Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

132 Fictions of the Irish Celts.
when Molly returned in half an hour, attended by father
and brothers with spades and picks, all round the spot, to
a considerable distance, was as thick with booliauns as a
plantation with young trees.
The next tale cannot boast of a very remote origin in
its present form, having been written in the beginning of
the last century, but it is an adaptation of one as old as
the times of paganism. These ancient fictions, when
thoroughly abandoned to a traditional existence, passing
from the mouths of one generation of story-tellers to
the ears of their successors, or even left to the mercy
of careless and ignorant scribes, suffered considerable
damage. We find in those that have been preserved by
the peasantry passages in the worst taste, grotesque,
extravagant, and unintentionally ludicrous, which never
were uttered by the educated and really gifted bards, who
found a welcome in the hall of chief or king, or at the
public assembly.
We do not make this remark in a fault-finding spirit
with our peasantry. They have saved a great number of
legends peculiar to themselves, as well as the fairy and
household stories, which are the common property of
most of the countries of Europe.
We conclude the present section with
THE ADVENTURE.S OF THE " SON OF BAD COUNSEL."
The tale, of which the following is an abridgment,
was composed in mixed prose and verse by Brian Dhu