Collectanea. 241
3 1 . The Ghost of the Blacks.
One night, about eleven years ago, when I was a child, I was coming from a dance at about 11.30 p.m., and I said to myself, says I, — " Begorra ! I won't be frightened at all ; the night is so bright, and I have such a short way to go." When I came into the three-cornered field called the Blacks, by the jigs and reels, what should I see but a big tall spirit. He was eleven feet tall and about seven feet wide, and he was trotting along behind o' me. Now my hair was hanging, and what should he do but stick out his paws, (for he looked like a big tall dog ; his teeth were two inches long, for upon my soul ! I could see them all in the moon- light) on my back, making grasps at my hair. And begorra ! I thought he'd eat me altogether, and as I ran he was trying to be grasping at me, and as I reached the door o' my house I thought I'd never get inside with the fright o' him. But faix then ! It didn't take me long to get in and to clap the door out after me, and away with me upstairs to bed, and every drop o' sweat on me as big as a wren's egg ! But never a wink could I sleep that nightj and the fright 0' it was in my heart after three months.
32. The Combating of the Giants.
There were four brothers living in Modelligo called the Fitz- geralds, as was terrible powerful men and was giants, and there were four brothers (as was also giants) and who came from Tipperary, and thought themselves as good a men as they, and maybe better. So they came to the house to see which was the strongest set of men. But they found no one there but the house- keeper. So they turned away all the Fitzgeralds' cattle off their land, and were taking them home with them, so the Fitzgeralds coming home caught them taking away their cattle. So the battle began there and then between them, and it was a terrible sight to see. So the four Tipperary brothers were killed in the battle, and three of the Fitzgeralds. So one of the Fitzgeralds lived to come into his house, and the housekeeper asked him when he came in what happened to him. So he told the housekeeper all that happened, and so the story became known, for there was no other account of the battle given, for there was no one to witness the
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