he went in, he got his eye on this one (the lady), he got a hoult of her, an' took her out wi' him; he won her from them, an' took her home to her own house.
Says they, "Ye have her with ye now, but she'll not be much use to ye now, for she's both deaf an' dumb. . . ." That night twelvemonth the coachman went back to the door again, an' he heard them saying, "Well, this night twelve-month we lost a noble lady; she was not much service to them, though, for we left her both deaf an' dumb." "Well," says one fairy, speakin' out, "it wouldn't be hard for them to cure her, for if they would go to a spring-well where the water-grass grows, an' take some water-grass an' squeeze the juice out of it, an' put some of it in her ears, an' give her the rest to drink, it would cure her."
The coachman then went straight to a spring-well and got the water-grass, an' did just what they said, an' the lady got all right, an' was never bothered with the wee-folk again.—Nancy Sweeny, Derry, pedlar.
Fairy Story.—I heard my mother tell of a young man, an' he lived up bye there. One Hallowe'en night he went out for a bit of a daunder; an' just as he was comin' off the lane into the road he saw a whole troop of fairies comin' along the road, an' what had they but a girl wi' them; an' he seen she wasn't one of the fairies, so he catched a hoult of her, an' at that they turned into everything—horses, and all that. But he wasn't feared o' any o' them, an' kep' a hoult of her until he got her right intil his mother's. An' the girl she could speak noan—for ye know the wee-folk puts a thmg in their mouth that they can't speak. The mother she came forrard an' shook hands wi' her, an' said she was right glad to see her, an' the girl she laughed, but said nothin'. She stayed wi' them, an' did all the work for them.
An' Hallowe'en night was a twelve-month. The young fellow he was goin' out, an' his mother she wasn't for him goin' out, but the girl she was glad like to see him goin', an' signed with her hand to him to go on. An' when he got forenenst[1] the place he got the girl, he catched sight of the fairies again, an' he kep' back, an' he heard them talking, an' says one to the other: "This night
- ↑ Opposite to.
