[Page 125.] “Covered the money”—i.e., with her hand: accepted it.
[Page 139.] “The Son of the King of Prussia.” Perhaps the most remarkable thing in this story is the name. I think if the tale had been written down twenty-five years ago, the name would not have occurred. I believe it to be not older than 1870. In that year Prussia was intensely unpopular in Ireland, owing to the sympathy felt for France; and some one, perhaps M’Grale himself, took this method of showing his dislike for the former country by substituting this name for some other previously borne by the coward.
[Page 149.] “Crooked-mouth” is simply “Camp-bell,” the order of adjective and noun—Beeăl-qam—being reversed.
[Page 152.] “Bird-Serpent”—unique, I think.
[Page 155.] “Beauty of the World.” There is nothing new except in some of the details in this story; but the compact energy of the style is surely remarkable as coming from an unlettered peasant of eighty. Part of the story corresponds with the King of Ireland’s son (Hyde’s Collection). There is also a parallel in Curtin. With regard to the red, white, and black incident, it is worth noting that all primitive ideas of beauty depend on colour alone.
[Page 156.] “The red-haired young man” ought perhaps to be “the strong young man,” in accordance with Mr. O’Grady’s view.
[Pages 160] and [164]. “Part of milk and part of blood.” The full meaning is “one-third of milk, one-third of blood, and one-third of urine.”
[Page 168.] What the meaning of this strange tale may be I cannot conjecture. It is either an allegory—the name “Grig” (gruig) signifies churlishness—or it is a fragment of a rather ghastly piece of mythology. Several things in the translation are conjectural; for the Irish is full of difficulties, as the narrator, before I began to write, warned me would be the case.
[Page 172.] “Cornelius” is a translation of despair. The Irish is “qornjili.”