e grass bank running
round it. One Hallowe'en, when the darkness was falling, Guleesh went to
the rath and stood on a gray old flag. The night was calm and still;
there was not a breath of wind stirring, nor a sound to be heard except
the hum of the insects flitting past, or the whistle of the plovers, or
the hoarse scream of the wild geese as they winged their way far
overhead. Above the white fog the moon rose like a knob of fire in the
east, and a thousand thousand stars were twinkling in the sky. There was
a little frost in the air, the grass was white and crisp and crackled
under foot. Guleesh expected to see the fairies, but they did not come.
Hour after hour wore away, and he was just bethinking him of going home
to bed, when his ear caught a sound far off coming towards him, and he
knew what it was in a moment. The sound grew louder and louder; at first
it was like the beating of waves on a stony shore, then it was like the
roar of a waterfall, at last it was like a mighty rushing wind in the
tops of the trees, then the storm burst upon the rath, and sure enough
the fairies were in it. The rout went by so suddenly that Guleesh lost
his breath; but he came to himself and listened. The fairies were now
gathered within the grassy bank of the rath, and a fine uproar they
made. But Guleesh listened with all his ears, and he heard one fairy
saying to another that a magic herb grew by Guleesh's own door, and that
Guleesh had nothing to do but pluck it and boil it and give it to his
sweetheart, the daughter of the King of France, and she would be well,
for just then she was lying very ill. Guleesh took the hint, and
everything went as the fairy had said. And he married the daughter of
the King of France; and they had never a cark nor a care, a sickness nor
a sorrow, a mishap nor a misfortune to the day of their death.[582]

[Divination resorted to in Celtic countries at Hallowe'en.]

In all Celtic countries Hallowe'en seems to have been the great season
of the year for prying into the future; all kinds of divination were put
in practice that night. We read that Dathi, a king of Ireland in the
fifth century, happening to be at the Druids' Hill (_Cnoc-nan-druad_) in
the county of Sligo one Hallowe'en, ordered his druid to forecast for
him the future from that day till the next Hallowe'en should come round.
The druid passed the night on the top of the hill, and next morning made
a prediction to the king which came true.[58