The Irish standard., 1905-01-07
ABOUT THE WREN
Some Very,Interesiing Legends
Regarding the Bird.
How the Wren Bscam. King OF
the feaLnereu rrlbe.

issue of the Boston Eliot:
In one of your issues last week you
inserted part of an article from Long
mans Magazine OH The Wren Bush,
an article correctly considered by you
as of interest to many CT Your readers
to whom facts about old Irish customs
are always acceptable. wrote y. Old.
Taylor. of Newport. X. L., i'll Il late is
sue of tie Newport Herald.
The SUMMARY you quoted seems to
me Inadequate, as an explanation of
The customs referred to, of killing the
wrens Oh Saint Stephens day, and
carrying two OF three of them about,
On Il bush. The writer in Longman's
Magazine says as follows:
Tile most probable explanation is
that the wren was sacred to the DruidS
and was used by them in divination
and other pagan rites ut the festival of
the winter solstice, which almost coin
c.detl with Christmas. and consequent
IL the clergy urged their converts to
destroy the birds Which were asso-
GATED with such unholy rites
AS 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 i; student of Irish archaeology
and of birds, venture to think l may
add Il few remarks Oh this subject,
founded on personal recollections and
investigation.
The Druidica 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, paradng a coun-
try road, near the house where my
parents lived, ami tlourishing Il bush
with one OF two dead wrens and one
or 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 (as they We're called used to
chant in those days, ran thus:
The wran, the wral, the king of all
birds.
st. Stephens day was cot in the furze;
Although he is little, his family's
crate,
So we pray you, good ladies', to give us
Il trlte!
The boys, with this appeal. obtained
cakes and fruit and money. from the
well-tO-dO houses in the neghborhood
If the boys were of larger size local
history aifirmS that the following lines
We're often added, and practically at
tended to:
Sing holly. sing ivy-sing ivy, sing
holly,
n drop just to drink. it would drown
melancholy;
Aid il you draw it or the best
We hope in Heaven your soul will rest.
But, if you draw it or the small,
all!
The ''bcst" 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
1Sl1-43. 1t is to this effect
In a grand assembly of all the birds
of the air, it was determined that the
sovereignty of the featllrreu tribe
should be conferred upon the one who
would fly highest The favnritc was.
naturally, the eagr-who scared up
wards. and when he had vastly dis
tancea all competitors. liz proclaimed
his monarchy in Il loud note of tri-
nmph. Suddenly, however. the wren.
who had hidden himself under the
feathers of the eagles crest, popped
out frcm his hiding place. flew few
iHchcs higher. and chirpcd out: Birds
II. look up and behold Your kingr'
The wrens kingship however is not
a purely Irish legend. 1t appears in
the legends of several other countries
ami must not be confounlcd with his
being inundated and carried about on
lush at Christmas time
y more potent reason for his eXcc,-
ton connects itself with Il very old
tradition that III an approaching en-
counter with the Danes Obefore the
:'reat battle of Clontarf. in which the
Irish routed the Danes Gu the Odd
April, 1919, when the native Irish
were about to catch their Danish enc.
mics asleep, a wren percled upon the
drum and woke the slumbering sen
tinels just in time to save the whole
Danish army. In consequence of this.
the little bird was proclaimed a traitor
cutlawed, and his life declared forfeit
whenever lie was thereafter encoun-
tered.
There is another tradition prevalent
I UP to fifty years ago and still surviv-
Ing IN some parts of thp north and the