A water wagtail near the house betokens bad news on its way to you.
If the first lamb of the season is born black, it foretells mourning
garments for the family within the year.
It is very lucky for a hen and her chickens to stray into your house. Also
it is good to meet a white lamb in the early morning with the sunlight on its
face.
It is unlucky to meet a magpie, a eat, or a lame woman when going a
journey. Or for a cock to meet a person in the doorway and crow before
him--then the journey should be put off.
If one magpie comes chattering to your door it is a sign of death; but if
two prosperity will follow. For a magpie to come to the door and look at
you is a sure death-sign, and nothing can avert the doom.
A flight of rooks over an army betokens defeat; if over a house, or over
people when driving or walking, death will follow.
It is very unlucky to ask a man on his way to fish where he is going. And
many would turn back, knowing that it was an evil spell.
When a swarm of bees suddenly quits the hive it is a sign that death is
hovering near the house. But the evil may be averted by the powerful
prayers and exorcism of the priest.
The shoe of a horse or of an ass nailed to the door-post will bring good
luck; because these animals were in the stall when Christ was born, and are
blessed for evermore. But the shoe must be found, not given, in order to
bring luck.
In whatever quarter you are looking when you first hear the cuckoo in
the season, you will be travelling in that direction before the year is over.
It was the privilege of the chief bards to wear mantles made of birds'
plumage. A short cape flung on the shoulders made of mallards' necks and
crests must have been very gorgeous in effect, glittering like jewels, when
the torch-light played on the colours at the festivals.
THE PROPERTIES OF HERBS
AND THEIR USE IN MEDICINETHE Irish, according to the saying of a wise man of the race, are the last
of the 305 great Celtic nations of antiquity spoken of by Josephus, the Jewish
historian; and they alone preserve inviolate the ancient venerable language,
minstrelsy, and Bardic traditions, with the strange and mystic secrets of
herbs, through whose potent powers they can cure disease, cause love or
hatred, discover the hidden mysteries of life and death, and dominate over
the fairy wiles or the malific demons.
The ancient people used to divine future events, victory in wars, safety
in a dangerous voyage, triumph of a projected undertaking, success in love,