Page 157. This description of the decapitated ghost sitting astride the
beer-barrel, reminds one of Crofton Croker’s “Clooricaun,” and of the
hag’s son in the story of “Paudyeen O’Kelly and the Weasel.” In Scotch
Highland tradition, there is a “trunk-without-head,” who infested a
certain ford, and killed people who attempted to pass that way; he is not
the subject, however, of any regular story.
In a variant of this tale the hero’s name is Labhras (Laurence) and the
castle where the ghost appeared is called Baile-an-bhroin (Ballinvrone).
It is also mentioned, that when the ghost appeared in court, he came
in streaming with blood, as he was the day he was killed, and that the
butler, on seeing him, fainted.
It is Donal’s courage which saves him from the ghost, just as happens
in another story which I got, and which is a close Gaelic parallel to
Grimm’s “Man who went out to learn to shake with fear.” The ghost whom
the hero lays explains that he had been for thirty years waiting to meet
some one who would not be afraid of him. There is an evident moral in
this.