a burnin' candle afore its eyes, so it 'ud do the
deeds av light an' not av darkness, an' mixed sugar an' salt an' oil, an'
give it to her, that her life 'ud be swate an' long presarved an' go
smooth, but the owld widdy forgot wan thing. She didn't put a lucky
shamrock, that 's got four leaves, in a gospel an' tie it 'round the
babby's neck wid a t'read pulled out av her gown, an' not mindin' this,
all the rest was no good at all. No more did she tell the mother not to
take her eyes aff the child till the ninth day; afther that the fairies
cud n't take it.

"So the nurse tuk the babby in the next room an' laid it on the bed, an'
wint away for a minnit, but thinkin' she heard it cry, back she come an'
there was the babby, bedclothes an' all just goin' through the flure,
bein' dhrawn be the fairies. The nurse scraiched an' caught the clothes
an' the maid helped her, so that the two o' thim pulled wid all their
mights an' got the bedclothes up agin, but while the child was out o'
sight, the fairies changed it an' put a fairy child in its place, but the
nurse didn't know phat the fairies done, no more did the owld struckawn,
that shows she was an ignerant woman entirely. But the fairies tuk Eva
away undher the lake where they trated her beautiful. Every night they gev
her a dance, wid the loveliest music that was iver heard, wid big drums
an' little drums, an' fiddles an' pipes an' thrumpets, fur such a band the
good people do have when they give a dance.

"So she grew an' the quane said she should have a husband among the
fairies, but she fell in love wid an owld Leprechawn, an' the quane, to
sarcumvint her, let her walk on the shore o' the lake where she met Darby
O'Hoolighan an' loved him an' married him be the quane's consint. The
quane towld her to tell him if he shtruck her three blows widout a razon,
she'd lave him an' come back to the fairies. The quane gev her a power av
riches, shape an' pigs widout number an' more oxen than ye cud count in a
week. So she an' Darby lived together as happy as two doves, an' she
hadn't as much care as a blind piper's dog, morebetoken, they had two
boys, good lookin' like their mother an' shtrong as their father.

[Illustration: Eva calling the Cattle]

"Wan day, afther they'd been marred siventeen years, she an' Darby were
goin' to a weddin', an' she was shlow, so Darby towld her fur to hurry an'
gev her a slap on the shouldher wid the palm av his hand, so she b