Mooney.] 238 [Oct. 19, 
in the name of the Trinity.* In the west, according to Lady Wilde, when 
the grave is dug a cross is made of two spades and the coffin is carried 
round it three times before being placed in the grave, after which the peo- 
ple kneel and recite the prayers for the dead.+| The bodies of those lately 
buried turn over in their coffins when a suicide is deposited among them. 
So strong is the feeling in regard to self-destruction that in the rare in- 
stances where suicide has occurd the neighboring cemeteries hav some- 
times been guarded for days by parties determind to prevent the burial 
of the body near their departed kindred. The same watch is also kept 
up when there is reason to fear grave robbers. Shoulda pregnant woman 
stumble in the churchyard, the child wil hav crooked legs. It is also un- 
lucky for a man to stumble at the grave, and if he should touch the clay 
in his fall he will die before the e:d of the year. Should a woman tred 
upon a grave she must instantly kneel down and make the sign of the 
cross three times upon the sole of her shoe; otherwise her next child wil 
hav a club foot. t 
In digging the grave it is customary to cross the spade and shovel above 
the coffin in the hole, a practice founded on the following old legend : 
Saint Patrick’s servant had once gon a long distance from the hous in 
search of firewood, and being delayd in consequence, was in great trouble, 
when he was approachd by a stranger who askd him what was the matter. 
The servant replied that he was in trouble because he wasa long way from 
home and could not get back in time to prepare his master’s supper. ‘‘What 
wil you giv me to bring you home before he’l expect you?’’ asked the 
stranger. ‘‘I wil giv anything you ask,’’ said the poor servant, and with 
that the stranger, who was the devil himself, took him up in the air and 
in a moment set him down at the door long before the saint could get 
home. ‘‘ Now,’’ says the devil, ‘‘come back on such a day, at a certain 
hour, to the spot where you met me, and I’] take you for myself.’’ So 
when Saint Patrick returnd from his prayers he found his servant crying 
and groaning in worse trouble than ever. ‘‘ What’s on you?” says the 
saint. ‘‘O,’’ says the servant, -‘I sold myself to the devil in order to hav 
your supper hot and warm for you when you’d be coming in, and now 
on such a day and at such an hour I must go back to where I met him 
and he’l be there to take me off with him.’’ ‘‘ Never mind,’’ says Saint 
Patrick, ‘‘but do as I say.’”’ So on the day appointed the servant was at 
the place by daylight and dug a grave at the spot. Then he stretched 
himself out in the grave and crossd the spade and shovel above him. At 
the hour agreed upon the devil appeard and when he saw the man lying 
n the grave he told him to come up out of that. ‘‘Come yourself and 
take me,’’ says the servant ; but the devil couldn’t come near the cross, 
and after waiting until his hour was up he had to go away without the 
* William Carleton, The Party Fight and Funeral, in Traits and Stories of the Irish 
Peasantry, ii, 127, London, 1853. 
+ Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends of Ireland, i, 155, London, 1887. 
} Idem ii, 104, 
