The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-01-07

lie most pfODaDle explanation is
that the wren was sacred to the Druids
and was used by them in divination
the winter solstice, which almost coin
c.drd with Christmas, and consequent
Is tile clergy urged their converts to
destroy the birds which We're assO-
GATED with such unholy rites
AS l was born in the City Of Cork
in the south Of Ireland, where the GUS
tim prevailed, am now past the three
score years and ten, and have always
been Il student OF Irish archaeology
and of birds, l venture to think l may
add Il few remarks Oh this subject,
founded on personal recolIections and
investiga ton.
The Druidical explanation does not
cover tie whole ground nor am
aware of amy proof that the Christian
clergy of Ireland ever encouraged their
converts to kill wrens.
Hunting the wren about Christmas
time is not yet extinct in either the
south or west of Ireland. So far back
as the year 1910 | we'll recollect my
childish curiosity being aroused by
seeing Il lot of boys. parading coun-
Try road, near the house where my
parents lived, and t1ourishing bush
with one OF two dead wrens and one
OF two other small birds tied thereto
with gay ribbons.
This was the day after Christmas
They We're singing some song, which
of course, do not remember, but the
corret version of what the wren
boys Gls they We're called used to
chant in those days, ran thus:
The wran, the willl, the king of all
birds.
st. Stephens day was cot in the furze;
Although lie is little, his family's
CRATE,
So we pray you, good ladies. to give us
Il tr;lte!
The boys, with this appeal. obtained
cakes and fruit and money from the
well-to-do houses in the neighborhOod
If the boys were of larger size, local
history atlirms that the following lines
We're often added, and practically at
tended to:
Sing holly, sing ivy-sing ivy, sing
holly,
a drop just to drink. it would drown
melancholy;
And il you draw it or the best
We hope in Heaven your soul will rest,
But, il you draw it or the small,
Ii wont agree with the wran-boy at
all!
The best" and the small refer to
different brcws of ale.
How the wren became king of all
birds is briefly referred to in Mr. and
Mrs. S. G. Halls Ireland. published in
1Sll-43 1t is to this effect:
In Il grand assembly of al the birds
of the air, it was determined that the
sovereignty of the fratlcrcd tribe
should be conferred upon the one who
would fly highest. The favurite was.
naturally the caYlr--whu SCARED uD-
wards, and when he had vastly dis
tanced all competitors. liz proclaimed
his monarchy in Il loud note of tri-
nmph. Suddenly, however. the wren,
who had hidden himself under the
70
out frcm his hiding place. flew Il few
riches higher. and chirpcd out: Birds
;ll. look up and behold your kin"!'
The wren's kingship. however. is not
a purely Irish legend 1t appears in
the legends of several other countries;
ami must not be confoundcd with his
being inundated and carried about on
bush at Christmas time.
\ more potent reason for his eNccl.-
ton connects itself with Il very old
tradition that in an approaching en-
counter with the Danes (before the
great battle of Clontarf. in which the
Irish routed the Danes On the 23d
April, 1919, when the native Irish
were about to catch their Danish enc.
mics asleep, a wren pcrcllcd upon the
drum and woke the slumberng sen
tinels just in time to save the whole
Danish army. In consequence of this.
the little bird was proclaimed traitor
CUtlawed. and his life declared forfeit
whenever lie was thereafter encoun-
tered.
There is another tradition prevalent
Ip to fifty years ago and still surviv-
ing: III some parts of the north and the
south of Ireland. which may be an
! echo of the Danish one.
1t states that on one occasion James
& the Seconds forces were on the point
of surprising King William the Thirds
army early in the morning, when some
Mrens attracted by the fragments Of
the preceding nights meal alighted Oh
the head of a drum which had served
for a table. The noise of their bills
i In picking, awOke the drummers, who
instantly beat to arms and saved Will
liaAa's army from defeat This may
ss