Legendary fictions of the Irish Celts

Witchcraft, Sorcery, Ghosts, and Fetches. 187
say of them on this occasion. In their neighbourhood,
on the crest of another hill, is the churchyard of Kil-
ranelagh, where no corpse of Protestant man or woman
has ever been allowed to rest. The boundary-wall is
formed of loose stones, and the top is very narrow in
comparison Avith its basg. Every man attending a funeral
brings a stone picked up on its way, and throws it on the
circular fence, and so the mighty ring has grown. Out-
side this boundary is a deep, round well, and a tall
curved recess in the wall just above it. This recess is
furnished with ledges, which are plentifully provided
with wooden cups—every one interring in the graveyard
the corpse of a child under five years of age providing
one of these vessels. The spirit of the latest interred
is obliged to supply every one of its predecessors with a
cup of water and to keep watch and ward over the
sacred inclosure till the next funeral ; and so, when two
convo}'s are approaching at the same time, there some-
times occur unseemly races and struggles. Having
sketched our scenery, we proceed with the legend of
THE KILRANELAGH STIKIT.
Two men repairing to their homes just in the twilight,
were obliged to pass through this churchyard, or take a
considerable circuit. They had come up the hill, and
were beginning to proceed through the cemetery, when
they heard, just on their left, and apparently proceeding