COLLECTANEA.
A Folklore Survey of County Clare {continued). XVIII. Animal and Plant Superstitions icotitinued).
Horse. — I have found no folklore relating to horses except that already given regarding supernatural animals.^ I have since recalled a legend of a dangerous spectral horse, probably a plica, haunting the bridge over the Blackwater, between Limerick and Clonlara, and the tree-darkened road towards the latter place, — a terror by night to passengers till about twenty years ago. There was also the bodiless head of a spectral horse which used to float beside cars on a road near Clooney, of which I heard about 1876, but now forget the details. The riding of horses by fairies was not unknown.
Dog, Fox, and Hare. — Besides the supernatural dogs already noted,2 and the "Red Dog" (or Fox?), near Cragmoher, at Drehidnavaddaroe Bridge, there is little to tell. Finn's famous hound Bran was drowned at Tirmicbrain lake, and a ghastly dog broke the bones in some graveyard, (perhaps Doora or Clooney), before 1876.^ It is unlucky to meet a fox, a red-haired woman, or a hare "first thing" in the morning. The hare is said to eat human flesh, — probably from being often " started " in graveyards. I have been told by several Clare people of witches turning into hares, but the alleged incident was never located in the county.
Seal. — A very vague belief prevails on the coast that seals are
Wol. xxi., pp. 481-2. 2 Vol. xxi., pp. 482-3.
- As in most of my recollections of folk-tales heard before 1876, the details
are forgotten.
2 F
