The Shee in Ireland
It was March when we arrived in Killarney, already spring in that gentle climate. As we trundled down the wide highway in a jaunting cart on the way to Ross Castle, only 500 years old compared to most old structures in Ireland that date 900 years or before, I sat gazing into the woods. It was so green! Leafy vines climbing the tree trunks were gloriously verdant!
It was my first time in Ireland, and I was just about as green a tourist as the countryside. The sunlight filtering through the sparse branches filled the deep forest with glorious green charm and mystery.
Our young driver from County Kerry, wearing, of all things, a Stetson hat, was courteous but not greatly talkative. I had time to muse on Irish folk tales and magic.
At last I found myself speaking my thoughts.
“Ah, the woodlands are filled with magical green. It is so beautiful that I think I’m seeing a leprechaun darting between the trees!”
The Kerryman cast a cavalier glance at me and then turned away, calmly remarking. “With two pints o’ stout you could see two leprechauns!”
We all had a good laugh, but okay, so he tried to make me think that he didn’t believe in faeries and leprechauns, but that does not suggest that everyone on the Isle of Éire does not have a cautious respect for the Little People. For instance, why would you see a lovely white fluffy Maybush tree blooming alone in the middle of a farm field?
Well now, the faeries or Sidhe, pronounced Shee, in Ireland, love to dance under the Maybush and sleep among the flowering branches. If the tree is cut down, strange bad luck will surely take place. An unexpected hailstorm might destroy the barley field or a wheel fall off the new tractor.
There is a fine Tower House, a five-story tall edifice of gray stone, near the town of Macroom in County Cork, built 900 years ago. It is only one of some 4,000 tower houses, small castles built by the invading Normans to protect them from those wild Celts out there in the woods. The miniature castles, known as The Pale (An Pháil Shasanach), were built by the English within a certain length from Dublin for collective defense.
Many of the tower houses have been restored to nice dwellings with a satellite dish on the roof and fancy adornments and landscaping.
However, many people have never remained inside the walls of this particular tower house near Macroom because it is known to be “haunted” with angry faeries or elves. You see, it was built on the crest of a hill where the Shee used to come together and dance, leaving crushed and faded faery rings in the grass.
So, bottle caps pop off and eyes on painted portraits glare and the blood-freezing screech of the Banshee howls through the dark night. One night there is enough. Several times after a family would move in, nothing would be left but dirty dishes on the dishes after only one night!
Faery forts are found in fields and meadows, large concentric circles of grassy earthen ramparts surrounding a hollow where the Little People dance in the moonlight. Historians say they were fortresses for humans in ancient times.
Nonsense! Tell that to a farmer whose land includes a faery fort called a rath or ringforts known as lios. Likely he will agree with the expert, but then again, you won’t catch him plowing or planting on the cursed ridges of the mystic barricade.
Faeries are everywhere, possibly having traveled in the worn bundles of a hopeful Irish immigrant, and Irish immigrants are many on the plains of the American Midwest. Sometimes we see or simply feel a four to six foot high, spinning funnel of wind bouncing off walls or swirling hay or pushing you almost off your feet. We Americans call them dust devils and never try to give it a thought. But the truth is, a faery passed you by.
Ireland is a modern country now. They no longer attribute every incident to invisible little creatures that control The Luck O’ the Irish. A confident, successful businessman was heard to declare, “Of course, I don’t believe in faeries, but they are there!”
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To read more stories like this one about the Irish influence to America, order my new book, "Color Me Green: Ways the Irish Influenced America" by Helen Walsh Folsom.
Over the next several weeks, I will be publishing, with the aid of my daughter, Bettse Folsom, a series of answer & questions & snippets about Ireland that many people have asked me during events where I have attended. If you have a question, please contact me by email and I will be happy to address it.
Thank you for reading my blog!
