Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of IrelandFolk Magic / White MagicLegend / Oral TraditionEnglish with Irish folklore source materialShareAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 21919 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 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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 Horned Women.Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 2ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1A rich woman sat up late one night carding and preparing wool, while all the family and servants were asleep. Suddenly a knock was given at the door, and a voice called—“Open! open!” 2“Who is there?” said the woman of the house. 3“I am the Witch of the One Horn,” was answered. 4The mistress, supposing that one of her neighbours had called and required assistance, opened the door, and a woman entered, having in her hand a pair of wool carders, and bearing a horn on her forehead, as if growing there. She sat down by the fire in silence, and began to card the wool with violent haste. Suddenly she paused and said aloud: “Where are the women? They delay too long.” 5Then a second knock came to the door, and a voice called as before—“Open! open!” 6The mistress felt herself constrained to rise and open to the call, and immediately a second witch entered, having two horns on her forehead, and in her hand a wheel for spinning the wool. 7“Give me place,” she said; “I am the Witch of the Two Horns,” and she began to spin as quick as lightning. 8And so the knocks went on, and the call was heard, and the witches entered, until at last twelve women sat round the fire—the first with one horn, the last with twelve horns. And they carded the thread, and turned their spinning wheels, and wound and wove, all singing together an ancient rhyme, but no word did they speak to the mistress of the house. Strange to hear, and frightful to look upon were these twelve women, with their horns and their wheels; and the mistress felt near to death, and she tried to rise that she might call for help, but she could not move, nor could she utter a word or a cry, for the spell of the witches was upon her. 9Then one of them called to her in Irish and said— 10Then the mistress searched for a vessel to bring water from the well that she might mix the meal and make the cake, but she could find none. And they said to her— 11“Take a sieve and bring water in it.” 12And she took the sieve and went to the well; but the water poured from it, and she could fetch none for the cake, and she sat down by the well and wept. Then a voice came by her and said— 13“Take yellow clay and moss and bind them together and plaster the sieve so that it will hold.” 14This she did, and the sieve held the water for the cake. And the voice said again— 15“Return, and when thou comest to the north angle of the house, cry aloud three times and say, ‘The mountain of the Fenian women and the sky over it is all on fire.’” 16When the witches inside heard the call, a great and terrible cry broke from their lips and they rushed forth with wild lamentations and shrieks, and fled away to Slieve-namon, where was their chief abode. But the Spirit of the Well bade the mistress of the house to enter and prepare her home against the enchantments of the witches if they returned again. 17And first, to break their spells, she sprinkled the water in which she had washed her child’s feet (the feet-water) outside the door on the threshold; secondly, she took the cake which the witches had made in her absence, of meal mixed with the blood drawn from the sleeping family. And she broke the cake in bits, and placed a bit in the mouth of each sleeper, and they were restored; and she took the cloth they had woven and placed it half in and half out of the chest with the padlock; and lastly, she secured the door with a great cross-beam fastened in the jambs, so that they could not enter. And having done these things she waited. 18Not long were the witches in coming back, and they raged and called for vengeance. 19“Open! Open!” they screamed. “Open, feet-water!” 20“I cannot,” said the feet-water, “I am scattered on the ground and my path is down to the Lough.” 21“Open, open, wood and tree and beam!” they cried to the door. 22“I cannot,” said the door; “for the beam is fixed in the jambs and I have no power to move.” 23“Open, open, cake that we have made and mingled with blood,” they cried again. 24“I cannot,” said the cake, “for I am broken and bruised, and my blood is on the lips of the sleeping children.” 25Then the witches rushed through the air with great cries, and fled back to Slieve-namon, uttering strange curses on the Spirit of the Well, who had wished their ruin; but the woman and the house were left in peace, and a mantle dropped by one of the witches in her flight was kept hung up by the mistress as a sign of the night’s awful contest; and this mantle was in possession of the same family from generation to generation for five hundred years after. ‹Previous chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 1Next chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 3›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. 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