to the gods.[1] This story in various forms occurs inland in Connacht and West Munster. My kind informant, Mr. Tim Toole, "Austin,"[2] the nearest resident to the Dún, also told me, in 1911, that his grand-uncle, a hundred years ago, found a vessel with lumps of gold at the foot of the knoll, directly below the gateway of the fort. He sold it for £40 and was told later on that it was "worth thousands." It should be remarked that ingots of pure gold formed part of the great Bronze Age treasure found below Moghane Fort, near Ouin, in Co. Clare, [3] when the railway was being cut near Moghane Lake.
At Ballyteige Churchyard, near Newport, Co. Alayo, legend says "Hosty Meyrick, the last of the Danes," was buried. The O'Malleys cut off his head on the gunwale of his beat, after slaying his brother, who was riding from Co. Galway to see Hosty.[4]
Pirates.—There are a number of undated and unidentified personages, like "Guarim" and "Bosco," in Inishbofin (by some said to be Danes, while others say Bosco was an ally of Grainne Uaile) and "the Pope's brother." The latter was wrecked on a rock on the east shore of Cliara (or Clare Island) and killed by a weaver with his beam, bringing a curse, still in full efficiency, on the island. This was as told by E. O'Maille to Dr. Charles R. Browne, a variant called the victim "brother of the Emperor of Rome." It is based on the fear of a drowning man escaping, or being saved, from the sea, which is far from extinct, even in this century (in Galway Bay, at least) as I shall show in treating of the folk-lore. Another informant pointed out the rock at the north point of the bay at the O'Maille's castle as having been formerly the end of a long headland. One stormy day a ship was lost and only one man escaped. As he clambered up the rock a weaver seized a heavy club and ran to know who he was. The foreigner could not
- ↑ Proc. R.I. Acad. ser. iii. vol. iv. p. 66.
- ↑ The usage of adding the name of one's father or mother for distinction where persons of the same name are numerous prevails in Connacht and Co. Clare, along with the "serious use of nicknames."
- ↑ Journal Roy. Soc. Antt. Ir. vol. xlvii. p. 28.
- ↑ Legend told by Mr. Hubert T. Knox and Mr. V. Lyon, 1916.
