chorus, and their
songs were formerly more frequently heard than at present. Even now a
belated peasant, who has been at a wake, or is coming home from a fair, in
passing a rath will sometimes hear the soft strains of their voices in the
distance, and will hurry away lest they discover his presence and be angry
at the intrusion on their privacy. When in unusually good spirits they
will sometimes admit a mortal to their revels, but if he speaks, the scene
at once vanishes, he becomes insensible, and generally finds himself by
the roadside the next morning, "wid that degray av pains in his arrums an'
legs an' back, that if sixteen thousand divils were afther him, he cudn't
stir a toe to save the sowl av him, that's phat the fairies do be pinchin'
an' punchin' him for comin' on them an' shpakin' out loud."

Kindly disposed fairies often take great pleasure in assisting those who
treat them with proper respect, and as the favors always take a practical
form, there is sometimes a business value in the show of reverence for
them. There was Barney Noonan, of the County Leitrim, for instance, "An'
sorra a betther boy was in the county than Barney. He'd work as reg'lar as
a pump, an' liked a bit av divarshun as well as annybody when he'd time
for it, that wasn't aften, to be sure, but small blame to him, for he
wasn't rich be no manner o' manes. He'd a power av ragard av the good
people, an' when he wint be the rath beyant his field, he'd pull aff his
caubeen an' take the dudheen out av his mouth, as p'lite as a dancin'
masther, an' say, 'God save ye, ladies an' gintlemen,' that the good
people always heard though they niver showed thimselves to him. He'd a bit
o' bog, that the hay was on, an' afther cuttin' it, he left it for to
dhry, an' the sun come out beautiful an' in a day or so the hay was as
dhry as powdher an' ready to put away.

"So Barney was goin' to put it up, but, it bein' the day av the fair, he
thought he'd take the calf an' sell it, an' so he did, an' comin' up wid
the boys, he stayed over his time, bein' hindhered wid dhrinkin' an'
dancin' an' palaverin' at the gurls, so it was afther dark when he got
home an' the night as black as a crow, the clouds gatherin' on the tops av
the mountains like avil sper'ts an' crapin' down into the glens like
disthroyin' angels, an' the wind howlin' like tin thousand Banshees, but
Barney didn't mind it all wan copper, bein' glorified wid the dhrink he'd
had. So the hay niver en