In Sligo there is a well called _Tober-na-alt_, beautifully shadowed by
trees, the branches of which are thickly hung with all sorts of votive
offerings from those who have been cured by the water; and miracle-men
attended, who professed to heal diseases by charms, prayers, and
incantations.
A man who had been born blind once recited his experiences there. “Oh,
Christians, look on me! I was blind from my birth and saw no light
till I came to the blessed well; now I see the water and the speckled
trout down at the bottom, with the white cross on his back. Glory be
to God for the cure.” And when the people heard that he could really
see the speckled trout, of course they all believed in the miracle.
For a tradition exists that a sacred trout has lived there from time
immemorial, placed in the well by the saint who first sanctified
the water. Now there was an adventurous man who desired much to get
possession of this trout, and he watched it till at last he caught it
asleep. Then he carried it off and put it on the gridiron. The trout
bore the grilling of one side very patiently; but when the man tried to
turn it on the fire, the trout suddenly jumped up and made off as hard
as it could back to the well, where it still lives, and can be seen at
times by those who have done proper penance and paid their dues to the
priest, with one side all streaked and marked brown by the bars of the
gridiron, which can never be effaced.