School: Castlecoote (roll number 6344)
- Location:
- Castlecoote, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Máire, Bean Uí Ghabhláin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0263, Page 200
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- XML “A Witch Story”
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- A man and his wife lived near a mountain. They had two cows. One morning, when the wife went out to milk, she found a little woman in the cowhouse milking. In a flash she turned into a hare and fled. This continued for a few mornings and when they went to churn the milk, they found that there was no butter.
The farmer got a hound and one morning at daybreak, he went out to the cowhouse. He peeped in and saw the little witch milking his cow. He opened the door and let in the hound, just as the witch changed into a hare. Then the chase began. The man followed until the hare jumped into a wee house on the side of the mountain.
As the hare was going in through the window, the hound took a bite out of its leg. The man went in and saw a small old woman sitting on a stool. He asked her if she saw a hare coming in she said 'no.' She got up off the stool and the man saw a pool of blood under her foot. H then threatened her and said h would cut the head off her if she ever went milking his cows again.
The old witch promised and he never was without milk or butter after that.
