To prove innocence of a crime a certain ancient form is gone through,
which the people look on with great awe, and call it emphatically—“The
Clearing.” It is a fearful ordeal, and instances are known of men who
have died of fear and trembling from having passed through the terrors
of the trial, even if innocent. And it is equally terrible for the
accuser as well as the accused.
On a certain day fixed for the ordeal the accused goes to the
churchyard and carries away a skull. Then, wrapped in a white sheet,
and bearing the skull in his hand, he proceeds to the house of the
accuser, where a great crowd has assembled; for the news of “A
Clearing” spreads like wildfire, and all the people gather together as
witnesses of the ceremony. There, before the house of his accuser, he
kneels down on his bare knees, makes the sign of the cross on his face,
kisses the skull, and prays for some time in silence; the people also
wait in silence, filled with awe and dread, not knowing what the result
may be. Then the accuser, pale and trembling, comes forward and stands
beside the kneeling man; and with uplifted hand adjures him to speak
the truth. On which the accused, still kneeling and holding the skull
in his hand, utters the most fearful imprecation known in the Irish
language; almost as terrible as that curse of the Druids, which is so
awful that it never yet was put into English words. The accused prays
that if he fail to speak the truth all the sins of the man whose skull
he holds may be laid upon his soul, and all the sins of his forefathers
back to Adam, and all the punishment due to them for the evil of their
lives, and all their weakness and sorrow both of body and soul be laid
on him both in this life and in the life to come for evermore. But if
the accuser has accused falsely and out of malice, then may all the
evil rest on his head through this life for ever, and may his soul
perish everlastingly.
It would be impossible to describe adequately the awe with which the
assembled people listen to these terrible words, and the dreadful
silence of the crowd as they wait to see the result. If nothing happens
the man rises from his knees after an interval, and is pronounced
innocent by the judgment of the people, and no word is ever again
uttered against him, nor is he shunned or slighted by the neighbours.
But the accuser is looked on with fear and dislike; he is considered
unlucky, and seeing that his life is often made so miserable by the
coldness and suspicion of the people, many would rather suffer wrong
than force the accused person to undergo so terrible a trial as “The
Clearing.”