Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

Witchcraft, Sorcery, Ghosts, and Fetches. 153
relief, and this is the sort of relief you'd give me. Throw
up the window a bit, and take those things I made out
for yous. Throw the bit of butter you'll find in this
sheet of white paper into the churn, and this sod of
turf into the fire, and cut away the bit of butter on the
mantel beam with this knife, and give it back to me, till
I return it to the knowledgeable woman I begged it from
for yous."
The direction being followed, the butter began to
appear in heaps in the churn. There was great joy and
huzzaing, and they even opened the door to show hospitality
to the old rogue. But she departed in rage, giving
them her blessing in these words— " I won't take bit nor
sup from yez. Yez have thrated me like a Russian or a
Cromwellian, and not like an honest neighbour, and so
I lave my curse, and the curse of Cromwell on yez all !
There is a counterpart to the next legend in " Camp-
bell's West Highland Tales ;
" we have met nothing
similar in other collections. It would seem to have first
been told long after the time of St. Patrick. In the
stories found among the native Irish and Highlanders there
is always evident more of the Christian element than
among the Norse or German collections, yet even in this
respect there is a peculiarity worth noticing. The Blessed
Virgin is personally introduced two or three times in
Dasent's Norse collection, and we cannot recollect a
single instance of such a liberty being taken in our
Leinster recitals.
"