IRISH FOLK LORE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 18

IRISH FOLK LORE.

LECTURE BT THE REV. FATHER CLEARY. The last of the seri«e of winter lecture* arranged by the Dunetiin Athenaeum Committee w»b delivered to a very large audience itf the reading (room on th© 7th. The fact that the final lecture was to be given br Father H. W. deary* and on so popular Tsubjeot as " Iridi Folk Lore ans Fairy Tales," had caused the meeting to be anticipated with keen pleasure, and at its close allwere agreed that the high expectations formed had been fully justified. Mr J. Hutchison (vice-president of. the Athemeum Gamxm**ee}-eocupM?d the chair, and in -Jvtwftf- -IntEodiuuOK the. lecturer, expressed Committee to .the getftUmen whonbad assisted them to ...carry,. through..the ; *e^, ,o| ? Aeotpres, „amt not; least to Father Cleary, who was £,par* . ticularly busy email. - , 4 ,. b ". , Father deary introduced his subject hreferring to the wonderful uses to whioh various waste products are now by sb.<j and of soience being put, and compared with this the work of the small «rmy of scientific "golden dustmen" who for many years past had been extracting rich, treasures of folk lore from what had previously been considered piles of literary, waste. The three chief factors in the folk lore of every country were the power of valour and veneration, the power of beauty and its danger, and the giving of the wisdom of human experience, and th« lecturer proceeded to give striking' illustrations of the fundamental similarity or the mythical stories belonging to widelyecattexed peoples. Passing on to the fairy tale branch of Irish folk lore, he toaced its history from the very earliest period, incidentally commenting on the wonderful literary power and genius of m any v - who were usually classed as "illiterate" Iriahi peasantry. He described in detail, with numerous beautiful illustrations from the Irish poets, the characteristics and peculiarities of the best known of the Irish fairies, and showed throughout completa mastery of a very- wide and fascinating; subject. The etories he referred to gave him frequent occasion to direct a shaft -of sly humour, which always found its mark, at the foibles of modern human nature. Father Cleary concluded his lecture brrelating the amusing story of " Donal O'Byrne and the Fairies," as his old nurse used to tell it to him, a recital in which he showed himself to be a raconteur of exceptional ability. Mr A. H. Burton, in moving- a vary hearty vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation, to the lecturer, complimented him on his cleverness in manag-in^ th« wonderful repetitions of the story and on. the keen sense of the delicacies of literature which he had let them see that he possessed.