School: Leamh-choill

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1. Folk Tales

   

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   As this district has not any claim to being in the Gaeltacht or even in the Breac Gaeltacht, there are four animal stories to be found. As a matter of fact not even the oldest grandmother or grandfather has the salutation "Go dceígis tú slan" or the words teut-teut to a child or mí-as.
   Although the following few stories may not be classified as folk tales proper, they are the only ones to be obtained. The only one I ever heard was about an eel. People believe that the eel cannot be killed and when I was very young, children would not eat a bit of an eel lest it should jump in their stomachs. It is a common thing to hear people say that they eel leaps on the pan.
   My father told us a story about an eel which spoke. The people had an eel hanging from the rafters by a hook. The dinner was being prepared, and the eel was about to be cooked when it was heard to say "Get some garlic for the eel." The woman was not long
   about throwing the eel out [?] as far as she could from the house and all were quite satisfied to eat potatoes and butter and milk for dinner.

   Here is a story about a fox which I have also heard. A man set a trap for a fox which was eating his poultry. He placed old hay over the trap so that the fox would not break his leg in his efforts to free himself. When the man went to look in the morning he found the fox lying dead-to all appearances. He threw the fox in an old barn and closed the door. When the man had gone away the fox got up and made his way to freedom through a hole in the wall.

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT0033: The Fox Plays Dead and is Thrown out of the Pit and Escapes

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Michael Gerard O' Hara

   Gender

   Male