half full o' wather whin he left it. But the
quane didn't want to kill him, so he got away an' built another cassel an
the hill beyant where he lived wid his bride."

Still another origin for the Irish lakes is found in Mayo, where Lough
Carra is attributed to a certain "giont," by name unknown, who formerly
dwelt in the neighborhood, and, with one exception, found everything
necessary for comfort and convenience. He was a cleanly "giont," and
desirous of performing his ablutions regularly and thoroughly. The streams
in the neighborhood were ill adapted to his use, for when he entered any
one of them for bathing purposes "bad scran to the wan that 'ud take him
in furder than to the knees." Obviously this was not deep enough, so one
day when unusually in need of a bath and driven desperate by the
inadequacy of the means, "he spit an his han's an' went to work an' made
Lough Carra. 'Bedad,' says he, 'I'll have a wash now,' an' so he did," and
doubtless enjoyed it, for the lake is deep and the water clear and pure.

Just below Lough Carra is Lough Mask, a large lake between Mayo and
Galway. Concerning its origin, traditionary authorities differ, some
maintaining that the lake was the work of fairies, others holding that it
was scooped out by a rival of the cleanly gigantic party already
mentioned, a theory apparently confirmed by the fact that it has no
visible outlet, though several streams pour into it, its waters, it is
believed, escaping by a subterranean channel to Lough Corrib, thence to
the sea. Sundry unbelievers, however, stoutly assert a conviction that
"it's so be nacher entirely an' thim that says it's not is ignerant
gommochs that don't know," and in the face of determined scepticism the
question of the origin of the lake must remain unsettled.

Thus far, indeed, it is painful to be compelled to state that scarcely one
of the narratives of this chapter passes undisputed among the veracious
tradition-mongers of Ireland. Like most other countries in this practical,
poetry-decrying age, the Emerald Isle has scientists and sceptics, and
among the peasants are found many men who have no hesitation in
proclaiming their disbelief in "thim owld shtories," and who even openly
affirm that "laigends about fairies an' giants is all lies complately." In
the face of this growing tendency towards materialism and the disposition
to find in natural causes an explanation of wonderful events, it is
pleasant to be able to concl