Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/44

36 to drown." "Oh," says the old man, "I want a dog, give me one.' The man, after a time, had to tell the truth; when the little man said he must get them christened first. He brought him to a priest, and told him to choose one and send the six others to different priests, when the priest said, "Oh, I must christen my own child first." Of course the seven children became seven bishops, and were buried together in Freanstown, co. Kilkenny.

Fight like Kilkenny cats, that ate one another except their tails.—The story goes that in the troubled times when the Hessians were quartered in Kilkenny, they used to amuse themselves by tying two cats' tails together, and throwing them over a line to fight. Their officer heard of this, and ordered that there should be no more cat-fights. Still, on a certain day there were two cats on the line when the officer was heard coming, and one of the troopers cut them down, leaving only the tails on the line. The officer asked "where are the cats?" when one of the troopers explained that they fought so furious that they had eaten one another up except their tails.

"Kill a Hessian for yourself."—The Hessians wore large riding-boots, greatly prized by the Irish insurgents, whose prizes they were if they killed a Hessian. An insurgent brought in a pair, and a comrade wanted to get them; his reply was, "If you want boots kill a Hessian for yourself."

As musical as the cow that ate the piper.—Binny Bryan was a famous piper. On his round one day he found a dead Hessian, and tried to pull off his boots, but pulled off his legs along with them. Boots and legs he carried to a byre, where he slept that night. In the morning he managed to get the legs out of the boots; and when the people who owned the byre came to milk their cow, they found no piper but only a pair of legs, and naturally supposed the cow had eaten the piper and his pipes. Another common saying derived from this cow is: She has a cruel taste for music, like the cow that ate the piper.

Tallagh talk, or Tallaghhill talk.—A term to indicate a braggart or braggadocio talk. Formerly beggars were whipped out of Dublin as far as Tallagh Hill; when there, and out of the jurisdiction, they