The stories told on these pages are from  a collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s. 
The children recorded (over&nbsp740,000 handwritten pages) of this material from their parents, grandparents and neighbours.

These are their stories in their own words.

St. Patrick and the old pagan


SCHOOL: Drumlish | ADDRESS: Drumlish, Co. Longford


St Patrick and the old pagan. Proud Irish History.
Saint Patrick and the Pagan sit down to eat

An old pagan, whose name I forget, gave a dinner to St. Patrick at the townland of Aughnamoddha (called also Bohernameelthaugh) near Ennybegs.

He put a cooked dog before St. Patrick. The Saint made the sign of the cross, and the dog stood up on the table, and barked.

Then the pagan gave St. Patrick a cup of poisoned wine, saying “Drink that and none of your koory kaarys”.

St. Patrick said: “Is it from this side – or this – or this – or this I am to drink”; touching the rim of the cup on four sides with his finger,- thus secretly making the sign of the cross.

He then drank the wine and it did not do him any harm.

St. Patrick then said that there would never be a priest ordained from within three miles of that place.

The people appealed to him and he reduced the distance to one mile.


Bibliography

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0758, Page 037” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

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