A Story
15th July 1938
About three hundred years ago a man named Pat Bourke went out visiting. It was about twelve o'clock when he was coming home, and he saw a Leprechaun sitting under a mushroom mending shoes. Pat asked the Leprechaun for a pot of gold and he told him that there was a pot of gold under a tree which grew on a rath nearby.
The Leprechaun said There are a lot of trees on the rath and you will not know which of them the gold is under. So, I will tie red ribbon on the tree which the gold is under.
The man went home for a spade and when he came to the rath again there was no ribbon on the tree at all and he did not know which tree to dig under.
He started to dig under every tree and under one tree which grew on the side of the rath he got a pot of gold. He set all the trees again.
About six months after he met the Leprechaun again and he asked him why he didn't put the ribbon on the tree and he said; "Look over at the rath now and see the big red ribbon on the tree, you must have been blind when you didn't see it.
The man looked over to the fort and he saw no ribbon at all, and when he turned around to speak to the Leprechaun he was gone.
“INFORMANT: Martin Ansbro, Age 74, Dooros, Co. Mayo”
One night there were two boys coming home from visiting. It was about twelve o'clock. They heard lovely music inside; they listened for a while and they began to dance. When they started they could not stop until the cock crew in the morning. After that they were the best dancers in the country. INFORMANT: John Kelly, Address, Prison North, Co. Mayo