Once upon a time there was an old man in a private room in the general hospital.

The nurse entered his room and he asked her, “Nurse, are my testicles black”?

“Sir behave yourself and go to sleep” she replied.

Again he asked “Are my testicles black”?

“Look you’ll have to ask the doctor. Now go to sleep” she replied.

By now the old man was very irate and shouted, “Are my testicles black”?

The nurse decided that in order to keep him quiet she would have a look. Well what harm could it do?

She pulled back his blankets, pulled down his pyjamas, lifted the offending articles in her hands; she turned them this way and that.  She gently examined them and then pulled his pyjamas up and said,

“Sir your testicles are fine”

The old man looked at her with tears in his eyes and said,

“Thank you, you really are a wonderful nurse but will you please take the cotton wool out of your ears and listen to me. I said ARE MY TEST RESULTS BACK”

This is a true story, and if it isn’t, well it should be.

Start the New Year with a smile :)

The Dullahan.

“The Dullahan serves no master but death.”

The Irish Dullahan (also Gan Ceann.) is a type of unseelie faerie (dark faerie). He is a soul collector who roams the countryside during midnight on certain Irish festive days. He is dressed in a long black cloak and is headless, usually seen riding a black horse and carrying his head under one arm. The head's eyes are massive and constantly dart about like flies, while the mouth is constantly in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. In some of the stories his horse has a head too. Its head is longer than its body by 6 yards and has flaming eyes and short ears.

The flesh of the head is said to have the colour and consistency of mouldy cheese. He has a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth filed to a point. The Dullahan whip is actually a human corpse's spine, and the wagons they sometimes use are black horse drawn hearses. When the Dullahan stops riding, it is where a person is due to die. The Dullahan calls out their name, at which point they immediately perish.

There is no way to bar the road against a Dullahan, all locks and gates open on their own when it approaches. Also, they do not appreciate being watched while on their errands, throwing a basin of blood on those who dare to do so (often a mark that they are among the next to die), or even lashing out the watchers' eyes with their whips. Nonetheless, they are frightened of gold, and even a single gold pin can drive a Dullahan away.

The Dullahan may have been the inspiration for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

W. J. Fitzpatrick, a famous storyteller claims to have seen a Dullahan. He recounts:

“I seen the Dullahan myself, stopping on the brow of the hill between Bryansford and Moneyscalp late one evening, just as the sun was setting. It was completely headless but it held up its own head in its hand and I heard it call out a name. I put my hand across my ears in case the name was my own, so I couldn't hear what it said. When I looked again, it was gone. But shortly afterwards, there was a bad car accident on that very hill and a young man was killed. It had been his name that the Dullahan was calling”.

In other legends he sides with the legendary ghost, the Banshee, and they drive a black cart (called the Coiste Bodhar, death coach) drawn by six black horses and whips them with his whip made of a human spinal cord. When he rides out on his own he uses the whip to pluck out the eyes out mortals foolish enough to spy on him during his nightly runs. It is said that the Dullahan hates those with sharp eyesight. The only fear he has is gold, which any lonely traveller at night would be wise to have to ward off him off.

It was once believed that the Dullahan was sent by the queen of the fairies to punish mortals that had betrayed the secrets of the fairie folk.  He would visit you as you slept and one touch of his hand would cause the muscles of your arm or leg to wither and die. He would then leave as silently as he came.

Some people believe that the Dullahan is the embodied spirit of a Celtic god, Crom Dubh, who demanded human sacrifices each year. The worship of Crom Dubh continued in Ireland until the sixth century, when Christian missionaries arrived from Scotland. However, Crom Dubh still wanting souls became the Dullahan or Far dorocha ( Dark Man.)

The Unseelie Court is the opposite of The Seelie Court.  Those that fly through the night are called The Host or The Horde.  It was said that any mortal unlucky enough to cross paths with The Host would be attacked and forced to participate in their nocturnal activities. The Unseelie court comprised of the most unholy, and evil of the fairies.  It has been suggested that the early Christian church invented these stories to stop pagans from participating in fertility rites at Beltaine and other important rituals at other times of the year (Samhain, etc).

“Faeries come take me out of this dull world,

For I would ride with you upon the wind,

Run on top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”

W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire.

The Sandman.

The first written record appears in 1861 in tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

In his short story "The Sandman," which appeared in a book called Die Nachtstücke (The Night Pieces), E.T.A. Hoffman wrote of the Sandman: Oh! he’s a wicked man, who comes to little children when they won’t go to bed and throws handfuls of sand in their eyes, so that they jump out of their heads all bloody; and he puts them in a bag and takes them to the half-moon as food for his little ones; and they sit there in the nest and have hooked beaks like owls, and they pick naughty little boys’ and girls’ eyes out with them. (Hoffman, E.T.A., "The Sandman." Fantastic Tales, ed. Italo Calvino, Random House, Inc., 1997, p. 37).  Watch video above.

The Sandman has become a benevolent character in modern day folklore but this has not always been the case. He was traditionally seen as helping children to go to sleep by sprinkling magic dust in their eyes. It was said that he brought them happy dreams and upon waking the ‘sleep’ in the corner of their eyes would be the result of the sand/dust he had sprinkled on them.

However, there is another Sandman quiet different from the one who is now portrayed. This Sandman wears the skin of corpses, smelling of death and decay. He has long bony fingers that end in extremely sharp nails and his foul mouth is full of razor sharp fangs. Hiding in the shadows he whispers to his victim; Tic toc, tic toc” slowly lulling them to sleep.  Once they have fell into a deep sleep the Sandman will leave the shadows and feed on the victim.  There is absolutely no mention of this malignant sandman in folklore but due to peoples appetite for gore it quickly caught on.  In Hans Christian Andersen original tale   Ole Lukoje there are also two versions of the Sandman, one who brings sweet dreams, the other who brings the sleep of death.

Why some people feel it necessary to use bedtime stories to terrify children into obedient behaviour is quite beyond me but it seems to be prevalent across many tales.

Others mentioned in European folklore are  TheDustman, Billy Winker or Wee Willie Winkie, Old Shut-eye  and Nanny Button-Cap. These night time visitors are said to move from house to house making sure that children go to sleep. However, they are not restricted to children as some adults wake up in the mornings with ‘sleep’ in their eyes.

I will continue to look for information on this creature as requested (manbehindthecurtain).  It is not really found in Irish folklore, nevertheless he is an interesting character.

Above video courtesy of youtube = The Sandman edited and directed by Paul Berry, 1992.

Keep smiling. Oh and by the way...Sweet dreams.

SilentOwl.

May I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year. Best wishes to you and yours and may the new sun shine down upon you and light your way. Please enjoy the celebrations but remember "Don't drink and drive" and think of your pets or stock as they may find the loud noises of fireworks a little frightening. I look forward to posting new and interesting bits and pieces for you and reading your comments (always appreciated).

Keep smiling,

SilentOwl.

The Sluagh.

The Sluagh are dead sinners that return as evil spirits that hunt for souls.  They come from the west, flying in groups like flocks of crows and attempt to enter the dwelling of someone who is close to death in order to steal their soul. It is for this reason that west-facing windows are kept shut at all times. This allows the soul of the deceased to reach heaven before the Sluagh can intercept it.  The Sluagh are well known in Ireland and Scotland and it was a name that brought terror to those who lay on their death beds.  Stories of who and what The Sluagh were date back through our folklore and these stories would be handed down from generation to generation. The stories may differ slightly but the bones of the story is always the same. Be wary of the shadow in the corner.

Once upon a time, long, long ago. In fact so long ago that only the storytellers remember it. Witches and Wizards walked among us and Fairies and Druids were not as rare as they are today.  Magic was in the air and the gods/goddesses were honoured and death was but another path upon the journey.  It was a time when the world was new and everything was possible.

Even then tales of The Sluagh were told. They were described as the souls of the darkest sinners, sinners so evil that not even the fires of the eternal flame would burn them. They were so evil that the underworld spat out their rotten souls and the earth rejected their very presence.  They were cursed to soar above the earth like a flock of birds welded together for eternity. Never to set foot or claw upon the ground.

The Sluagh is an Irish word meaning host, and they continued in their evil ways even after death.  Drifting on the westerly wind they would watch and wait until they felt a dying soul and if they found a door or window left slightly open, the evil souls would enter and linger in the shadows over the dying and wait. If you were sat nearby you may have even hear the eerie sound of whispers as The Sluagh sucked the soul from the weak and dying body.

  Once the stolen spirit was captured a terrified scream would echo from the shadows and continue through the night slowly becoming farther way before growing silent. The soul of the dying would now be joined to the unforgiving dead,  now they too were cursed to roam forever through the dark night. Damned to an eternity of sorrow, innocent or evil, any soul would do, it did not matter to The Sluagh.

The Sluagh were said to be bird like with long thin fingers that were webbed with leathery skin (a bit like a bat). They had caped like wings that flapped in the night and long claws that protruded from deformed legs. They were said to smell like rotten meat and it was the sound of beating wings together with this smell that alerted you to their presence. If you then heard a knock on the door or a nail scratching at the window you would be wise to ignore it. When darkness fell it often brought death. It always brought shadows.

In modern day Ireland stories are just that, stories, to be laughed at or viewed as entertainment. Nothing more than superstition or bedtime reading. Stories told by the storyteller sending children to sleep before the Sandman sprinkles his magic dust or the bogeyman crawls out to get you. However take a minute and answer me this. Have you ever lain in bed, watching shadows creep across the room, but there is no light to make shadows? Have you ever heard a far away shriek? Was it a cat, wait a minute. It didn’t sound like a cat, Oh I know, it must be an owl. Or was it?  What about the time you woke up from a deep sleep with that scary feeling that someone or something was watching you. Sometimes you wake up in the morning feeling more tired and drained than when you went to sleep, your head hurts, your limbs ache, you feel thirsty. You think you may be coming down with something for that’s what it feels like.

 Perhaps as you lay sleeping The Sluagh came for you. Remember the shadows on the ceiling or in the corner of your eye? When you looked again they weren’t there. Could it be that The Sluagh was feeding but hearing the sound of a weaker soul they left you sleeping? However now they know where you are, they can hear you breathing, lock your doors and keep your windows shut. Look to the west at night, are they flocks of crows returning home to roost...or something else.

 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door –
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door –
Only this and nothing more."

Extract from The Raven (published 1845) Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849.

Keep smiling and Happy New Year to you all.

SilentOwl.

 

                            I watched this the other day and thought some of you may enjoy it.

                                 I will put up a new post shortly, until then "Keep smiling" :).
                       
                                                                        SilentOwl.

                                                                   Eru the Dragon (2).

Once upon a time, long, long ago.  High on a mountain there lived a dragon called Eru.  She was a very lonely and sad dragon because she had no friends.  Everyone in the local village was afraid of her but this was only because no one had ever tried to talk to her or get to know her.  Eru would love to make friends and if people would only give her a chance they would soon find out that she was the loveliest, friendliest dragon you could ever hope to meet.

Over the years many knights in shiny armour would climb the mountain hoping to kill Eru but they never managed it.  By the time they got to the top they were far too tired and their armour made so much noise that Eru heard them coming long before they got anyway near the top so she would just fly away and hide somewhere else until the got fed up and went home.

One night when all the people in the village were sleeping a very bad dragon called Shadow flew down on the village and stole some sheep.  In the morning the people woke up to find some of their sheep gone and they became very angry.  Guess who they blamed... Yes you 're right...Poor old Eru. However had they bothered to get to know Eru they would have discovered that she was a strict vegertarian and would never hurt any other animal never mind eat them.

That night the people of the village laid in wait so they could catch the dragon if it came back. Shadow had now got a taste for lovely wooly sheep so he did indeed come back, he flew down onto the village and started to attack the sheep but the people of the village came running out of their hiding places and started firing arrows at him. Shadow got very annoyed at this and turned his attention to the villagers, many ran away and hid but some souldn't run that fast and Shadow caught them.

The villagers were screaming and they made so much noise that they woke up Eru who was asleep on top of her nearby mountain.  She flew down to see what all the noise was about but when she saw Shadow she got frightened for she knew just how bad he was.  She was just about to fly away and hide when she saw that Shadow had caught some of the villagers.  Eru became angry, even though the villagers were always trying to hurt her and even sent knights up her mountain to kill her she knew she couldn't let Shadow hurt the villagers and destroy their homes.

Eru flew straight at Shadow, he didn't see her coming and when she hit him he crashed to the earth.  He hit the ground so hard his wings were damaged and the villagers rushed in and finished him off.  Eru landed on the ground,

"Are you alright?" she asked the villagers.

The people of the village didn't know what to do, they were shaking in fright expecting to be eaten at any minute.

"Don't be scared, I wont hurt you" said Eru.

One of the little girls of the village walked forward and said,

"Thank you for saving us, my name is Mary.  You are very beautiful, what is your name?"

"My name is Eru and you are very welcome" said Eru.

All the other villagers introduced themselves and thanked Eru for her help.  Eru became good friends with them and even let the village children ride on her back.  She lived happily and protected the village from harm.  She never felt lonely or sad ever again because now she had loads of friends who had got to know her and found out that she was the kindest dragon you cold ever hope to meet.

So if you ever meet a dragon called Eru be kind to her and you never know she might even let you ride on her back.

Keep smiling, and never judge someone by appearances.