140 



Page 28. 



Eubus fruticosus (Bramble) — Grian-mhuine. In Scotland it i& 

 thought that late in the autumn the devil covers the bushes with 

 his cloak, and renders them unwholesome. In Ireland children 

 are told that the devil put his foot on the blackberries, and not to 

 eat them after Michaelmas. According to another legend, Honor 

 Garrigan, one Sunday during St. Patrick's lifetime rode up the hill 

 to church ; but, seeing a bunch of ripe blackberries, she dis- 

 mounted in order to gather them. Her servant told her it was 

 wicked to eat anything before receiving the Holy Communion, 

 but in vain, his mistress ate the blackberries, which caused her 

 hunger so to increase that she ate the boy and the horse. Saint 

 Patrick shot her with his bow and arrow for fear she would eat all 

 the congregation ! 



Page 31. 



Pyrus — Apple. Ubhal. There are many references to the 

 apple in Celtic legends. The Celtic " Isle of the Blest," the 

 " Fair Avalon," the " Isle of Apples," a Gaelic legend which 

 asserts the claims of an island in Loch Awe to be identified as the 

 Isle of the Blest," changes the mystic apples into the fruit of 

 Pyrus cordata, a species of wild pear, indigenous both to the 

 Scotch island and to Arguilon. — Folkard's Plant Legends. See 

 Pyrus aucuparia and the note Caorrunn. 



J. F. Campbell, in his introduction to his "West Highland 

 Tales," points out that when the hero wishes to pass from Islay to 

 Ireland, he pulls out sixteen apples and throws them into the sea, 

 one after another, and he steps from one to the other. When the 

 giant's daughter runs away with the king's son, she cuts an apple 

 into a number of small bits, and each bit talks. When she kills 

 the giant, she puts an apple under the hoof of the magic filly and 

 he dies, for his life is the apple, and he is crushed. There is a 

 Gruagach who has a golden apple which is thrown at all comers, 

 who, if they fail to catch it, die. When it is caught and thrown 

 back by the hero, Grugach an Ubhail dies. There is a certain 

 game called Cluich an Ubhail — the apple play — which seems to 

 have been a deadly game. In all the Gaelic legends the apple, 

 when introduced, has something marvellous about it. 



Page 32. 

 Pyrus aucuparia (Rowan tree) — Caorrunn. According to the- 



