Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/46

38 potatoes; considered a great treat for children. This was very common before the potatoe failure in 1848, but now is rarely, if ever, heard of.

Shelling, or Shell bread.—Formerly a bag of the first corn reaped was sent to the mill to be ground, and the bread made from it was eaten with cider, a drink common in Ireland before the apple failure in 1848.

Sthoka.—An uninvited guest—one who is always in the way. A sthoka voriga is a market-stack, that is, a stack of turf, or the like, in a market-place, that is always being replenished as fast as part of it is sold. So a ne'er-do-well, who was always inviting himself, and always in the way, got to be called a "Sthoka."

Law laithen.—A very common law, formerly; "those took who had power, and those kept who could."

Spur Saileen.—A nail driven into the heel of a shoe with the point outward, when a person was going to take a horse journey.

Cosheelagh, or Cosherigh.—Waste or fallow land; the latter word literally means owing tribute to the king—probably derived from land when in fallow not having to pay taxes.

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HE following legends have been culled from George Griffith's Chronicles of the County Wexford.

Shagh Eneen Eee or the Seven Daughters of Hugh.—These seven girls were born at one birth at the well of Ballybrennan, which has miraculous powers, and, according to the legend, "wherein young languishing infants being bathed, have undeniably, by the Divine clemency, been miraculously restored to perfect health and strength."

Magpies.—The first English settlement was in the baronies of