Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

—
Irish Supc7'stitions. S;
Darkness, and gave it to the King; of Ii-cland's son, that
he might be invisible at his leisure.
Other superstitious traditions, more or less h\-pnotic, may
be mentioned. A thimble was given by a fairy to a young
man to serve as a boat. A large white cat declared herself
a woman three hundred years old. Riding on fairy horses,
carrying off princesses through the air, using swords that
gave light, sending weasels to bring money, turning into
flying
beetles, forcing into magic sleep, and even restoring
youth, were some of the wonders. A black dog was said
to be a hag's father. Adepts could turn into vultures,
swans, wolves, &c. But, according to Hyde's Folk Lon\
witches could be released by masses. A hag or witch
was a givrack in Celtic Welsh.
Sir George Grey, in his New Zealand narratives, has
several instances of enchantment, like those of Irish times.
One old woman, by her spells, held a boat so that it could
not be launched. Again, " Early in the morning Kua
performed incantations, by which he kept all the people
in the cave in a profound sleep." A sorcerer baked food
in an enchanted oven to kill a party. Of another, " lie
smote his hands on the threshold of the house, and every
soul in it was dead."
This was an Irish charm for the toothache
:
" May the thumh of chosen Thomas
in the side of guileless Christ
heal my teeth without lamentation
from worms and from pangs."
Charms of a peculiar kind were emplo\ed to ward oft"
evil. Of these—more potent than the feminine sign of
the horseshoe over the threshold—was the celebrated
Slidah-na-Gig. The writer, many years ago, was sliown
one of these stranee figures in the reserved depositaries of
the British Museum. It was the squatting figure ol an