Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/144

 118 hearth, and the fox had to go out and cllmb up on the roof, and drop the contents of his bag down the chimney. And so he did; and the big stone fell down and knocked the family glass pot into bits. And when the mother saw this, she was so angry that she took off her wooden shoe, and ran out of the house, and knocked him off the roof with it.

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Hampden Club,

Phoenix Street, N.W.

Method of Starting a New House in the Olden Times.

Perhaps the following, told me by a man at Kiltubbrid, co. Leitrim, may interest the society:

The ground for the house having been measured out, a sod would be turned at the four corners. The four sods would be left for two or three nights, to see if the proposed house were on a fairy "walk," in which case they would surely be found replaced, and another site would have to be found. If nothing occurred, a hen or some such small animal would be killed, and the blood allowed to drip in the four holes, after which the house might be proceeded with.

A new house is such a rarity in the neighbourhood now that I can get no testimony as to recent procedure.