School: Ballymahon (B.) (roll number 12690)

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1. Churning

   

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   Once upon a time there was a farmer who lived in Larach and his name was Seán Ball. Seán always kept four milch cows on his farm, and he kept calves so that he would have no waste milk when he would churn. There was an old woman with red hair living next door to Seán and she was supposed to be a witch. On a May morning before sunrise the witch would go out to Seán's pasture bringing with her a sharp knife. First she would go to a hazel fence and cut cupíns from it. She would then go to the gap and stick down the cupíns in a row across the gap. When Seán would bring in the cows he would milk them. When he would churn he would have no butter. But when the witch would churn she would have duble the amount of butter. It was not long until Seán found out the and every morning before bringing in the cows he would look well at the gap to see if the cupíns were there. The old witch found out Seáns plan. Every time Seán would be churning she would go

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. butter and churns (~3,280)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Harry Flood

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Ballymahon, Co. Longford

   Informant

   Laurence Cooney

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   92

   Address

   Daroge, Co. Longford