But one of the young
men was deceived and stepping into the house joined in the dance,
without even stopping to put down the jar of whisky. His companion was
wiser; he had a shrewd suspicion that the place was not what it seemed,
and on entering he took the precaution of sticking a needle in the door.
That disarmed the power of the fairies, and he got away safely. Well,
that day twelve months he came back to the spot and what should he see
but his poor friend still dancing away with the jar of whisky on his
back? A weary man was he, as you may well believe, but he begged to be
allowed to finish the reel which he was in the act of executing, and
when they took him out into the open air, there was nothing of him left
but skin and bones.[580] Again, the wicked fairies are apt to carry off
men's wives with them to fairyland; but the lost spouses can be
recovered within a year and a day when the procession of the fairies is
defiling past on Hallowe'en, always provided that the mortals did not
partake of elfin food while they were in elfinland.[581]
[Guleesh and the revels of the fairies at Hallowe'en.]
Sometimes valuable information may be obtained from the fairies on
Hallowe'en. There was a young man named Guleesh in the County of Mayo.
Near his house was a _rath_ or old fort with a fine grass bank running
round it. One Hallowe'en, when the darkness was falling, Guleesh went to
the rath and stood on a gray old flag.
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