caused the red spots on the salmon. ' And whoever could catch and eat one
of these salmon would be indued with the sublimest poetic intellect. hence
the phrase current amongst the people: "Had I the net of science;" "Had I
eaten of the salmon of knowledge." And this supernatural knowledge came
to the great Fionn through the touch of a salmon, and made him foreknow
all events.
Of all herbs the yarrow is the best for cures and potions. It is even sewn
up in clothes as a preventive of disease.
The Liss-more, or great herb, has also strong healing power, and is used
as a charm.
There is an herb, also, or fairy grass, called the,Faud Shaughran, or the
"stray sod," and whoever treads the path it grows on is compelled by an
irresistible impulse to travel on without stopping, all through the night,
delirious and restless, over bog and mountain, through hedges and ditches,
till wearied and bruised and cut, his garments torn, his hands bleeding, he
finds himself in the morning twenty or thirty miles, perhaps, from his own
home. And those who fall under this strange influence have all the time the
sensation of flying and are utterly unable to pause or turn back or change
their career. There is, however, another herb that can neutralize the effects
of the Faud Shaughran, but only the initiated can utilize its mystic properties.
Another grass is the Fair-Gortha, or the "hunger-stricken sod," and if the
hapless traveller accidentally treads on this grass by the road-side, while
passing on a journey, either by night or day, he becomes at once seized with
the most extraordinary cravings of hunger and weakness, and unless timely
relief is afforded he must certainly die.
When a child is sick a fairy woman is generally sent for, who makes a
drink for the patient of those healing herbs of which she only has the
knowledge. A childless woman is considered to have the strongest power
over the secrets of herbs, especially those used' for the maladies of children.
There is an herb, grown on one of the western islands off the coast of
Connemara, which is reported to have great and mystic power. But no one
will venture to pronounce its name. If it is desired to know for certain
whether one lying sick will recover, the nearest relative must go out and
look for the herb just as the sun is rising And while holding it in the hand,
an ancient form of incantation must be said. If the herb remains fresh and
green the patient will certainly recover, but if it wither in the hand while the
words of the incantation are said over it, then the sick person is doomed. He
will surely die.
It was from their great knowledge of the properties of herbs that the
Tuatha-de-Dananns obtained the reputation of being sorcerers and
necromancers. At the great battle of Moytura in Mayo, fought about three
thousand years ago, Dianecht, the great, wise Druid physician to the army,
prepared a bath of herbs and plants in the line of the battle, of such
wonderful curative efficacy that the wounded who were plunged into it
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