Prologue

Plaze your honours, boy-childs and dawters, wake up. Now when a lot of paiple are in the shlapes, dhraming, you can make a bogthrot and parsaive a moighty carouse of little paiple, discoorsing and cod­acting an’ workin’ their mettyfisics. They are from the other worruld and are very impident and shpake diffirint tongues altogether. The place you’ll find them is out av the highways because they likes to thravel in furpaths and they’re always to be found in forts and raths. They can make your heart sthand still wit the deeds they do be doing and the shee music that they makes. They rayports have it that some of their thribe are made up of avil spirits, avil fairies, avil divils and the Pookha. He’s a quare fella. He’s a horse and not a horse, a bhlack fella wit eyes of fire, breathin’ flames a blue, wid a shmell o’ sulphur an’ a shnort like tunder an’ a tail twisting and laceratin’. Now while he’s doing wan thing the fairies do be dancin’ by the light of the moon an’ witches wid shnakes on their arrums and eyes of dead men like aurnaments in their hair do be rhiding on sthicks an’ bats an’ owls, up to their dhirty thricks and laughin’ until they nearly sphlit. They shtop wather in a spring, inconvanience paiple, dhry the cow’s milk or make her kick the pail, set the thatch on fire or spile the crame in the churn or bewitch the butter, an’ be razon of their devilment desaive paiple or put them undher an inchantment. But they can do no harrum to anyone that fares God, barren they’re not drunk and they can do no harrum to them that do pinnance an’ say their prayers at night. You’ll parsaive them on certain nights afther the moon is up and most paiples shound ashlape. They are very ontoxicated and they will try immijetly to get you to join in their fun and go to France but don’t go or you’ll be ruin­ated. Be as perlite as anything, sthand your ground an’ don’t get into any mularkin’ . . .