persons, habited like monks, leave the island and proceed to the mainland,
followed, as the workmen thought, by a long line of small, shining
figures. The phenomenon was perhaps genuine, for the mirage is by no means
an uncommon appearance in some parts of Ireland, but work on the rath was
at once indefinitely postponed. Besides raths, old castles, deserted
graveyards, ruined churches, secluded glens in the mountains, springs,
lakes, and caves all are the homes and resorts of fairies, as is very well
known on the west coast.

The better class of fairies are fond of human society and often act as
guardians to those they love. In parts of Donegal and Galway they are
believed to receive the souls of the dying and escort them to the gates of
heaven, not, however, being allowed to enter with them. On this account,
fairies love graves and graveyards, having often been seen walking to and
fro among the grassy mounds. There are, indeed, some accounts of faction
fights among the fairy bands at or shortly after a funeral, the question
in dispute being whether the soul of the departed belonged to one or the
other faction.

[Illustration: Music: Fairy Dance]

The amusements of the fairies consist of music, dancing, and ball-playing.
In music their skill exceeds that of men, while their dancing is perfect,
the only drawback being the fact that it blights the grass, "fairy-rings"
of dead grass, apparently caused by a peculiar fungous growth, being
common in Ireland. Although their musical instruments are few, the fairies
use these few with wonderful skill. Near Colooney, in Sligo, there is a
"knowlageable woman," whose grandmother's aunt once witnessed a fairy
ball, the music for which was furnished by an orchestra which the
management had no doubt been at great pains and expense to secure and
instruct.

"It was the cutest sight alive. There was a place for thim to shtand on,
an' a wondherful big fiddle av the size ye cud slape in it, that was
played be a monsthrous frog, an' two little fiddles, that two kittens
fiddled on, an' two big drums, baten be cats, an' two trumpets, played be
fat pigs. All round the fairies were dancin' like angels, the fireflies
givin' thim light to see by, an' the moonbames shinin' on the lake, for it
was be the shore it was, an' if ye don't belave it, the glen's still
there, that they call the fairy glen to this blessed day."

The fairies do much singing, seldom, however, save in