was there in the house and what was more the divil a penny had he to buy a bit of end thread. This time they used to make sieves from briars. The briars were cut and the thorns and leaves removed and and then split and split again until they were as big or as thick as "fungs" These were then placed in the chimney to wither and harden so that they could be twisted any way at all.
So this man had a good supply of these in the chimney and they were fairly withered now
So he said that he would sew the skin on to the horse by means of the briars. Out he goes anyhow and started at the job and the horse stayed quiet enough for him and after about an hour's hard work he was finished with the job and he let out the horse in a field to graze and he wasn't a hair the worse. When the spring came and everything began to bud didn't the briars that were used in sewing the horse bud too and leaves came out on them and later flowers and in the end blackberries grew and ripened on him and they were the finest and the sweetest blackberries that

got up and when he did the skin fell off him. Poor John kept looking on at all this with his mouth and eyes open, and who would wonder at him, and he looking at at poor horse waling around and no skin on him. He didn't know what to do with the horse now. He was considering would it be the best to shoot him when he saw the horse beginning to graze. This decided him. He put the skin on the horse again, but when he had it on he had no cords or ropes to tie it on, and of course it wouldn't stop on by itself. He went and got a few long briars and split them and put a couple of them around the horse's belly and tied him around the head with another. Then he brought home the horse and let him out in the field. He went out the next day to take the briars off the horse,

sel free, out o wan o' the higghesht bunches o' briars, that was growin' in Brickeen bog.

and tie on the skin with cords and make a neater job of it. But when he tried to pull the briars off the horse, he found they had taken root and when he began to pull one off, the horse began to kick. He had to leave him as he was.
After a couple of weeks the fun began. The briars began to grow, and it was not long until they began to bud. After a while he was seen going around in full bloom. The leaves then began to fall away and the berries began to form. They grew until they were as big as apples, and it is stated that one of them alone would make a pound of jam. The horse lived for ten years in this position in the spring he would bloom out, and in the end

him & to report everything he did & said during the day. He said that she would watch him and follow him from a distance at first and then she would come up to him and question him as to what he ate. He was to say to her "Follow me & you will see for yourself." Then he was to bring her through the most difficult places - across rocks, through briars & shrubberies, through tangled undergrowths in the wood till her feet would be sore & bleeding & her clothes tattered & torn. He was to stop now & again & pick wild fruit here & there to pretend it was on these he lived. The bull told him not to come back to him till long after dark, till he was certain that his step-sister had gone home. His bringing her through the rough places & briars was done in order that she never attempt the same task again.
They lay down & slept as before.

anyone ever late and the man came an ate them whenever he was hungary. There was an awful crow on the horse and when they were all eaten he gave another crow. That year the horse or the brains produced these crows of blackberries and the man made black berry jam and he had a supply for the following year. Whenever grass was scarce and the horse wasn't well fed he used to ate the leaves off the briars and so fed himself.

black dog, Begob I threw him the mate, there was a smell off it. When I was done ateing the woman came in an' asked me how did I like the feed. I said it was very good. Did you like the meat" says she "I did says I I ate very bit of it. "Begob" he didn't" says the black dog under table "I got it all". Me heart jumped up in me mouth when I heard the dog talkin'. Well, boys I was in an awful state. I was so knocked about with trouble an' worry an' fatague that I laid my head down on the table an' I knew no more until I wakened up the next morning An' I was lying in a clump of briars. I'm tellin you me boy it was no drame I can remember it as plain as if it was only yesterday. There was wan thing

nobody here only myself. The soldiers of Cromwell couldn't understand her at all. She was speaking with such a cool air and seemed not the least afraid of any of 'em. She went back in wance more and returned to the window. But this time she had no child in her arms. Instead she had a hive of bees. It is wan of these hives that is made of straw and briars. She flung this out of the window in the direction of the soldiers, and of course the minute it touched the ground all the bees were disturbed and they came out of it in thousands and stung the horses and the soldiers unmercifully. When the woman had thrown out the hive of bees she returned in to the kitchen and came along with another hive of 'em, and she also flung this out in the window and she never stopped until she had five or six of the hives thrown out in the window. The soldiers after the first hive had been thrown out thought to pacify the horses, and

on that night. They seperated before day break and the boy went off for himself. Early that morning he noticed that he had been watched but he pretended not to notice. After some time his stepsister came up to him and asked him how he was getting along and what he lived on and how he spent his time. He replied "Follow me and I will show you." He followed the advice of the bull. He took her over stony ways, through briars and brambles and as night approached the girl was so weary and footsore and entirely exhausted that she was glad to go home resolving never to return. After dark that night he met the bull and he slept as before. When the girl arrived at the palace she looked a complete wreck. She reported all she had seen and all she had suffered to her mother and now the mother was more puzzled then ever. She believed still that the boy had some other means of being fed besides

passed by the strange spot the very same as if something had happened.
Some of the old folk say that it was the fairies that was passing that time & on their way back to their rath or fort and they generally go back just before cock crow every morning. There is something curious about horses for they can always see there things before a human being.
There was a man lived in Galbally one time and it was believed that he had something to do with the good people. He was called the fairy man. Some people say that he was a fairy changeling. He was only a small man but he could do as much work as five or six men. He was one day sent out to cut a ditch of briars

now covered over wit briars, an' low shrubs. The Casthle o' Ballymote which is sthill standin' even though its roofless now, was also builts by the McDonaghs, an' it happened that at wan time both o' them war occupied by two brothers o' the Mc Donaghs. It seems that these two brothers could be on betther spakin' terms with wan anether than, they really war, an' for that reashon, the both o' them war fairly anxious [?] pick aquarrel. But the job was to get asuitable cause ta fight for. Mc Donagh of Ballymote at lasht thought o aplan, an' here it was.
He sent his son on avisit, afriendly wan maryah, ta the Mc Donagh o' Ballindoon, an' o' courche the son [?] is he was wanted ta do, he found every foouglt he could with the hospitality he was offered, in' he went home very angry if it was all thrue ta Ballymote, an' he reported the matther to his father.
Twas the father's turn then ta get angry, so he wrote [?] Mc Donagh o' Ballindoon, an' tould him ta sen him on the fattesht lamb that he had in his herd in recompense for the insult that he offered to his son. Mc Donagh o' Ballindoon refused ta do anything o'the sort, an' the nexht thing was Mc Donagh o' Ballymote declared war on him, an' marched out at the

Person who receives dead man's clothes must wear them to Mass following Sunday. "How can I go to Mass when they didn't give me the clothes". "They gave me the clothes, but they didn't give me the boots [B'éigin dó féin peidhre 'thabhg't dó].When any member of the family is going away salt is concealed in some part of his garments. [Do mheasas féin go raibh an phollóg agam, uair].An bhean bhíonn ag iomchar leinbh ní théigheann sí isteach sa roilig le linn socraide ná aon uair eile go dtí go mbíonn sí "go maith" airis.
Cam-roilige - geilltear dí, fós.To have luck at cards carry a fine comb ("a bloody comb") in your pocket or go under a briar both ends of which are ag fás in the ground.If you go astray turn coat inside out.

I
As I roamed out one evening in the pleasant month of May,
It was down by Carrig River I carelessly did stray,
When the hawthorn and sweet briar it would your heart illume,
And the rippling of the waters when the "frockuns" were in bloom.
II
I often times in vain regret the things I might have seen.
I've seen the past but can't forget the things that might have been,
As I strolled along the small brids song went rippling through the sky,
O'er the lonely church of Carrig hill where '98 men lie.
III
I often times go view the graves where my school mates do lie,
We often joined in harmless sport in the day that's long gone by.

he shot one of them beside the
girl and the other fellow jumped
up on a ditch on the poor
house road & he shot him with
the other barrell of a double horse
pistol. The girls ran screaming
into Baltinglass when the two boys
fell & a whole regiment of horse
soldiers came out after him but
Dwyer only went a few perch
away from the bodies & threw
himself in a heap of briars &
they never saw him. He said himself
he thought he felt the horses'
feet touch his head they
came so close to him. He
should have been very
undaunted.