School: Killmallock Convent School
- Location:
- Kilmallock, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: An tSr. Dimpna
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0528, Page 318
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- In Knockfiorna there is still to be seen a cave in which is to be found a rock, where Mass was celebrated in the days when the priests had to hide from the soldiers of Cromwell. People still go to this rock to get cured from warts by rubbing them with the water found in the crevices or holes, although indeed it is a dismal and lonely cave, and children would be in mortal dread to go in there. The fairy cave, they call it.
Well, one day a batch of men were mowing near the cave and, being tired and hungry, they rested and their talk turned on the fairies. "Wouldn't ye think" said one of the men "that one of the 'good folks' would bring us something to eat and drink?" In a moment a buxom girl appeared with a grand, hot cake swimming in butter and plenty of new, sweet milk. They all - except the man who passed the remark about the fairies - [turned/tucked?] into the food and enjoyed their fill. They fully believed that the girl belonged to one of the surrounding farmers, but the man who joked about the fairies looked closely and felt sure she was no mortal woman. And so he wouldn't touch her food. A few hours after, God between us and all harm, he was found lying across a swath of hay, dead as a door nail.
- Informant
- Patrick Kelly
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 78
- Address
- Kilmallock Hill, Co. Limerick
