Page:Daniel O'Rourke's wonderful voyage to the moon (1).pdf/19

19 servant sprawling upon his face and hands right in the middle of the supper table.

If Billy was astonished, how much more so was every one of the company into which he was thrown with so little ceremony; but when they heard his story, Father Cooney laid down his knife and fork, and married the young couple out of hand with all speed; and Billy MacDaniel danced the Rinka at their wedding, and plenty did he drink at it too, which was what he thought more of than dancing.

This mode of travelling through the air upon rushes is of common occurrence in fairy history;—a straw, a blade of grass, a fern, or cabbage stalk, are equally well adapted for steeds. The writer has been told of many men who were obliged, like Billy MacDaniel, to give way and keep company with the good people; to use the words of the narrator, going far and near with them, day and night—to London one night, and to America the next; and the only horses they made use of for these great journeys were cabbage stumps in the form of natural horses.

At Dundaniel, a village two miles from Cork, in a pleasant outlet, called Blackrock, there is now (Dec. 1818) living a gardener, named Crowley, who is considered by his neighbours as under fairy control, and is suffering from what they term ‘the falling sickness,’ resulting from the fatigue attendant on the journeys which he is compelled to take, being forced to travel night after night with the good people on one of his own cabbage stumps.

The Witch of Fife furnishes an apt illustration,