School: Baile Dubh, (C.) (roll number 15541)

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1. Rat Catchers

   

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   A man called An Praorach and sometimes the Cup Tosser, was a renowned rat catcher in the townlands around Ballyduff. When a farmer was very troubled with rats, he would send word for An Praorach. He would come to the farmer and would be well fed by him. After a few days examining the farm. he would make a sugán of straw about 20 feet in length. He used to make a kind of ointment called Annesty. This stuff had a powerful smell. He would smear the sugán with the Annesty and when the sugán would be well coated, he would catch one end of it in his hand and the rest would be left trail along the ground.
   He would then whistle three times and then begin moving from the farmyard through the fields and would walk a long distance from the farmer's land by whom he had been employed - sometimes six to ten miles - then he would make a short cut to the nearest river, trailing his sugán behind him and followed by hundreds of rats. On reaching the river he would either throw the sugán into the river or bury it near the river. He would then slip away himself, the rats remaining around the place where the smell of the sugán would be. In a

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   B. Prior

   Gender

   Unknown

   Occupation

   Teacher

   Address

   Ballyduff, Co. Waterford

   Informant

   J. Walsh

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   60

   Address

   Coolishal, Co. Waterford