11.2 LEGEND OF A LAW-SUIT. 



deceased is kept for many days unbuired in the hope that the 

 storm may subside ; and only when frail mortality evinces 

 unequivocal tokens of decay, will the relatives consent to unite 

 its dust with the ashes of a stranger. 



It is asserted, but with what truth I cannot pretend to state, 

 that the inhabitants of Inniskea are prone to litigation, and a 

 curious legend of a lawsuit is told upon the main, illustrative 

 of this their quarrelsome disposition. A century ago, two 

 persons were remarkable here for superior opulence, and had 

 become the envy and wonder of their poorer neighbours. 

 Their wealth consisted of a flock of sheep, when, unfortunately, 

 some trifling dispute occurring between them, a dissolution of 

 partnership was resolved upon. To divide the flock, one 

 would suppose, would not be difficult, and they proceeded to 

 partition the property accordingly. They possessed one 

 hundred and one sheep ; fifty fell to each proprietor, but the 

 odd one how was it to be disposed of ? Neither would part 

 with his moiety to the other, and after a long and angry 

 negotiation, the animal was left in common property between 

 them. Although the season had not come round when sheep 

 are usually shorn, one of the proprietors, requiring wool for a 

 pair of stockings, proposed that the fleece should be taken off. 

 This was resisted by his co-partner, and the point was finally 

 settled by shearing one side of the animal. Only a few days 

 after, the sheep was found dead in a deep ditch ; one party 

 ascribed the accident to the cold feelings of the animal having 

 urged him to seek a shelter in the fatal trench ; while the 

 other contended, that the wool remaining upon one side had 

 caused the wether to lose its equilibrium, and thus the melan- 

 choly catastrophe was occasioned. The parties went to law 

 directly, and the expenses of the suit actually devoured the 

 produce of the entire flock, and reduced both to a state 

 of utter beggary. Their descendants are pointed out to 

 this day as being the poo/rest of the community, and litigants 

 are frequently warned to avoid the fate of " Malley and 

 M alone" 



Notwithstanding the uncertainty of weather in Inniskea is 

 proverbial, we had no reason to complain. The sun rose 

 gloriously from the ocean every cloud vanished from the 

 rocky pinnacle of Slieve More a stiff breeze from the 

 north-west blew steadily, and by nine o'clock we had em- 

 barked our goods and persons ; and with as much wind as the 



