Then, striking the cloth faster, the singers say:
“Let this be second cloth, and not enemy’s spoil,
Nor property of clerk or priest.
But his own property, and may he enjoy and wear it.”
It is said there is a bone in the herring’s head that resembles a deer’s foot. Some say the word should not be “deer’s shank” (Lurg an fhéidh), but “deer’s antlers” (Cuibhn’an fhéidh). The part of the song within brackets seems to belong to the music more than to the meaning. The final wish is that the cloth when turned, or made into a second suit, may prove as good as new, and not, like cloth found on dead bodies, a perquisite of the priest’s. In olden times the seventh yard (slat) of chequered cloth (Clò Breac) was given to the factor and priest, as well as the seventh lamb from the fold.
CHARM FOR GENERAL USE.
“Thou wilt be the friend of God,
And God will be thy friend;
Iron will be your two soles,