del1952filan's Journal

@@@@@Joe O 'Neill, the blacksmith, had cowered
@@@@@Joe O 'Neill, the blacksmith, had
cowered in a corner of Ballyhara's kitchen until daylight, then
scuttled to his smithy to drink himself brave
"Though Saint Patrick himself would have needed more than all the
prayers at his beckoning on that night," he told anyone who would
listen, and there were many"Ready was I to save the life of The
O'Hara when the witch come through the stone wall and throws me
with
terrible force onto the floorThen kicks me-and I could feel in my
flesh that the foot was no human foot but a cloven hoofShe cast a
spell on The O'Hara then and ripped the babe from the womb
All bloody was the babe, and blood on the floors and the walls and in
the airA lesser man would have sheltered his eyes from such a
fearful
sightBut Joseph O'Neill saw the babe's fine strong form beneath the
blood, and I'm telling you it was a manchild, with manhood plain
between its limbs"'I'll wash the blood away,' says the demon, and
she turns her back, then presents to Father O 'Hara a spindly frail
near-lifeless creature-lemale and brown as the earth of the grave
Now
who will tell me? If I didn't see a changeling, what was it I saw that
terrible night? There's no good will come of it, not to The O'Hara nor
any man who's touched by the shadow of the fairy babe left in place of
The O'Hara's stolen boy
* * The story from Dunshaughlin got to Ballyhara after a week
The O'Hara was dying, said the midwife, and could only be saved by
ridding her of the dead babe in her wombWho would know these
things,
pitiful though they were, better than a midwife who'd seen all there
was to see of childbirth? Of a sudden the suffering mother sat up on
her bed of pain"I see it," says she, "the banshee! Tall and clad
all in white with the fairy beauty on its face Then the devils drove
a spear from Hell through the window and the banshee flew out to wail
the call to deathIt was calling the soul of the lost babe, but the
dead babe was restored among the living by sucking out the soul of
the
good old woman who was grandmother to The O'HaraIt was the
devil's
work and no mistaking and the babe The O'Hara takes for her own is
nought but a ghoul"I feel that I should warn Scarlett," Colum said
to Rosaleen Fitzpatrick, "but what can I tell her? That people are
superstitious? That All Hallows' Eve is a dangerous birth date for a
baby? I cannot find any advice to give her, there's no way to protect
the baby from talk
"I'll see to Katie's safety," Mrs"No one and
nothing enters this house unless I say so, and no harm will come near
that tiny childTalk will be forgotten in time, Colum, you know
that
Something else will come along to weave tales about and everyone will
see that Katie's only a little girl like any other little girlFitzpatrick took a tray of tea and sandwiches to
Scarlett's room and stood patiently while Scarlett bombarded her with
the same plaint she'd been making for days"I don't see why I have
to
stay stuck up here in this room foreverI feel plenty well enough to
be up and ab