IRISH FOLK-TALES.
By James Britten, F.L.S.
(Continued from Folk-Lore Journal, vol. i. p. 324.)
No. VI.—The Story of John and the Amulet.
[This story was written down, like the preceding, by John Hannen, at the dictation of his father.]
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NOW there was once a Shoundree[1] travelling in Ireland, and one night, not knowing where to sleep, he went for a night's lodging to a house up in the mountains. They took him in and gave him food. Now that night there was a child born in the house, and the Shoundree went out and consulted the stars. He came in and said that the child was born under an unlucky planet, and he then wrote upon a slip of parchment the child's fate. It was that he would be devoured by a four-footed beast. "Now," said the Shoundree, "when the boy grows up, send him to school, and hang this parchment in a purse round his neck, and tell him on no account to open it."
The baby grew up and was called John, and he was sent to school with the amulet round his neck. One day he chanced to think of the purse round his neck and wondered what was in it. At last he got so curious that he opened it and read what was in it. That night when he went home his father noticed how sad he was looking, and said, "What ails you, John?" "Nothing, father," he replied. "Have you opened the purse, John?" said the father. "Yes, father," said he, "and I wish that whatever you have to give me as a legacy will be given to me now." His father gave him some money and he went off. In the evening, as he was wandering in the woods, he came across a little open plot of grass. "Here," he said, "I will lie, and
- ↑ Prophet, wise man.
