Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-04-08
- How He Outwitted a Big Mon
ster-ThOse Banished Were
Figurative.
May Have Been i'm the Island i'm
Ancient Times-AvOid the
Irish Soil.
STORY OF MOSES AND THE PRINCE

etnat LneIe are HO SldkSS III AiSiSiiuj
though they exist in England across the
channel, where the soil and climate are
about the same Indeed, of the two
countries Ireland seems TO be the most
naturally favorable TO the existence OF
snakes, where the land is so grassy,
Doggy and marshy, says Mr.. John Hoare
in the Colorado Catholic
A Canadian once told me how timid
he felt when walking through the mead
ows in ireland; he could not be convinced
that there were no snakes; still it is
fact that not only are there 10 native
snakes in Ireland, but foreign ones can
not be naturalized there. No imported
snake can live upon Irish soil twenty-four
hours, so they say.
We are accustomed TO all kinds of
fences. In Ireland we have seen the
stone walls, double bitches, and white
thorn hedges through which a small bird
could hardly pass. Here we have board
fences, picket fences, pole fences, barbed
wire fences; in the mountains, as in the
timbered districts of the East and Canada,
we use the famous worm" fence; and
we have read of the rabbit fences in New
Zealand; but who has ever heard of a
fence to turn" snakes?
The story is told of such fence being
made by an Irish convict, who became a
wealthy land owner in Australia. He inn
ported a ship load of Irish soil and with
it built snake fence about his farm; it
was not necessary that it should be very
wide or high all that was required was
that il form continuous unbroken line
around his land. 1t proved an effective
sDarrier against the encroachment of
snakes; neither could the snakes that
were on his land be driven out. These,
however, were all killed off, and he was
the only farmer in the colony that en-
joyed Irish immunity from snakes.
The belief is common among the Irish
that snakes once inhabited Ireland in
great numbers, but were banished forever
by ST. Patrick History, however, is not
very clear upon this point. Many le-
gends are told about ST. Patrick and the
snakes. One is to the effect that as ST. |
Patrick approached the Irish coast he
beheld the island encircled by ring of
demons in the shape of serpents. But,
perhaps, the chief of all the tales related |
about St. Patrick and the snakes is that |
of the meeting of our saint and the SER
pent in the neighborhood of Tough |
Neagh:
Monster" said St. Patrick, addressing |
the serpent, "why tarry thou here, when |
the rest of thy tribe hath departed?"
al am occupying my inheritance, " re-
turned the serpent.
Depart" commanded ST. Patrick
"Whither will go?" asked the snake.
ITO the lough," said St. Patrick.
For how long3" queried the snake.
Until Monday" replied St. Patrick.
The monster made no reply, but Gid
ing swiftly towards the great lake, dis
appeared in its depths. But when Mon
day arrived he came forth again from the
bosom of the lake and glided over the
green earth with head erect, eyes ahame
and breathing fire. ST. Patrick observing
him, took the "Bachall Iosa" (Staff of |
Jesus), advanced to meet him and ac-
costed him thus:
Monster, dost thou dare come forth |
again TO faint this Christian atmosphere
with your poisonous breath? Did not
order you to yonder lake1"
"Only till Monday" answered the SER
pent, land is not today Monday"
"There are many Mondays in year."
replied St. Patrick, land many years in
a century; today is the beginning of the
Christian week, when the sons of men
may resume their daily labor after their
rest on the Sabbath, but your Monday
will mark the end of time and the COM
mencement of eternty-then you may
come forth and gather your harvest; re-
turn, therefore, to the bottom of the
lake and do not rise and show your head
again till the day of Judgment"
And at St. Patrick's command the
demon went back to the lake, muttering
as he disappeared beneath the waves; SIS
fada lion stad go Laun (it is long to wait /
till Monday" But at the sound of Ca
briel's trumpet this satanic viceroy of
Pagan Ireland will come forth from his
haunts among the submerged cities of
Tough Neagh to claim all the unfaithful
children of St. Patrick.
The illustrions DR.. Godfrey Heating,
whose ashes lie in the little churchyard
of Lubrid, County Tipperary, expressed
the opinion that st. Patrick's connec-
ton with the snakes was fgurative, and
meant the Punishment or overthrow of
the demons that held Ireland in their
evil grasp until the light of Christianity,
through St. Patrick, dispelled the dark
ness of Pagnanism. He (Keating) does
not deny the existence OF uaturel snakes
in ancient Ireland, but attributes their