ll a dark man
came; and he said: "Give me the spear and I'll do it." And the blood
that sprang out touched his eyes and they got their sight. And it was
after that, His Mother and Mary and Joseph gathered these herbs and
cured His wounds.

'These are the best of the herbs; but they are all good, and there isn't
one among them but would cure seven diseases. I'm all the days of my
life gathering them, and I know them all; but it isn't easy to make them
out. Sunday afternoon is the best time to get them, and I was never
interfered with. Seven Hail Marys I say when I'm gathering them; and I
pray to our Lord, and to St. Joseph and St. Colman. And there may be
_some_ watching me; but they never meddled with me at all.'

A neighbour whom I asked about Bridget Ruane and her brother
said:--'Some people call her "Biddy Early" (after a famous
witch-doctor). She has done a good many cures. Her brother was _away_
for a while, and it is from him she got her knowledge. I believe it's
before sunrise she gathers the herbs; any way no one ever saw her
gathering them. She has saved many a woman from being brought away when
her child was born by whatever she does; and she told me herself that
one night when she was going to the lodge gate to attend the woman
there, three magpies came before her and began roaring into her mouth to
try and drive her back.

Another neighbour, who has herself some reputation as an herb-doctor,
says:--'Monday is a good day for pulling herbs, or Tuesday--not Sunday:
a Sunday cure is no cure. The _Cosac_ is good for the heart. There was
Mahon in Gort--one time his heart was wore to a silk thread, and it
cured him. And the _Slanugad_ (ribgrass) is very good: it will take away
lumps. You must go down where it is growing on the scraws, and pull it
with three pulls; and mind would the wind change when you are pulling
it, or your head will be gone. Warm it on the tongs when you bring it
in, and put it on the lump. The _Lus-mor_ is the only one that's good to
bring back children that are "_away_."'

Another authority says:--'Dandelion is good for the heart; and when
Father Quinn was curate here, he had it rooted up in all the fields
about to drink it; and see what a fine man he is. The wild parsnip
(_Meacan-buidhe_) is good for the gravel; and for heart-beat there's
nothing so good as dandelion. There was a woman I knew used to boil it
down; and she'd throw out what was left on the grass. And there was a
fleet of