"Isn't it the case?" says he.
"Well," says the smith, "whoever told you that is as good a blacksmith as I am, and if I knew who told you, I would give you five pounds; because it is a league among all blacksmiths."
Says the man: "It's a sickly little child of my own." "Well, if he is," says the smith, "he's as good a black-smith as me."
So the man was not thankful to him to say his child would be a fairy.
"Well," says the smith, "stop here till it bees dark, and surely your wife will begin to scold you for stopping out so late. Tell them you could be home half-an-hour sooner, or an hour, but that you were surprised looking at the fort above the house on fire, and that it's all consumed." So he went home: and the wife began: "What kept you out so late? You have your whole day spent with them two irons now." "I could be home sooner," says he; "but I was surprised to see the fort on fire, and now it's all consumed. I stood an hour looking at it."
"My word!" says the lad in the cradle, "my bellows and tools are all burnt," and out with him, and he never came back.
If the fairies have a man carried away, he can be recovered, if seen, by a compound of strong urine and hens' excrement being thrown over him. The excrement of hens is said to be particularly efficacious in dispelling fairy enchantments. The reason given is that these birds belonged to the Danes, who were able to beat the fairies. The people also say that when the Danes quitted Ireland they left the hens behind to be an annoyance to any people who should inhabit the country. This character they fully maintain according to popular tradition, which asserts that if hens are left alone in a house, they will always endeavour to
