Mooney.] J-Utt [April 15, 



his illness, under the certain penalty of taking the disease if he neglected 

 the precaution. For this reason his relatives are careful not to " accuse " 

 him of this disease unless the fact is heyond question. Stripped of all 

 mythologic embellishments, there seems no reason to doubt the existence 

 of some curative property in the dearg-Uac, as numerous instances are 

 related of its efficacy. 



A stitch in the side is cured by applj^ing the blood of a rooster which 

 has been sacrificed to St. Martin. On the eve of St. Martin it is custom- 

 ary to sacrifice an animal to the saint, or, as the people express it, they 

 "draw blood for St. Martin." The animal most commonly selected is a 

 rooster, which has been consecrated to this purpose some time in advance. 

 The blood is soaked up with tow or cotton, and preserved as a remedy for 

 the stitch. At the moment of applying it to the side of the sufferer the 

 following words are recited : * 



" Fear caoin aig a mnaoi b'oirb', 

 A c'uir losa Criosd na litig'e arms a g-colg ; 

 C'uig m'euraib' losa Criosd fuascailt do g'reime, 

 Bearna M'uire agus a Mic leai." * 



Which may be thus rendered : 



A mild man with the haughty wife, 

 Who put Jesus Christ lying on the hulls (of the tow) ; 

 The five fingers of Jesus Christ to relieve your stitch ; 

 The palm (of the hand) of Mary and of her Son with you. 



In Galway the form is somewhat difierent, and the characters of the man 

 and his wife are reversed. In the same county the blood is sometimes 

 sprinkled upon the difierent membei;s of the family when the animal is 

 killed, and the words alone are used to cure the stitch, as well as a 

 stomach ache. The words are founded on the legend that Christ once 

 asked penliission to stop over night at a house, where the husband, a kind- 

 hearted man, was disposed to accommodate him, but his wife, who was of 

 the opposite disposition, compelled the Savior to sleep on the hulls stripped 

 from the fiax. For this reason tow is preferred to cotton. The practice 

 is known throughout the country. 



One more instance and we have done. In this case the informant was 

 ignorant of the words which were undoubtedl}^ used, and we have left 

 the simple statement of the medical treatment and its result. The son of 

 well-to do parents in the County Kerry was so crippled by a painful 

 swelling of the leg that he had to be taken to Tralee for treatment. The 

 doctors held a consultation and decided that the limb must be amputated. 

 At this juncture a " traveling woman" from the north — where the people 

 are supposed to have most knowledge in such matters — called on the 



* Pronounced, in Kerry : Faivr ceen ig a mnee ivUrav, 



A khiiir Esa Creesdh na lee ans a gidag ; 

 Khuig vaeriv Esa Oreesdh fuascalth dhd ghrttna, 

 Jawrna Wirra Ogus a Mic lath. 



