KAm:—The Black Pig's Dyke. 325 



near the junction of Cos. Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan, the story runs 

 thus: — The Pig, whose furrow is to be seen here, was a schoolmaster 

 who by witchcraft turned his scholars into turkeys and geese, and who on 

 being threatened, turned himself into a black pig, and vjcts cliasecl from the 

 Boyne either to near Carrickmacross or to a field close to TuUyallen, where 

 he was killed. The country people also mix up the fable with a battle 

 fought by Cromwell in the townland of Mullyorr. 



O'Donovan, writing from Carrickmacross (Ordnance Survey MSS.), 

 gives another version current there in his time. It is as follows: — 

 " A schoolmaster having turned his scholars into swine, they were chased by 

 O'Xeill's dogs when hunting, and ran in different directions. One towards 

 L. ISTeagh (forming the Dane's Cast) ; another westward (the Worm Ditch) ; 

 the third, closely pursued, crossed the Lake at Castleblayney." Hence the 

 name Mucknoe (nuic ]'n^iii, the pig's swim). In this tradition we have 

 the Dane's Cast and the Worm Ditch associated, and referred to a similar 

 origin and period, showing the current belief in their connexion in old times. 

 The introduction of O'Neill's name preserves the reference to the act of a 

 king. In the vicinity of Drogheda and the Boyne, they say it was the 

 king of Tara who changed the schoolmaster into a black pig, and chased 

 him northwards, where he tore up a furrow. Here we find a reflection of 

 the fact that the shifting of the boundary north was done by the king 

 of Ireland. 



At Mohill, in the Co. Leitrim, the following version of the making of 

 the Black Pig's A^alley was given me : — A schoolmaster living at the 

 E. Boyne long ago was a magician of great power. He used to turn his 

 pupils occasionally into animals for sport. ISTow there were two brothers, 

 sons of a red-haired widow, whom he changed, one into a hare, and the 

 other into a hound ; and the former, flying from his brother, was killed 

 during the chase by falling into a dyke. The red-haired mother took 

 counsel, and was advised to turn the pedagogue by enchantment into a 

 black pig. This done, he ran north to a herd of swine, who avoided him 

 as being uncanny. . . . His ruse being unsuccessful, he fled across the 

 country, leaving a deep track behind him, till he reached the Shannon, 

 where, at Poosky, the infuriated mother overtook him, and he was slain on 

 the top of a little eminence called Crook na muck (Cnoc-nA.-inuice). 

 Otherwise thus : — " A woman batting clothes in the Shannon killed him 

 with her beetle at Crook na muck, where a large stone marks the spot." 

 The chief interest in this legend, which I met with also at Granard in Co. 

 Longford, where they mention Drogheda as being the place wdiere the 

 schoolmaster lived, is that the alleged flight was from the Boyne to the 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXVII., SECT. C. [48] 



