the eighth only a brooch of silver, for, he said, the man is not a prince like the others. Then the eighth deputy was angry, and he struck the king’s page full in the face for handing him the brooch. On this all the knights sprang up and drew their swords, and some took one part and some another, and there was a great fight in the hall. And afterwards the four kings quarrelled, and the king of Leinster sent out messengers to bid all his people come to help him. So the farmer’s son got the message as well as the others, and he made ready at once to join the battle with a proud heart for the sake of the king and a young man’s love of adventure. 19Then the farmer was filled with rage. 20“This is the wicked work of the witch woman,” he said; “but as I would not give her the milk to spill, nor the cakes when baked, so I will not give her the life of my only son.” 21And he took large stones and built up great walls the height of a man, round a hut, and set a great stone at the top to close it, only leaving places for a vessel of food to be handed down. And he placed the lad within the hut. 22“Now,” he said, “the king shall not have him, nor the king’s men; he is safe from the battle and the spears of the warriors.” 23So the next morning he rose up quite content, and was out at sunrise as usual; and as he walked by the churchyard, he heard the child laughing. And the mother said— 24“Child, you laugh by a grave. For the farmer’s son will be laid in that ground before three days are over, and then the curse will be lifted from the poor. He would not let the milk be spilled, nor the cakes to be baked, but he cannot keep his son from death. The spell is on him for evil.” 25“But his father has walled him round in a hut with strong walls, high as a man. How then can he die in battle?” 26“I climbed the hut last night and gave him nine stones, and bade him throw them one by one over his left shoulder, and each time a stone of the wall would fall down, till free space was left him to escape, and this he did; and before sunrise this morning he fled away, and has joined the king’s army; but his grave is ready, and in three days he will be in this ground, for his doom is spoken.” 27When the farmer heard these words, he rushed like mad to the hut, and called his son by name; but no answer came. Then he climbed up and looked in through the hole at the top, but no sign of his son was there. And he wrung his hands in despair, and went home and spake no word, but sat moaning with his head buried in his hands. 28And on the third day he heard the steps of men outside, and he rose up, for he knew they were bearing the body of his dead son to the door. And he went out to meet them, and there lay the corpse of the young man on the bier, pale and beautiful, struck through and through by a spear, even as he had died in battle. 29And they laid him in the churchyard, just as the witch-woman had foretold, while all the people wept, for the young man was noble to look upon, and of a good and upright spirit. 30But the father neither spoke nor wept. His mind was gone, and his heart was broken. And soon he lay down and died, unpitied by all; for he was hard and cruel in his life, and no man wept for him; and all the riches he had gathered by grinding down the poor melted away, and his race perished from the land, and his name was heard of no more, and no blessing rested on his memory. ‹Previous chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 16Next chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 18›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg