own in the west of Ireland than O'Flaherty.
One of this doughty race was, it seems, a model of wickedness. "He was as
proud as a horse wid a wooden leg, an' so bad, that, savin' yer presince,
the divil himself was ashamed av him." This O'Flaherty had sent a party to
devastate a neighboring village, but as the men did not return promptly,
he started with a troop of horse in the direction they had taken. On the
way he was passing through a deep ravine at the bottom of which flowed a
tiny brook, when he met his returning troops, and questioning them as to
the thoroughness with which their bloody work had been done, found, to his
great wrath, that they had spared the church and those who took refuge in
its sacred precincts.

"May God drownd me where I shtand," said he, "if I don't shlay thim all an
the althar," and no doubt he would have done so, but the moment the words
passed his lips, the rivulet became a seething torrent, drowned him and
his men, and the lake was formed over the spot where they stood when the
curse was pronounced. "An' sometimes, they say, that when the lake is
quite shtill, ye may hear the groans av the lost sowls chained at the
bottom."

The fairies are responsible for at least two of the Irish lakes, Lough Key
and the Upper Lough Killarney. The former is an enlargement of the River
Boyle, a tributary of the Shannon, and is situated in Roscommon. At a low
stage of water, ruins can be discerned at the bottom of the river, and are
reported to be those of a city whose inhabitants injudiciously attempted
to swindle the "good people" in a land bargain. The city was built, it
seems, by permission of the fairies, the understanding being that all
raths were to be left undisturbed. For a long time the agreement was
respected, fairies and mortals living side by side, and neither class
interfering with the other. But, as the necessity for more arable land
became evident, it was determined by the townspeople to level several
raths and mounds that interfered with certain fields and boundary lines.
The dangers of such a course were plainly pointed out by the local
"fairy-man," and all the "knowledgable women" lifted their voices against
it, but in vain; down the raths must come and down they came, to the
consternation of the knowing ones, who predicted no end of evil from so
flagrant a violation of the treaty with the fairies.

The night after the demolition of the raths, one of the towns-men was
coming through t