The fairies, beside being revengeful, are also very arrogant, and allow
no interference with their old-established rights.
There is a rath in the Queen’s County, only four yards in diameter,
but held so sacred as the fairies’ dancing ground that no one dared to
remove a handful of earth from the mound; and at night the sweetest
low music may be heard floating round the hill, as if played by silver
bagpipes.
One evening a boy lay down on the rath to listen to the music, and,
without thinking, began to gather up balls of the clay and fling them
hither and thither in sport, when suddenly he was struck down by a
violent blow and became senseless.
There he was found by his people, who went to search for him; and when
he came to himself he bleated like a calf, and it was a long time
before he recovered his reason, for the power of the fairies is great,
and none can resist it.