THE OLD WIFE’S CHARM FOR HER COW.
(Sian na Caillich mu Bò.)
“I set the watch to-night
Against horns of he-goat
And voice of bull,
The voice of the dead,
And each horned, fierce,
Large-eared, large-buttocked cow;
The Evil One’s mill-stone
Be trailing at thy rump
Till to-morrow morning.”
When a stone was tied to the cow’s tail, and these mystic words were uttered, the animal was safe to be found in the same spot in the morning. This was believed to be as much owing to the words as to the anchor astern.