School: An Bháinseach (C.) (roll number 11965)

Location:
Bansha, Co. Tipperary
Teacher:
Eibhlín, Bean Uí Mheiscill
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0575, Page 010

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0575, Page 010

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: An Bháinseach (C.)
  2. XML Page 010
  3. XML “Selling a Soul to the Devil”

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

  1. On a cold winter's day a woman with a baby boy in her arms stared hungrily at cakes and jam rolls in a shop window in the town of W -. She was penniless, and she could not remember when last she had partaken of a square meal. Turning away with a sob in her throat, she was accosted by a stranger, fashionably dressed, who asked her why she was so disconsolate. She told him of her want, and he replied, that if she gave him charge of her son at the age of twenty one, body and soul, she might never again want for food and the good things of this world. The poor woman (desperately hungry) promised. Her baby was now only twelve months, and twenty years seemed a long time. All went well with her from that day onwards, but she often thought of the stranger and her promise. When her son, - Mickey had attained manhood, a farmer from over the hills, came and asked if the mother would allow Mickey to go with him to his place, and help at gathering the harvest.
    Mickey was desirous of seeing life, and he persuaded his mother to allow him to
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Folktales index
    AT0316: The Nix of the Mill‑pond
    Language
    English