Ancient legends, mystic charms & superstitions of Ireland, with sketches of the Irish past

Front matter

' LIBRARY OF THE N UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below.

Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University.

Contents

Introduction ....

The Horned Women The Legend of Ballytowtas Castle A Wolf Story The Evil Eye The Stolen Bride

Fairy Music ....

Preface

xii

Amongst the educated classes in all nations, the belief in the supernatural, acting directly on life and constantly interfering with the natural course of human action, is soon dissipated and gradually disappears, for the knowledge of natural laws solves many mysteries that were once inexplicable ; yet much remains unsolved, even to the philosopher, of the mystic relation between the material and the spiritual world. Whilst to the masses — the uneducated — who know nothing of the fixed eternal laws of nature, every phenomenon seems to result from the direct action of some non¬ human power, invisible though ever present ; able to confer all benefits, yet implacable if offended, and therefore to be propitiated.

^ The superstition, then, of the Irish peasant is the instinctive belief in the existence of certain unseen agencies that influence all human life ; and with the highly sensitive organization of their race, it is not wonderful that the people live habitually under the shadow and dread of invisible powers which, whether working for good or evil, are awful and mysterious to the uncul¬ tured mind that sees only the strange results produced by certain forces, but knows nothing of approximate causes.

Many of the Irish legends, superstitions, and ancient charms now collected were obtained chiefly from oral communications made by the peasantry themselves, either in Irish or in the Irish- English which preserves so much of the expressive idiom of the antique tongue*

'These narrations were taken down by competent persons skilled in both languages, and as far as possible in the very words of the narrator ; so that much of the primitive simplicity of the style has been retained, while the legends have a peculiar and special value as coming direct from the national heart.

In a few years such a collection would be impossible, for the old race is rapidly passing away to other lands, and in the vast working-world of America, with all the new influences of light and progress, the young generation, though still loving the land of their fathers, will scarcely find leisure to dream over the fairyhaunted hills and lakes and raths of ancient Ireland. ,,

I must disclaim, however, all desire to be considered a melan¬ choly Laudatrix temporis acti. These studies of the Irish past are simply the expression of my love for the beautiful island that gave me my first inspiration, my quickest intellectual impulses, and the strongest and best sympathies with genius and country possible to a woman’s nature.

FRANCESCA SPERANZA WILDE.

ANCIENT LEGENDS.