Mooney.] -'-^O [April 15, 



freely, as their powers are looked upon as sacred gifts whicli would depart 

 from them were a fee demanded, although they may accept a small pres- 

 ent. The other class, on the contrary, who are considered as akin to 

 dealers in the black art, act upon the principle of "nothing for nothing." 

 In Connamara it is customary to cross their hand with a two shilling 

 piece, a silver coin having a cross upon one side, the sacred emblem being 

 supposed to compel them to speak the truth. The herbs are gathered 

 fasting, generally by moonlight, and whisky enters largely into the 

 decoctions. 



These practitioners have their specialties, and one who deals with the 

 evil eye will have nothing to do with a fairy sickness, neither will the 

 "fairy woman " meddle with an illness which is due to the influence of 

 the evil eye. It must not be supposed, however, that the people depend 

 entirely upon the skill of these doctors. On the contrary, every house- 

 keeper is well acquainted with the virtues of all the common herbs, to 

 which she never fails to resort in case of need — always accompanying the 

 application with a prayer — and it is only when she has exhausted her 

 resources or is convinced that the sickness is of supernatural origin, that 

 she applies to the cailleac luib'e. When an ailment does not yield readily 

 to simple treatment, it is generally ascribed to one of three causes, viz., 

 the fairies, thfe evil eye, or witchcraft. The last of these is not often held 

 responsible, as Irish witches usually confine their operations to stealing 

 the butter, and seldom harm the owners. We will speak first of the 

 fairies. 



The Sig'efkeog and Fairy Influence. 



The person, of either sex, who treats illness of fairy origin is called a 

 sig'efreog,* the name being probably a diminutive of sig-efear,\ a "fairy 

 man." In the south they are called sheefers or sJieefros, while in the east 

 they are known as fairy men or women, as the case may be. They have 

 generally obtained their knowledge by a residence of some years with the 

 fairies, who frequently carry off both grown persons and infants, and 

 detain them for three, five or seven years, unless forced to return them 

 sooner. Young mothers and their infants are especially liable to be 

 abducted, and to prevent such a calamity numerous precautions are 

 adopted, which need not be described here. The health — at least of grown 

 persons — is in noway affected by their sojourn among the fairies, while 

 they learn all the secrets of their captors and afterward use this knowl- 

 edge to defeat their purposes. Although, after returning to their friends, 

 their services are in constant demand to counteract the fairy influence, 

 they are never able to shake it off" from themselves, but are frequently 

 called away, even in the dead of night or from the midst of a company, 

 to perform some office for the " good people " — generally to wait upon a 

 fairy mother or her child. The fairies naturally resent the interference of 



■ • Pronounced sheefroeg. 

 t Pronounced shee-fCir. 



