580 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



Fairies keep a watch over buried treasures, and although 

 persons may sometimes have the treasure within their grasp, yet 

 they can never really get it. Generally a person dreams three 

 nights running that he has found a crock of gold in some par- 

 ticular spot — at an old rath, or among the walls of some ruined 

 castle, or under a fairy thorn. He goes to the spot and digs a 

 hole, and after a time comes to the crock, or pot, or chest, and 

 on removing the cover sees as many gleaming guineas as will 

 make him and all his family rich for their lives ; at this moment 

 a voice cries out " Do you see the mountain there on fire," or 

 anything else which makes the gold-digger turn round for a 

 moment, and so take his eyes off the treasure ; when he looks 

 back again the hole is filled up, and no matter how he digs and 

 searches, he never sees the treasure again. There are various 

 classes of fairies, such as the Fear-shee, or man fairy, and the 

 Ban-shee, or woman fairy. The Ban-shee wails in the darkness 

 to foretell a death in the family to which she is particularly 

 attached. Sometimes these fairies have names ; for instance, 

 the Banshee of the O'Neills of Shane's Castle is called Mave-roe, 

 that is, Red Mary or Maud. The Phooka is a demon in the 

 form of a horse, who tempts people to mount him ; he then 

 spreads a pair of wings which were hidden before, and springs 

 up into the air, careering wildly through the sky till day-break, 

 when the unfortunate rider is tossed off into an old churchyard 

 or some other unpleasant place, almost dead with terror and 

 fatigue. Sometimes when a person is bending over a well or 

 stepping across a little stream, the Phooka suddenly rises beneath 

 him, and in one moment he is borne off astride this fearful 

 demon. Sometimes the Phooka takes the form of a bull. 



The Leprauhauns are supposed to be the artizans of the fairy 

 kingdom — the tailors, shoemakers, smiths, and coachbuilders — 

 and are acquainted with all the hidden treasures of the earth. 

 Still they are of an inferior grade, and have more of solid 

 matter in their bodies than most of the other fairies. They are 

 generally seen in the evening in some lonely wooded place 

 working at their trade of brogue-making or tailoring, and when 



