The Couvade?
Another little saying has been reported to me, viz.: When a man's wife is about to give birth to a child, folk will chaff him and say: "You'll soon have to go to bed with the old woman and be nursed like they did years ago." Can this possibly be a faint reminiscence of the Couvade?
Traditions and Superstitions collected at Kilcurry, County Louth, Ireland.
[Authorities.
Thomas Curtis, a farm labourer, about fifty years of age; he is well educated, and has lived in England.
Harry Mclntee, a small farmer, age about forty.
Margaret Collins, age about forty-five, a native of Co. Cavan, now living on the Forkill Road, just outside Dundalk. She lives principally on charity.]
1. Whenever anyone in the parish is about to die, the Dead Coach is to be seen on the road shown in the sketch-map. It goes southwards from Faughart Church, past the turn to Toberonan Bridge, across the Forkill Road, by Mount Bailey, to O'Hagan's cross-roads, and thence by Kilcurry back to the church again. The coach is black, drawn by four headless horses, and driven by a headless driver; it is perfectly noiseless, "like a bicycle." Seeing it does not appear to bring any ill-luck to the beholder; H. Mclntee has seen the coach on the road near his own house.—[H. Mclntee, T. Curtis, and others.]
2. Faughart Church, now disused, was built about the beginning of this century. It stands upon an ancient fort, and the following story concerning its building is current in the neighbourhood:
When Mr. Linley, the rector, was looking for a site for his church, he wished to buy Rice's Fort for the purpose, but the owner refused to sell it, so the present site was purchased instead The church was begun, and the work proceeded favourably. One evening, when the building was almost completed, the contractor
