to a thirsty mortial that always thrates yez as well as
he knows how,' and immejitly the fairies, an' the fire, an' the jug all
wint out av his sight, an' he to bed agin in a timper. While he was layin'
there, he thought he heard talkin' an' a cugger-mugger goin' on, but when
he peeped out agin, sorra a thing did he see but the black night an' the
rain comin' down an' aitch dhrop the full av a wather-noggin. So he wint
to slape, continted that the hay was in, but not plazed that the good
people 'ud be pigs entirely, to be afther dhrinkin' undher his eyes an'
not offer him a taste, no, not so much as a shmell at the jug.

"In the mornin' up he gets an' out for to look at the hay an' see if the
fairies put it in right, for he says, 'It's a job they're not used to.' So
he looked in the cow-house an' thought the eyes 'ud lave him when there
wasn't a shtraw in the house at all. 'Holy Moses,' says he, 'phat have
they done wid it?' an' he couldn't consave phat had gone wid the hay. So
he looked in the field an' it was all there; bad luck to the bit av it had
the fairies left in the house at all, but when he shouted at thim, they
got tarin' mad an' took all the hay back agin to the bog, puttin' every
shtraw where Barney laid it, an' it was as wet as a drownded cat. But it
was a lesson to him he niver forgot, an' I go bail that the next time the
fairies help him in wid his hay he'll kape shtill an' let thim dhrink
thimselves to death if they plaze widout sayin' a word."

The good people have the family relations of husband and wife, parent and
child, and although it is darkly hinted by some that fairy husbands and
wives have as many little disagreements as are found in mortal households,
"for, sure a woman's tongue is longer than a man's patience," and "a
husband is bound for to be gosthered day in an' day out, for a woman's jaw
is sharpened on the divil's grindshtone," yet opinions unfavorable to
married happiness among the fairies are not generally received. On the
contrary, it is believed that married life in fairy circles is regulated
on the basis of the absolute submission of the wife to the husband. As
this point was elucidated by a Donegal woman, "They're wan, that's the
husband an' the wife, but he's more the wan than she is."

The love of children is one of the most prominent traits of fairy
character, but as it manifests itself by stealing beautiful babes,
replacing them by young Leprechawns, the fairies are much drea