School: Mín na Cille, Mainistir na Féile (roll number 16239)

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1. A Story

   

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   A Story

   Sixty years ago there lived in this locality or to be exact in the Kerry Border a usurer or money lender called Gruaig, so called on account of his long hair. He used to lend money at a very high rate of interest, sometimes at 50%. He also used to lend sheep and other animals grazing. Although the animals ate the grass and the rents of the land in which they grazed was dear because of the high rents and it was for that very purpose the money was often raised. In the year 1870 the man sent a lot of sheep to a certain farmer in Caher he having a considerable amount of money raised because the land was bad and he had a large family. Now the farmer was harder pressed for money from Gruaig although he had 17 or 18 sheep grazing. Now at this time lots of young men were on their keeping and often were out of their homes at night doing night-rades and having an eye on evicted farms. It happened one night that a large band of these men met in the mountain slopes It was eslimated that the same night some 180 men met and after a hard nights work felt weary and hungry. Some of Gruaig's sheep came in their path, and knowing who they belonged to twenty sheep were killed and roasted nearby a lime kiln and from that day to this there was no more heard from Gruaig(ors) or his sheep
   Padraig De Roiste
   This was told to me by Mr OConnor

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. genre
      1. belief (~391)
         1. folk belief (~2,535)
            1. treasure legends (~7,411)
   2. place-space-environment
      1. land management (~4,110)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Pádraig de Roiste

   Gender

   Male

   Informant

   Mr O Connor

   Gender

   Male