School: Urbal (roll number 13874)
- Location:
- Urbal, Co. Leitrim
- Teacher: Gerald Kelliher
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0206, Page 568
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Urbal
- XML Page 568
- XML “Story”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- There is an Alt in Drumnafinla Parish of Ballinaglera called "Alt Cróchair". In olden times people used to pass this way on their way to the Mass-rock on Slievenakilla mountain. In this lonely place funerals and fairy-lights were often seen. One night an old woman was out late and she saw a big fire burning in the Alt. She heard the roars of a bullock, as if he were being killed. A voice said "Bí ag imtheacht anois!" When her husband went out the next morning to see his cattle he found one of them dead. The beast was as light as "cork-wood."A short time, afterwards, there happened to call an old beggar-man at this particular house. The people of the house told him of the strange lights that were seen around the Alt after midnight. He gave them a charm and a prayer written in Irish and told them that by reciting the prayer no fairies or spirits of any kind could touch either(iompuigh led' thoil)(continues on next page)
- Informant
- John Gilmartin
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 60
- Address
- Urbal Barr, Co. Leitrim
