School: Kilberry, Athy (roll number 13165)
- Location:
- Kilberry, Co. Kildare
- Teacher: Sara Rowan
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0781, Page 156
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- XML School: Kilberry, Athy
- XML Page 156
- XML “Churning”
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- (continued from previous page)About a hundred years ago a man was passing along the main road from Athy to the Curragh one early morning. He came to a small bridge, that spanned a stream. The small bridge is called the small ford bridge.
As he approached the stream, he was startled to hear a woman's voice chanting a song low and clear. He crept slowly over to the wall of the bridge and there sitting at the edge of the stream was a quaintly dressed little old woman. She wore a white bordered cap, a small shawl about her shoulders and in her hand was a small wooden dish. She used to dip the dish in the foam of water, take a dishful of it and throw it in a pail. As she threw in each dishful, she used to say "All to me." "All to me ". The silent watcher on the bridge used to say, in answer as it were, "Half to me." "Half to me."
After some time the little old woman went away. The man, too, proceeded on his way.
The next morning his wife milked the one cow they had and was greatly surprised at the amount of milk she got. That evening her wonder increased, when the cow gave even more. However her amazement knew no bounds when churning day came and the churn was actually(continues on next page)
- Informant
- Sara Rowan
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 50
- Occupation
- Múinteoir
