The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-05-18
The FAIRIES OF LOCH NEAGH
Written for The Catholic Bulletin BY
James j. CresWeiD.

and Athlone, in the County Roscom-
mon, could certainly boast of a long
line of royal ancestors; descended
as they we're, from the ancient kings
of Babylon and NineVeh, they could
trace back their lineage down along
the Phoenician Coast, through Garth
age in Egypt, and finally over into
sunny Spain. The Greeks called this
migratory people, Keltoi, Celts, or
wanderers, and the Roman General,
Julius Caesar, found them in posses
sion of at least one-third of Gaul, a
brave and war-like race. "Tertiam,
qui ipsorum linguae Celte, nostrae
Cali, appeantur." After resting in
Spain for several centuries, they saw
Gin dreams fairer land, Fire, Erne
or Ireland, and under the leadership
of the brave Milesins, set out at once
for their future home, which was to
be theirs forever. st. Patrick, in the
fifth century, found those pagan Celts
highly cultivated, but imaginative
race, worshipping those higher objects
in nature, the sun, moon and stars.
By means of the triple leaf, or
Shamrock, Patrick explained to them
the mystery of the Triune God, and
taught them that those objects which
they worshipped were but the mani
festations of Supreme Being, who
was the true God of all things, visible
and invisible. They readily believed
and at once accepted the truths of re-
vealed religion. 1t is said, that no
race of men can be truly intellectual,
without a fervid Imagination, hence
those highly imaginative people could
see in the dark, crumbling ruins of
each old ''Rath" or fort, the weird i'm
ages of mail-clad kings and warriors,
who
Though lost to Mononia, and cold in
their graves,
| Return to Kincora no more''
Dark Murty Crehan was undoubt.
eddy one of those highly imaginative
people, though from Athlone down
to Cork and Kerry, from Slieve-Na
Mon to the Giants Causeway in the
north, nor in fact, in all Ireland itself
for that matter, no Drawer nor more
agile 'Gossoon' could be found than
| this same Murty Crehan. At a hurd.
ling match or throwing the stone
he had no equal, and when Shaun the
Piper's beguiling notes led the boys
and girls out to dance on the green
there was not a lad among them could
hold his own with Murty in reel OF
hornpipe. To pass after dark, how
ever, over the wild moors around
| Loeb Neagh, was quite another mat
ter, and his very soul would sink in
anguish at the thought of it for was
it not here
con Loeb Neagh's banks, as the fisher
| man strays
When the cold, dark eve is declining
He sees the Round Towers of other
days
In the waves beneath him shining
Tradition has it that those ancient
round towers, once the palaces oil
kings, sank down deep in those sill
very waves rather than be desecrateG
by the despoilers of Elizabeth anC
Cromwell. Be that as it may, Murty
Crehan was too prudent "Bochel" tt
venture after dark around those
weird habitations of long-lost kings
now reputed to be the veritable homes
of legions of Fairies and Good People
Besides all this, not far from there
was the ruins of an old Cromwelliar
'Rath' or fort, where Oliver himself
could be plainly seen on dark nights
| enveloped in burning, seething, pitch
tar, and commanding the native Iris1
to go to H or Connaught. Tradi
ton again has it the Irish went tt
Connaught, and gave the former place
to Oliver. Yet, with all this, the darl
Crehans of Athlone were no towards
The neat white cottage of Eillee1
More far up the mountain-side wa:
somewhat difficult to reach, but BY
taking short cut down the glen ant
up the narrow winding path, she wht
was the ''Cushla M'Chree'' of his very
soul, the pulse of his manly Irish hear
was sure to be there to greet him with
| SLIllSS Ol IOV0, anu warm, generous
hospitality. Anyhow, the moon would
be up, and if the night was anyway
stormy, a light in the window would
show the way, so with those comfort
ing thoughts in mind, Murty Creha1
started to reach the mountain home O.
Eileen More. The hospitable cottage
of Neal O'Rourke, whose "Cead Mile
Faltha" of a warm heart was evel
ready to greet neighbor, lay some
what across the moor, and a little tt
the right of the mountain, below which
the lordly Shannon takes SHARP
curve, expanding it's pure waters int
a lake of great beauty.
The home Of Neal O'Rourke wa:
hospitality itself, and Murty Creha1
fingered longer with his hospitablt
host than be really intended At any
rate, when Murty came down thu
mountain path, his feet were not al