that they have known.

 Brian O hUiginn. 

Brian O hUiginn.

Samhain, 1917.

 CONTENTS

[Pg 9]

[Pg 9]

 FUN O' THE FORGE.

 THE BLACKSMITH'S CHARM

I.

The smithy in which Ned M'Grane carried on his trade was close to the roadside, about a quarter of a mile from the head of the glen. There was no house very close to it on any side, though old Peggy Hogan's cottage was not so far away but that Ned could hear Peggy's shrill "Chuck, chuck, chuck," every evening at sundown, as she called her hens and chickens home to roost. The smithy was sheltered by the big beeches which overhung the road from Rowan's demesne, and when the fire was in full glow it was as fine a place for a seanchus among the "boys" as you'd find in any corner of the broad land of Eireann; and well did the boys know that, because there was scarcely a night during the whole winter on which they didn't gather around the cheery fire in the forge, and discuss in breezy fashion and with a good deal of wit, almost every subject of interest under the sun, while they watched Ned M'Grane at his work, and openly admired the strength of his shapely arms.

Ned was as famous for his wit as for his proficiency in all the mysteries of the trade, and he could tell stories, old and new, that would draw laughter from the loneliest heart that ever beat. He was a favourite[Pg 10] with old and young, and there wasn't a boy in the countryside who, sometime or other, didn't make a confidant of the genial blacksmith, and ask the advice 

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