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BLARNEY FAIRIES

Miss Winter, of Blarney, in Cork, says: ‘We received communications from a fairy named Bebel several times, one of them lasting nearly an hour. The communication was as decided and swift as from the most powerful spirit. He told us that he was a Leprechaun (male), but that in a ruined fort near us dwelt the Pixies. Our demesne had been the habitation of Leprechauns always, and they with their Queen Picel, mounted on her gorgeous dragon-fly, found all they required in our grounds.

He asked most lovingly about my little grandchildren, who visit us frequently, and since then he has been in the habit of com- municating with them, when we have yielded the table to them entirely, and just listened to the pure fun he and they were having to- gether. He told them that the fairies find it quite easy to talk to the rabbits, and that they disliked the dogs because they chased them. They have great fun with the hens, on whose backs they ride, but they do not like them because they jeer at them.

When he mentioned the old fort, I thought he referred to Blarney Castle, not far away, but on relating the incident to a farmer’s daughter, whose family has been in the neighbourhood for a very long time, she informed me that a labourer’s cottage at the entrance to our avenue is built on the site of an old fort, information absolutely new to us.

Doyle, Coming of the Fairies (163-165)

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