Collectanea. 227
Water FORD Folk-Tales, II.
16. Tim Kelly, Tom Daly, and the Spirit. Tim Kelly was coming one night from Dungarton at a late hour, the time that ghosts are usually out, up the glen called the Poll Cam, when he suddenly espied a ghost,^^ a terrible tall one altogether, about ten feet, and says he to himself, says he, — "Goodness gracious! I'm done for now; what will become of my wife and poor children ? " And only for his old mule, he couldn't get away from the ghost at all. When he was coming towards his house he had every shout, saying, — "Brighid!^^ Open the door, Brighid ! " And his wife opened the door, and to her surprise in came Tim and the mule and all. And only for the wife closing the door, in was the ghost too. Tom Daly, called the "Ciiinne,"^^ who had been with Tim, had disappeared from Tim as the ghost came down upon him, and was found the following morning after falling over the raised path through the Poll Cam. He had smashed his braces, but otherwise he was safe and sound. He came home saying, — " Dealing mother, I'm kilt after the night ; 'tis I did see the sight, — ghosts and spirits around me all night, screeching and bawling ! Put down a kettle o' tea, and maybe it will revive me a little ! "
17. Hoiv Jim Hackeit saw a Spirit.
One night, about 10 p.m., on my way from the glen to my employment in Bally na courty, I met a very large dog near the reservoir. I thought he was one of the neighbour's dogs, and began calling him, and, when I got close to him, the dog seemed to get a lot larger. Then I picked up a few bricks and fired them at the dog, and the dog got back to its ordinary size again. I then went down a little further, and fired stones at the dog again. The dog never stirred, and then I began to run, and lost one o' my boots before I got to Bally na courty, and tore my trousers.
i*This and the ghost in the next story are different manifestations of the spirit of a certain soldier in Cromwell's army who died in the Glen.
13 " Bridget."
i^So called from his habit of sitting in the corners of cottages next to the hearth. "Ciiinne" (pron. Coongey), means corner.
