years ago in our Lord's time the Jews wanted to catch our Lord and they searched high and low down for him. Our Lord was in a big clump of bushes and a little wren began flying round and round the clump and at last the Jews saw what was up. They went over and in that place they found Him. From that day to this people do not like the wren and lads chase him on Wren boy's Day. Young lads love to chase the wren and the be looking forward to Wren boy's day. Some people ask to see the wren and if they haven't a wren they send them away with-out any money.

It is a custom for all the boys of the villages to go from house to house with a wren. They make a box out of thin and they bore holes in it. Then they put moss in it. They put a wren in it then. They say this rhyme at every house “the wren the wren the king of all birds St Stephen’s day she was caught in the furze Up with the kettle and down with the pan give me some money to bury the wren. Although she is small her family is great. Rise up land lady and give u a treat and If your treat be of the best I hope its in heaven your soul will rest. If your treat be of the small it would not agree with the wren boys at all

We have St Stephen's Day on the twenty sixth of December. Every two boys dress up and go round with the wren on St Stephen's Day.
They catch the wren in the eve of the house the night before St. Stephen's Day. They light the lantern and hold it up to the eve of the house. There is little holes in the thatch and the wren is asleep in the hole, and the boys put their hand into the hole and catch the wren. They kill hem and hang him from the wren bush. They go from house to house to bury the wren. This is the song that is said in every house.
The wren, the wren,
the king of all birds.
St. Stephen's Day he was caught

said that when the soldiers were after St Stephen they had a rest under a tree and at the same moment a little wren flew out of the tree and the soldiers looked up and saw St Stephen hiding in the tree. The boys carry the wren in honour of St Stephen and sign a hym such as, the wren the wren the king of all birds St Stephens night was caught in the furze. Heard this story from Thomas

St Stephens day occurs on the day after Christmas Day. On that day the people go around looking for money. In some districts boys go (around) out hunting for the wren and they make a little box and put him in, and they go around singing "help the wren."
In our own town a crowd of boys dress themselves in torn clothes in a way they would not be known and they go around singing and dancing.
The words sung are, "help the wren" and the wren the wren the king of all birds on St Stephens

St Stephen's Day
On this day boys and sometimes men catch and kill a wren. They then get some sticks and make a bier and go around collecting money to bury the wren.
The following verse is related by the "wren boys" as they go into each house:-

that it was Santa Claus that came. St Stephens Day On St Stephens Day the boys dress themselves up with false faces and old top coats and straw tied around their knees and old hats and they are called wren boys and they travel around about from house to house collecting money and sometimes they have fiddles and mouth organs and they do be dancing and jumping. This is the rhyme they have The wren, The wren. The king of all bird St Stephens Day He was caught in the wood Up with the kettle and down with the pan and give me a penny to bury the wren.

The boys in this district go from house to house with a wren on Saint Stephen's Day. They catch the wren the night before, and early next morning they start out.
They fill a box with moss, holly, and coloured paper. They bring some crumbs to feed the wren. They go from house, to house, and say a poem. The people of the house give them so money. The boys keep going all day with the wren until night. There is a welcome for them every where.
One boy collects the money, so they divide it in the evening when they are about to go home. Some of them carry the wren in a glass jar. Some boys kill the

In this district there are many feasts observed in a special manner-certain customs attached to each feast.
On St. Stephens' Day, boys from eight to fourteen years of age go about in little groups from house to house. There are about eight in each group. Each boy is masked and dressed in garments of various colours. He carries a branch of holly in one hand and a small cage with a wren in it in the other hand. As the boys are entering each house they sing the wren-song, the lines of which are:-
"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, Saint Stephen's Day he was caught in the furze, Although he is little his family is great, Arise young lady and give us a treat, Up with the kettle and down with the pan, Give us the money to bury the wren."
Each boy is given a small amount of money and the same performance is made in each house. The same thing is done by girls on St. Brigid's Day but the

On St. Stephens Day the big boys dress, and go around with the wren. All the old people in this district take a rest on this day except the wren-boys. A few days before it arrives the wren-boys are very busy getting old torn clothes, and the night before St. Stephen's day they make their

On Christmas day they hunt the wren and do their best to kill him

All the birds began to fly up in the sky until they couldn't fly any higher. Then they began to come down one by one until there was no bird left in the sky but the eagle. Then the eagle said "I am king of the birds." "You are not, but I am king of the birds" said the wren jumping off the eagles back and flying the height of a man's knee above the eagle. In this way the wren became the king of the birds. The eagle was so angry with the wren, that he bruised him between himself and the sky and that is why the wren is

wren. They asked the robin did they see Our Lord passing. The robin said that when the field of wheat was sowed our lord passed. They asked the wren when did He pass and the wren said "indé indé indé".

On the twenty sixth of December the young boys dress up in old coats turned inside out and in false faces so that no one will know them. They get up very early in the morning and go around from house to house collecting money. They knock at every door and say "Honour the Wren" Sometimes they say this rhyme. "The Wren, the Wren, the king of all birds. St. Stephen's day he was

On Saint Stephen's Day every year all boys go out with the wren. They get a flash lamp and go outside and catch a wren in the thatch. This is done by dazzling the bird. When the boys see the wren in its nest they flash the light in his eyes.
Then they get a box and cover it with a net of wire and put the wren into it.
They dress up in straw and old clothes and go around from house to house and say at every house
"Honour the wren". Then the

The boys from each village "go, as they express it, in the wren." They dress up in fantastic colours, wear false beards and carry a box supposed to hold the wren. The children here, as a rule, do not catch the poor wren though they carry the box and play a game of pretence. From house to house they travel standing outside each door repeating rhymes and playing on a mouth organ. These are the verses used in this locality.

to house and they used have a piccola with them. The boy dressed up like a girl and another of the Wren
Boys danced a reel. One of the other Wren Boys played the piccola while the rest of them formed a ring around them. They used get 1/- 6 or 3 in some houses. Sometimes they used catch the wren, and go to the houses again, but more times they used not catch it at all.
This was their rhyme,
The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
Give us our answer and let

"Going out in the Wren" is still practised: only young boys now go out in the wren but formerly grown men did the same.
Now the boys go in batches or singly. If they can manage to catch a wren they dress him up in ribbons, put him into a small box also arrayed in ribbons and bring him round with them. But if they can't get a wren they stick feathers in a small ciarán of turf and this does instead. They disguise themselves -thats an essential part of the game. There is no particular sort of disguise.
They go from house to house getting money in each house. Sometimes batches of boys from 16 to 20 years do the rounds. These have often tin whistles or sometimes melodeons or mouth organs. They play and dance, but they seldom

The wren though the smallest and most timid of birds is their king. When the great bird(sic) died all the bird gathered together to decide which one was to be king. At last after much arguing they decided that the bird that could fly the highest should be king. The poor wren did not know what to do for all the other birds could fly higher than him. Just as they were about to fly into the air he perched himself on the eagles tail. As the eagle was a big strong bird the wren knew that he would not feel the weight. The birds kept going up, higher till they could hardly be seen at all from the ground. Then they started getting tired and falling one by one they all dropped and then the eagle seeing them all below him said "Now I am the king of the birds". On hearing that the wren jumped off his back, flew as high as he could above him and said "Oh no ! your'e not I'm the king of the birds". The two joined the others on the ground then.

right to have holly and ivy up on every spot and cornar of the house.
They used to catch the wren on Christmas day and they used to have her for St. Stephen night.
They used to go around St. Stephen night and used to sing the wren the wren the king of all birds St. Stephen day she was caught in the wood up with the kittle down with pan give me a pinny to berry the wren.
It is right to white wash the house in honner of our loard.