School: Forgney, Ballymahon (roll number 860)

Location:
Forgney, Co. Longford
Teacher:
Mrs B. Higgins
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0750, Page 357

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0750, Page 357

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: Forgney, Ballymahon
  2. XML Page 357
  3. XML “The <span class="exact">Fairies</span>”

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. The fairies are known in this locality as "the good people". They are believed to inhabit forts & woods, and it is also said that they are fond of lone bushes.
    It is considered most unlucky to cut a lone bush. The fairies resent it and will avenge it. Various instances are cited of people who cut lone bushes having been punished by meeting with accidents, losing their stock etc. This idea is very strongly rooted in the minds of the people of Forgney district.
    Many of the older people hold that the heart should be swept clean every night, before the family retire, as the 'good people' may need it during the night.
    Some believe that the fairies are some of the fallen angels who were cast out of heaven but not into Hell.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. agents (~1)
      1. supernatural and legendary beings (~14,864)
    Language
    English
    Collector
    B. Higgins
    Gender
    Female
    Occupation
    Teacher