ue was the sole witness of this encounter, the
narrative being in his own words.

"I was lyin' be the road, bein' on me way home an' tired wid the walkin'.
A bright moon was out that night, an' I heard a noise like a million av
sogers, thrampin' on the road, so I riz me an' looked, an' the way was
full av little men, the length o' me hand, wid grane coats on, an' all in
rows like wan o' the ridgmints; aitch wid a pike on his showldher an' a
shield on his arrum. Wan was in front, beway he was the ginral, walkin'
wid his chin up as proud as a paycock. Jagers, but I was skairt an' prayed
fasther than iver I did in me life, for it was too clost to me entirely
they wor for comfort or convaynience aither. But they all went by, sorra
the wan o' thim turnin' his head to raygard me at all, Glory be to God for
that same; so they left me. Afther they were clane gone by, I had curosity
for to see phat they were afther, so I folly'd thim, a good bit aff, an'
ready to jump an' run like a hare at the laste noise, for I was afeared if
they caught me at it, they'd make a pig o' me at wanst or change me into a
baste complately. They marched into the field bechuxt the graveyard an'
the rath, an' there was another army there wid red coats, from the
graveyard, an' the two armies had the biggest fight ye iver seen, the
granes agin the reds. Afther lookin' on a bit, I got axcited, for the
granes were batin' the reds like blazes, an' I up an' give a whilloo an'
called out, 'At 'em agin! Don't lave wan o' the blaggards!' An' wid that
word, the sight left me eyes an' I remimber no more till mornin', an'
there was I, layin' on the road where I seen thim, as shtiff as a crutch."

The homes of the fairies are commonly in raths, tumuli of the pagan days
of Ireland, and, on this account, raths are much dreaded, and after
sundown are avoided by the peasantry. Attempts have been made to remove
some of these raths, but the unwillingness of the peasants to engage in
the work, no matter what inducements may be offered in compensation, has
generally resulted in the abandonment of the undertaking. On one of the
islands in the Upper Lake of Killarney there is a rath, and the
proprietor, finding it occupied too much ground, resolved to have it
levelled to increase the arable surface of the field. The work was begun,
but one morning, in the early dawn, as the laborers were crossing the lake
on their way to the island, they saw a procession of about two hundred