The Fairy Tree

Near the rim of a small disused quarry on the Inis Eoghan peninsula there grew a tree. Successive owners of the land knew this to be a ‘fairy tree’. It was a superstition that if one interfered with such a tree then bad luck would follow because this was the home of the ‘little people’.

This tree was left to grow undisturbed by the ploughing and planting around it. It spread and grew gnarled and twisted. One spring, the new owner damaged the blade of his plough on the root of the fairy tree and he ordered his farm hand to cut it down. The farm hand refused, explaining that he did not want bad luck to befall him. In a fit of rage and to show that he did not believe the superstition the farmer cut the tree down and threw it into the quarry.

The farm prospered but illness, accidents, deaths and other bad luck followed the family until each member had his or her share of it.
Eventually the farm was sold and the new owner, knowing the history, planted a new tree where the old one had grown. As the tree grew so did their good fortune.

The family are still settled happily on the farm although no one seems to know what became of the previous owner.