title: The Irish Spirit: Proverbs, Superstitions, and Fairy tales
author: Laurence Flanagan
description: This unique blend of the best of Ireland's oral tradition includes proverbs, folklore, and superstitions of the Emerald Isle. Culled by some of Ireland's most popular writers, it includes proverbs in both English and Gaelic, retellings of beloved Irish fairy tales, and traditions based on local superstitions. Like three volumes in one at an amazingly low price, this original work is infused with the spirit of Irish culture. Includes black-and-white line drawings.
zlib_text: > ELF GIFT
  
  By
  
  Bud Gundy
  
  Copyright © 2012 by Bernard Gundy
  
  _All Rights Reserved_
  
  ISBN: 3991843
  
  ISBN-13: 978-1479288601
  
  Thanks to Cleo, James, Avis, Kathy, Marion, Pat and Gabriel
  
  For Chris….
  
  > PART ONE
  
  1
  
  Early morning mist swirled around Darby Hogan like the billowing clouds that
  framed Jesus in a painting he saw once. He’d started this day’s journey in the
  dark, but the unseen sun now whitened the air.
  
  It was September of 1845 and Darby, of County Galway, Ireland, carried a
  burlap sack over his shoulder as he walked through potato fields, taking a
  shortcut toward Athlone to reach the main road to Dublin.
  
  “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” his father said
  when he set out two days ago from the family’s sod hut. Just over a year from
  now, Darby would long to tell his father that only a fool trusted a man who
  said God existed, let alone knew him.
  
  The road to Dublin sliced the country in two, and carts clattered along in
  both directions. In recent yea