Maisie Reilly Balla, Mayo.

Treasure Story

A man named Patrick Dolan dreamt three nights after another that there was a pot of gold hidden under a pile of stones beside the old Prison in this village.

After he ate his breakfast on the third day he got a spade and began to search for it. He searched for it a long time, but it was all in vain.

At last he came on a flag and he thought that the treasure was surely hidden under it.

He got the flag up in haste but alas- all he found was an old book which was so black that he could not read it. He went home broken hearted when he did not find the treasure.

A Funny Story

One Sunday morning when Pat Brady was ready to go to Mass he went to look at his cattle.

When he reached the field where the cattle were grazing he found one of them almost drowned. He ran back to look for help to pull him up. As he reached the road the priest was passing along the road in his car.

"What's up Pat?" cried the priest.

There's nothing up but the horns Father" replied the man.

Weather-Lore

The following are signs of rain:-

If we see a great crowd of midges flying around over a stacks of turf or a heap of turf mould.

If the sun goes down very pale in the west.

If a persons corns get soft and begin to pant.

The following is a sign of a storm:-

If we see the moon lying on its back and two wild looking horns on it.

The following is a sign of snow:-

If the north-east wind blows very keenly we are almost sure to have snow.

The following is a sign of frost:-

If the sky is blazing red in the evening before nightfall.

A Hedge-School

There was a hedge school on the side of the hill of Cnocspullagolaun about ninety years ago. An old woman taught a little crowd of pupils there. She was a stranger. She had a little house of her own in the village of Bun Buide in the parish of Balla, Co Mayo. The pupils paid for their teaching every month.

The teacher was fond of Irish and spoke very little English in presence of the pupils. Every pupil had a slate and a slate pencil on which he did all his writing. The children were seated on rocks which were placed in a half circle.

Starch-Making

My mother makes starch now. First of all she gets about twenty potatoes and she washes them. She then peels the skin off them with a sharp knife. She then gets a lid of a sweet can or a bit of tin. She gets a ceiling nail and a hammer and makes a lot of little holes in it with the nail. After this she grates the potatoes and puts them into a basin. She gets a linen cloth and puts the grated potatoes into it. She squeeses the liquid from the gratings into a bowl It is left over for one night. Next morning she straines the liquid away and the starch is left in the bottom of the bowl.

First of all, she gets about twenty potatoes and she washes them. It is left over for one night.

Local Place Names - Our Farm

We have a farm of about twenty acres of land in the town-land of Prizon. It is divided into twelve fields by means of stone walls and sod ditches with white thorn bushes growing beside them. Each of our fields has a name on it.

One of them is called Pairc an Tobar which means the field of the well. There is a well in the middle of it.

Another is called Pairc and fior uisce. In this field there is a spring in this rising and the water that comes from it is supposed to break the milk in the churn when it is poured into it if a churning is being made.

Another of our fields is called Carraig mór because there is a big rock in the middle of it.

We have another field called Goirtin na gcaorach. A man named Martin Reilly who lives in Prizon told me that the reason why this field got this name was, Long ago this field was always grazed by sheep and it always reared over ten sheep.

We have a field called Sraith. It is beside a stream and the bottom of it is always wet.

Pairc na gceannabain is the name of another field.

We have a stripe of land in the Prizon farm. There are three field in it. One is called An Gort another Cnoc luthaire and the other Pairc beag.

Local Cures

If you get a frog and put him into your mouth and close your mouth and leave him there until he dies you will never suffer from tooth aches again.

Another cure for a tooth ache is to leave a horse's tooth on it. If you look for this tooth it is of no use to you. You must find it when you are not looking for it.

If you get a plate of oatmeal and let an ass eat three mouthfuls of it and boil the remainder in goats milk that you steal it is a cure for the whooping cough.

A husband and wife of the same sur-name have a cure for the whooping. Anything they give you to eat or drink is a cure.

A man with a white horse has a cure for the whooping cough. Anything that he gives you when he is riding on his horse is a cure for the whooping cough.

Travellers Who Visit this Locality

Many travellers come to Prizon district. Barony of Carra, parish of Balla, Co. Mayo. They are called tinkers or gipsies.

The Mahons are tinkers. They sell tin-cans and saucepans of all sizes. They also mend leaking cans. They travel all round the country on a cart or some times walking.

They ask alms such as flour, milk, tea, sugar, bread or butter or sometimes a few potatoes. The Barretts and the Collinses are gipsies. Sometimes they sell mats and carpets, and delph such as jelly moulds and fruit dishes. They sell collar pins, collar stoods, and blessed pictures also; Some of them ask alms such as butter-milk to make cakes, or a grain of flour.

Fairy Forts

There are three fairy forts in this district townland of Prizon, Balla, Barony of Carra, Co. Mayo. One of them is on the land of Michal Reilly and the land of Martin Reilly. Half of it is on the land of each man. It is in Prizon North.

There was a school built in Prizon on 1936 and the late Canon Reidy called it Scoil Gleann an Dún as it is near this particular fort and in a glen.

The other two forts are in the land of two families called Connolly in south Prizon. Somebody interfered with one of them and took stones from it. The other was never interfered with.

Many years ago, a crowd of people set lea-land on a fort in Rathredmond, in the parish of Balla, Co. Mayo;

Next morning when the people of the house went out they found the rath covered with blood and it was from the red rath that the village got its name Rathredmond.

The Famine

In 1847 all the potatoes failed and the people were starving with hunger. That year the blight came on the potatoes first and people did not know how to save them from it.

The people were dying with hunger. They had nothing to eat only oatmeal and a little yellow meal.

A little boy died on a bank beside the road outside Gleann an Dúin N.S. I in the townland of Prizon, the barony of Carra, parish of Balla, Co. Mayo that time.

He was from Achill and the people called him Achilleen. Somebody made a straw mat and wrapped the corpse into it. He was waked there on the bank that night. Next day he was buried either in the bank or on the side of the hill of Cnocspulagdaun.

Another man died in Booley bog in the townland of Loughill, the barony of Gallen, the parish of Strade, Co Mayo; The people made a straw mat and put it round him. They buried him there in the bog.

A man named Corragan in Ara, barony of Gallen, the parish of Bohola, Co. Mayo had a few cwts of small seed potatoes, and he made ridges, and shook the small potatoes on them like you would shake oats. The people laughed at him because they thought they would not grow but when October came he had the best crop of potatoes that ever grew.

My Native Village

This village of Prizon North is the barony of Carra, in the parish of Balla, Co. Mayo.

There are ten families in it. There are seven families of the name Reilly. There is one family of the Ansbro’s, one family of the McDonnell’s and one family of the Connolly’s. There are forty-nine people living in the village. Amongst these forty-nine there are six people over seventy years of age. These people are Patrick Reilly, Anthony Ansbro, Thomas McDonnell, James Reilly, Michal Reilly, Catherine Reilly.

All the old people speak English and a little Irish.

People went to England and America out of almost every house in the village.

The land is fairly good. There is a bog in the south of the village and in it the village people gather their turf.

Old Sayings

Its a long road that hasn’t a turn.

Hills look green from far away.

Beware of entrance to a quarrel.

A closed mouth swallows no flies.

Its a wise man that minds his own business.

Friends shall meet but hills shall never.

Silence is golden.

Spare the rod and spoil the child.

Its a wise man who carries his coat a fine day.

Empty vessels make most sound.

Birds of one feather all flock together.

Dont count the chickens when they are in the eggs.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Courage is half the battle.

Listen to the sound of the river and you shall catch fish.

Its a good wind that blows bad to nobody.

Health is greater than wealth.

Its better to have half a loaf than no bread.

Every dog is bold at his own master's door.

Look before you leap.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

The Potato-Crop

The potatoes are set in ridges and drills. For lea land there are ridges made either with a spade or with a plough. Each ridge is left a yard wide and there is a furrow left on each side of it. Manure is then spread on them. The children leave slits and the men set them with the spades.

When drills are being made the land is first ploughed or dug. It is then harrowed and the drills are risen with a plough or with a spade. The manure is put on them, the slits are left and they are covered with a spade or with a plough.

Farm Animals

We have three cows. We call one of them Maol dubh one of them Polly and the other White Horns. My mother milks them every morning and evening. She milks a few strands of milk on the ground for the fairies and she make the sign of the cross on the cow's side in order to bless her.

Long ago the people used to tie a horse-shoe nail in a red rag on the cow's tail before she calved. They called this nail Tairgne Crudh. After she calved they used to get a coal on a stick and put it round the cow three times saying, "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost".

Feast Customs

St Bridget's Eve.

We all go out in the Bríghid óg on St Bridget's Eve. We make rag dolls and we bring them with us. We go round from house to house and we knock at the doors and ask the people inside to honour the Biddy. They give us a few pennies then.

Shrove Tuesday.

On Shrove Tuesday all the old people used to go to town to buy ling and jam for lent. On Shrove Tuesday night they used to have potatoes and bacon and cabbage for their supper. From that night until Easter they used not eat any meat.

May day

On May day the old people would not like to see smoke coming from the chimney before the sun rose.They would not give away milk on that day either for fear that they might give away the butter.

Whit-Sunday

Whit Sunday is supposed to be a kind of wicked day. It is said that the water runs mad three times on that day. Any person or animal born on Whit Sunday is supposed to be sore.

St John's Eve.

On St John's eve all the boys in this village of Prizon, parish of Balla, barony of Carra, Co. Mayo get a horse and cart and a lot of bags and go to everybody's bog and bring a bag of turf out of it. They also get a few big blocks and they bring them to the crossroads. There they light a big fire and they put a bone into it.

Forges

There is only one forge in the parish of Balla. It belongs to Mr John Kevil, Balla, barony of Carra, Co. Mayo. The forge is built with stones and roofed with slates. There are a lot of barns around it in which the irons and things that are made and being made are kept.

Horses are shod in it and scufflers, harrow-pins, bolts spades-rings staples and window-frames door-frames and carts are made there.

Story

One hot summer's day the Blessed Virgin was walking along a road carrying the Child Jesus in her arms.

She got very warm and tired and she was unable to carry the Child much longer. Just then a girl passed her by and she asked her to carry the Child a bit for her, but the girl refused her.

In a few minutes after another girl passed her by. The Blessed Virgin asked her to carry the Child a while for her and the girl replied, "I will and welcome and the distance of the road that I have to go with you I'll carry Him for you."

They went along together and at last the girl had to part from them. When she had gone away the Blessed Virgin said to Jesus.

"What will you do for the girl who carried you and what will you do for the girl who refused to carry you?"

He replied, they’ll both be married shortly and each of them will have six in family. All the children of the woman who carried Me will die and all the children of the woman who refused to carry Me will live. The Blessed Virgin then said Oh! Lord, sure you wouldn't do that to the woman who was so good to me that she carried You.

"Well" said the Lord "when the woman who carried Me dies she'll go straight into heaven and she'll have six bright lights coming to meet her and the woman who refused to carry me will have no light and she won't be able to find her way in the darkness.

Story

The Holy family went away when they saw how vexed she was. When she looked into the oven again she found a big heap of mud in it in place of the dough. She was so terrified that she ran and called her master and told him what had taken place.

He at once knew that they were some holy and powerful people and he ran through hedges and ditches until he caught up to the holy family. He ran so fast that he tore his belly in the bushes. He was a big fat man and some of the lard that was in him fell out. The man said that he was sorry for what the cook had done, and the Blessed Virgin thought him a kind-hearted man, so she left her hand on his wounds and healed them.

She then took up the lard and gave it to him telling him to put two bits of it under two barrels when he went home and see what he would have in the morning. He did this and next morning when he lifted up the barrels a sow came out from under one of them and a litter of bonbhams came out from under the other.

One day the holy family were going along the road and they went into a house where the cook was baking bread.

St Joseph asked a bit of dough, but she refused him. Still he kept on begging her and at last to get rid of him she took a small piece of the dough and threw it at him.

He then asked her to bake it for him because he had no way of baking it himself. She took it and flung it into the oven.

When the cook saw that she said that she would put two pieces of the lard under two barrels and see what she would get in the morning. So, she stole two pieces of the lard and put them under two barrels. To her great surprise when she lifted the barrels instead of getting something good as she expected a crowd of rats came out from under one of the barrels and a terrible crowd of mice came out from under the other.

These little animals grew more numerous every day and mice became more numerous every day and the house were haunted with them at last.

One day Our Lord was passing by the house again and the master told Him the whole story of the rats and mice.

Just then Our Lord saw a rat and he threw one of his gloves at him and it became a he cats. He then threw his other glove at a mouse and it became a she cats. These were the first cats that were ever in the world. The cats soon killed and banished the rats from the house.