Evening star., 1935-06-09
Irish Regale
Visitors With
Fairies Lore
Mountains and Woods
Give Killarney Lakes
Their Beauty.
TIPPERARY, ireland. June g.

TIPPERARY. Ireland. June g.
Not far from Tipperary there
rises on the plain massive
L rock, Cashel of the Kings, a
great natural fortress where a
palace and many churches once stood.
The people of Ireland say that CaShel
was deposited by the devil, who one
time took a bite out of the northern
hills and dropped it here in the heart
Of level land.
Such stories about the devil are
common in every country of Europe,
but Ireland has in addition a wealth
of folklore peculiar to its own soil.
William Butler Yeats, the poet, went
out among the common people some
years ago to gather this material and
found that nearly every one would re-
late tales of fairies and magic.
The story is told that few years
ago the inhabitants of a small Irish
town suddenly began seeing leprech-
auns, tiny elflike creatures which are
supposed to reveal hidden wealth to
one if they are captured. Although
the people of the village all saw these
sprites. only one man got money
through them. He was the village
dwarf, and giving out that he was a
leprechaun, he obtained contract to
be exhibited as one throughout the
country.
VISITORS to Connemara, the rugged
district about Galway. find still
another evidence of the turn that Irish
fancy takes. The small farms of this
shore are rocky and hard to till-why
then do even the best farmers some
times leave an uncultivated plot in
the midst of field? Any man of the
region will give you an explanation.
These plots. slightly higher than the
surrounding land. are "rathS," and the
Irish peasants believe that people
attempting to conquer Ireland with
magic were forced to take refuge in
them. upon encountering magic
stronger than their own.
Travellers who come to Connemara
drop into another world, into realm
where automobiles. telephones and all
the paraphernalia of modern life are
scarcely known. The region is poor.
Its farmers make a bare living from
us sui, Alll(ll llESN Wy
fertiliZe with Seaweed, and most of the
young people go off to America. Con-
sequently. in nearly every little
thatched cabin one will find the latest
papers from the United States.
Galway, a port of call for great
steamers. is the entrance to some OF
the finest fishing regions of Ireland.
Some 1900 miles of lakes and streams
empty through its river into the sea,
and in season hundreds of thousands
of salmon crowd up the waters.
The end of May and the early weeks
of June are known as Crazy Month
10 Irish fishermen, who come to Gal
way and to Lough Corrib nearby for
trout fishing. At this time brown
trout are eager to feed on mayf1y
nvmphs, which rise in great crowds
after a rain. and the least skillful OF
fishermen have no difficulty in hook
ing a good catch. The trout season
lasts well into October, so that Ireland
Is indeed an anglers paradise.
CONNEMARA the lakes of Killar-
~ ney County Clare-these are
Irish names that fairly sing when
one repeats them Each of the re-
gions they designate has some out
standing beauty. too, some distinctive
feature that makes it worth visit.
The lakes of Killarney-there are
three-owe their charm to blending
of mountain. stream and wood seem
cry. A swift-f1owing stream connects
the three: ferns. moses, nchens grow
luxuriantly, and in unwooded spots
one finds soft green grass. The whole
region is one of lush growth, un-
tanned and wildly lovely.
Today on the famous River Shan
non is the greatest hydro-electric
engineering project ever undertaken
in the British Isles, a development
that will supply power, light and
heat for the entire Irish Free State.
Even now there is scarcely town Of
500 people or more but receives cur
rent from the Shannon electric
scheme and eventually it will revo-
lutionize the industrial and social life
of the nation.