of colic which attacks young heifers. It can be cured if the first person who sees the beast after it is seized takes his coat off and strikes it therewith nine times. Or you may make nine knots in a piece of cord, saying, as you make each knot, "That the pain may be slackened." There is also a knot called the gaulragorroo knot, by pulling the two ends of which the knot comes undone; this may be made over the back of the beast, and has a beneficial effect.
RUINED CHURCH OF COOLKIL.
Around the ruins of Coolkil a whole series of legends has gathered. This ruined church is near the shore of Lough Nacorriga. When it was building there came fishermen from the lough one day, and the saints who were working asked them for some fish. The request was refused, upon which the builders cursed the lake, and from that time no fish were found in it until recently. A small trout is carved on a stone inside the doorway, which is pointed out as a memorial of the above. The mortar is very good and strong, and is said by the people to have been mixed with bullock's blood.[1] The ruins are protected by an invisible power, for a man who took some of the coping stones to build his house had no luck until he brought them back.
In a field near is a stone slab under the slope of the hill, said to have been used as an altar in the days of persecution. A bush beside it is covered with rags tied thereon, though the practice of performing "stations" there has died out. There is a St. Patrick's Well close by. Stories are told of a man who was crippled for cutting bushes near the altar, and of another who was blinded in one eye for doing the same at a fort near the lough. This fort is a favourite pastime ground of the fairies, and it is said that the dew never rests on the grass there, on account of the
- ↑ This idea of bullock's blood strengthening mortar appears to be current in the district.
