Woodstock Castle, Athy, County Kildare (vol. 3)

Each story keeps the passage it was read from. Open one to read the passage as the book has it, and, where the companion has written its own telling, that too.

1. Eagle kills cat after mistaking it for rabbit

   near Galty Mountains · mountain or mountain range · Limerick · 1834–1835

   On the Galtee mountains, an eagle known to prey on lambs and poultry seized a sleeping cat from a cabin roof, mistaking it for a rabbit. The eagle later fell to the ground, mortally wounded by the cat, near the spot where it had lifted her.

   Read the passage

   The Galtee mountains, in the county Tipperary, are frequented by a large species of the eagle, which have been an uncommon annoyance to the farmers, in the'" destruction pi their lambs and poultry; there is also a rabbitwarren convenient, which the eagles often visit in search of prey, and kill great numbers, in defiance of every means resorted to for the purpose of destroying them. A few months ago, one of these enormous birds was observed to pounce upon a large cat which was sleeping upon the roof of a thatched cabin, and to carry her o% (taking her, it was supposed, for. a rabbit.) The eagle arose right upwards, and the spectators continued to watch him until he soared beyond their sight. About ten minutes after, he was seen to descend* apparently struggling with his intended victim. At last he fell to the earth, not fifty paces from the spot where he lifted the cat, so weakened through loss of blood that he died almost immediately, his throat and breast having been desperately cut in the struggle. The cat w as little or hothing the worse* N.

   singular '.sAaAdiTy -Of two mules.;;:'

   Internet Archive jstor-30003392, Chapter 1

2. Legend of Woodstock's lord, Kemelin of Athy, and the tourney betrayal

   Woodstock Castle · castle · Kildare

   A poem recounts how the lord of Woodstock Castle, spurned by a baron's daughter Eva who loved Sir Kemelin of Athy, held a tourney at Woodstock Hall on St. John's holiday and treacherously arranged Kemelin's murder there, with Eva vanishing forever afterward.

   Read the passage

   When, yielding to a villain's power, Kemelin seal'd his tragic doom.

   From that fatal moment, never

   Internet Archive jstor-30003392, Chapter 2

   As the companion tells it

   Woodstock Castle is right beside the road here. Its lord, spurned by the baron's daughter Eva who loved Sir Kemelin of Athy, held a tourney at Woodstock Hall on St. John's holiday and treacherously arranged Kemelin's murder there. As the poem says, "yielding to a villain's power, Kemelin seal'd his tragic doom." Eva was never seen again.

3. Two trained mules share a water pump near Ballymahon

   Ballymahon · town · Longford

   A gentleman living about two miles from Ballymahon, County Longford, owned two Spanish mules trained to work a yard pump together, one drinking while the other worked the handle, then exchanging places.

   Read the passage

   About two miles from th^ town of Ballymahou, in the county of Longford, resides a gentleman; who has in his possession two mules of the Spanish breed, They will regulariy go to a pump placed in the yard, and while one applies his mouth to the spout* the other works the handle by alternately raising and depressing his shoulder. When one has satisfied' his thirst, he exchanges; places with his companion, and returns the scirvice he has received. Improbable as this may appear to some, it is an absolute fact ; and the person who gives the account of it, has received it very recently from the owner of the mules, and from several 'members of his familyv ;■.■;■.- .-:.■..■■■■■ W; C, L.

   ; y'CHURNI^«jWiE«ILK' ':.■■,' .. ■■. In Chile, butter isj^e^ed ia sheep-skins, with the wool side out, and would^^y gqq^ in spite, of appearances, were it not so much salted.' The operation of churning is performed by a donkey. The cream is put into large gourds or dry skins, placed on his back^ and then the animal is kept trotting round the yard till the butter is made. In this art they seem not to have advanced a single step since its discovery ; for we are told that a countryman some where lost a large jug of cream by carrying it for a distance on a hard trotting horse, which accident led to the important invention of churns and butter. A friend told me that he had presented, some years ago, a Yankee churn..-: to a -.Family residing near the capital, and taught them to use ;'■'-. it* So Jong as it was a novelty tlicy were pleased, but at the end of a few weeks they deckled that the donkey made butter just as well, and consequently threw it asule^-i ''/tree Years in the J?ac\fw*

   Internet Archive jstor-30003392, Chapter 1