Moonej'.] 4:io [May 3, 



or fiddler, or at least by an expert trickster and tumbler, and in bigh good 

 humor, and, carrying aloft the captured wrens, they go from house to 

 house singing appropriate verses, and expecting in return a small gift of 

 money, food or drink, on penalty of burying the wren in front of the door 

 in case of refusal. This burial of the wren would doubtless be considerd 

 to bring bad luck to the members of the household, but, at all events, it 

 would inevitably brand them as ungenerous, and this alone has such an 

 effect upon the miserly ones that in all the author's inquiries he has heard 

 of but one case in which the wren was actually buried in this manner. 

 The money collected during the day is spent in a convenient tavern at 

 night and a considerable portion is usually distributed among the poorer 

 people. It should be stated that the "wren boys," as they ar calld, 

 generally confine their visits to the houses of the wealthier farmers and 

 gentry. When two parties of wren boys from different parishes come into 

 collision there is frequently a contest for the possession of the wrens. In 

 the city of Cork, where it is naturally somewhat difficult to procure birds, 

 a dead mouse is sometimes made to do duty insted. 



In Hall's "Ireland" it is incorrectly stated that the hunting of the wren 

 is confined to the southern districts of Irel.and,* but this is a mistake, for 

 the custom is practiced in each of the four provinces. In Ulster, the north- 

 ern province, it certainly exists in the counties of Cavan, Fermanagh and 

 Tyrone, but seems to be unknown in Donegal, Antrim and the extreme 

 north. 



The songs sung by the wren boys vary greatly in character and meter, 

 and many of them ar doubtless improvised for the occasion. Like those 

 sung on Saint Bridget's eve, a number ar clearly of English origin. Some 

 of them ar mere nonsense rimes, but the first verse sung at each house is 

 the same all over the country, the Gaelic, form used in the west being 

 nearly the equivalent of the English verse used in the eastern districts, 

 and, as this verse refers more especially to the custom of the day, it is 

 doubtless the original, to which the others hav been tackt on later. The 

 Gaelic version stil used in Galway is as follows : 



Dreolin, dreolin, rig' na n-eun, 



Ld Steafdin a gab' a7i t-eun. 



Is beag ef'&in, is mor a vi'uintir, 



Agus dd g'ab' si capaire dlanfaid' s6 rince. f 



Which may be renderd literally : 



Wren, wren, king of the birds, 



On Stephen's day the bird was caught. 



He is small himself, his family is great, 



And if he gets an oaten cake, he wil make a dance. 



* Hall. Ireland, 1, 13. 



f Pronounced : Jroelyeen, jroehjeen, re na n'yaen, 



Law Schvfau-n a goiv an chaen. 



Isn byug ae ham, iss inorr a winchir, 



dgus dhaw ghaw'shae cdpara yena shae rinea. 



I 



