Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of IrelandFolk Magic / White MagicLegend / Oral TraditionEnglish with Irish folklore source materialShareAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 2301919 edition - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 available1919 editionLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 1Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 2Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 3Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 4Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 5Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 6Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 7Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 8Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 9Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 10Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 11Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 12Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 13Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 14Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 15Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 16Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 17Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 18Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 19Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 20Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 21Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 22Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 23Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 24Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 25Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 26Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 27Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 28Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 29Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 30Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 31Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 32Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 33Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 34Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 35Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 36Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 37Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 38Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 39Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 40Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 41Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 42Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 43Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 44Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 45Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 46Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 47Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 48Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 49Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 50Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 51Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 52Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 53Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 54Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 55Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 56Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 57Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 58Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 59Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 60Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 61Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 62Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 63Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 64Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 65Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 66Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 67Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 68Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 69Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 70Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 71Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 72Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 73Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 74Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 75Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 76Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 77Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 78Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 79Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 80Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 81Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 82Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 83Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 84Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 85Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 86Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 87Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 88Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 89Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 90Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 91Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 92Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 93Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 94Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 95Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 96Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 97Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 98Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 99Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 100Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 101Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 102Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 103Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 104Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 105Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 106Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 107Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 108Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 109Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 110Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 111Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 112Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 113Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 114Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 115Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 116Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 117Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 118Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 119Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 120Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 121Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 122Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 123Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 124Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 125Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 126Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 127Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 128Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 129Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 130Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 131Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 132Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 133Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 134Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 135Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 136Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 137Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 138Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 139Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 140Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 141Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 142Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 143Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 144Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 145Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 146Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 147Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 148Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 149Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 150Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 151Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 152Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 153Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 154Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 155Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 156Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 157Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 158Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 159Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 160Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 161Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 162Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 163Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 164Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 165Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 166Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 167Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 168Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 169Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 170Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 171Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 172Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 173Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 174Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 175Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 176Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 177Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 178Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 179Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 180Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 181Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 182Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 183Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 184Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 185Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 186Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 187Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 188Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 189Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 190Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 191Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 192Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 193Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 194Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 195Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 196Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 197Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 198Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 199Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 200Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 201Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 202Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 203Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 204Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 205Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 206Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 207Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 208Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 209Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 210Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 211Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 212Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 213Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 214Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 215Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 216Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 217Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 218Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 219Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 220Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 221Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 222Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 223Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 224Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 225Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 226Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 227Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 228Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 229Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 230Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 231Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 232Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 233Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 234›The Ancient Race.Ancient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 230ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1But thousands of years ago, long before kings, bards, and Druids, with all their learning and comparative civilization, flourished in Ireland, and before the traditions of a beautiful fairy race were brought from the far East by a people accustomed to the sight of beauty, grace and splendour, an ancient race existed in the world—a mysterious, primitive wave of human life that spread over all Europe, perhaps over all the earth, and even surged upon the shores of our own Western island; possibly a pre-Adamic race, inferior in all points, physical as well as mental, to the Adamic race that succeeded them. 2They have left no name or history, yet evidences of their nature, habits, intellect, and modes of life can be scientifically deduced from the abundant strange and curious antiquarian remains to be seen in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, of which Sir William Wilde in his illustrated catalogue has given such a perfect and comprehensive description. Records of a period so remote that the use of metals even was unknown; yet these ancient records reveal the story of the rude half-developed, early humanity of the world in as clear a symbol to the expert and the archæologist, as if written in alphabetical letters on monoliths, like those of Babylon. 3Without, therefore, being forced into shadowy theory or nebular hypothesis, we may readily construct the whole life of the primitive man, his mode of being and doing, of dressing and of eating, of living, dying and sepulture, simply from the rude implements fashioned by his hand that cover the walls of the Academy, and are the letters in which an eternal page of human history is written. 4But, this first pre-Adamic rudimental humanity was not wholly extirpated by the subsequent Adamic race. Representatives of them still remained throughout the world, and are yet existing, though these half-souled specimens of an early, inferior humanity, are gradually dying out and disappearing before the advance of the higher Adamic race, the destined lords and rulers of earth. 5In Ireland the inferior primitive tribes became the bond-slaves for the higher humanity—the Tuatha-de-Dananns and Milesians that succeeded them; and specimens of this slave people can still be seen in remote districts in Ireland along the coast-line of the West, and in the secluded mountain passes. They are held in much contempt by the descendants of the nobler race, and are stigmatized even now as “the slave people,” and the bondsmen of their forefathers. 6It seems, then, an incontrovertible truth that the early inhabitants of Ireland, as of all Europe—in fact, the whole pre-Adamite humanity of the world—lived and died throughout how many ages we know not in a state little higher than the animal creation, without the knowledge of even the simplest elements of civilization, which all the Adamic races possess, from their higher organization and intellect, and which they seem to have had from the date of their earliest appearance on earth. 7The clothing of the primitive man was of the skins of animals fastened with thongs, or tunics made of rushes, such as were found some years ago in Spain, on the skeleton forms of pre-historic date buried in a cave of the Sierra Nevada. Their only weapons and tools were of stone, manufactured by another stone. Their ornaments were of shells and fish-bones; and their dwellings such only as instinct has suggested to all animals. 8There are abundant evidences in our National Museum to prove the existence of this primary stratum of barbarism underlying all the culture of modern Europe; and we might almost hesitate to link so low a type of humanity with our own if we did not recognize in it also the characteristic instinct of man, entirely wanting in the animals—an irrepressible tendency towards progression and improvement, and, above all, to ornamentation, which is a distinctive human quality. ‹Previous chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 229Next chapterAncient Legends and Mystic Charms of Ireland 231›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg