School: Cromadh (B.)

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1. The Rat Charmer (continued)

   

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   apast him, he heard a whistle back the road, where he met the man, and the minnit he heard it, the whole drove began to squeal louder and to trot quicker, until after a couple of minutes they were gone back the road in a fog.

   The gambler was hardly able to stir, but as soon as he came to himself a bit, he started to run, and I'm telling you there did not much grass grow under his feet, until he bursted in the door in his own house, and fell in a dead faint on the middle of the floor. They threw a basin of water over him and shook the Holy water on him, and when he came to himself, he could hardly tell them what he saw, and from that day they used to say that he'd go in to a mouse hole from the sight of a rat.

   (Collected in Tiob. 'Ar. by my niece it used to be told with more embellishments than are given above, at our fireside by my father, I think, but I would have entirely forgotten it, if my niece had not supplied it. The belief in a rat charmer, though not common in my district, existed to some extent, and in seeking for a parallel to the above tale in this district - and unavailingly - I find that at one time, the power of the rat-charmer to lure the rodents en masse from one area to another was firmly believed in.
   Daithi O. 'C)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Daithí Ó Ceanntabhail

   Gender

   Male

   Occupation

   Múinteoir