Marriage.—You must not be married on a Monday, because when St. Patrick banished the reptiles from Ireland he said they would return on a Monday, and where would be the use of being married the day the snakes returned? Compare Lá an luain=Doomsday with Dia luain=Monday.
To prevent the spread of erysipelas. Write the person's name in ink round the inflamed part. The erysipelas will stop when it comes to the name.
A handful of Spearwort, called locally Luibh na Franncac (Rat herb), placed in a stack of oats will keep away rats. The leaves chewed are a cure for toothache.
To keep away fairies, the handle of your churndash should be made of quicken wood. Then they can't steal your butter. There is a white bedstraw which steals butter. Every day before you make a churn, you put in three pinches of salt and three drops of Holy Water.
Any fisherman will tell you it is unlucky to take a priest out with you, and you fishing. You catch no fish.
The rooks are the ghosts of old landlords—always up to some mischief, robbing the poor man of his potatoes.
The cat was missing three days, and Kate, discussing the probability of his having gone for good, said: "Ah, well! the harm of the year go with him."
The Story of Scariff.—Scariff and Deenish are two rocky islands in the middle of Derrynane Bay. This is how they came there. There was once an old woman who lived at Bolus. She had a farm over at Dursey. The name of her farm was Scariff. She got very tired going all the way from Bolus to Dursey looking after her cattle, so she went to a witchwoman, asking her for advice as to how she could get over the difficulty. The witchwoman gave her instructions what she should do, "and above all," says she, "don't look over your shoulder." Off went the old woman to Scariff. First she drove a hole through the cliff (you can see it still) with a big crowbar, then she got a
