I once heard a story that workers had been hired to clear some land. One problem, there was a holly bush in the way. All of them refused to touch the land for fear of invoking bad luck. But the work needed to be done. So they thought of a loophole. They would hire a young man to come and clear the land for them. They assumed a young person wouldn't hold the same superstitions so the land would get cleared and they wouldn't technically be the ones responsible for disrupting the holly bush. Sure enough, the young man agreed to clear the land and got to work. The other workers relaxed while he worked, relieved they found a solution to their problem. When the young man said he was done with the work, they went outside. All of the land was perfectly cleared, exactly as they had instructed. All of the land - except the holly bush. Which now stood on it's own in an otherwise cleared plot of land.
This reminds me of Hawaiian folklore. They have a similar respectful-fear of their ancient sites. There's often comes down to a "You might own the land, white man, but we won't touch the sacred stones on it. You'll have to get someone else to dig them out." I have heard of construction crews simply building around the sacred places or workers simply refusing to do anything with that part of the job. There are also tales of machines failing.
I once heard a story that workers had been hired to clear some land. One problem, there was a holly bush in the way. All of them refused to touch the land for fear of invoking bad luck. But the work needed to be done. So they thought of a loophole. They would hire a young man to come and clear the land for them. They assumed a young person wouldn't hold the same superstitions so the land would get cleared and they wouldn't technically be the ones responsible for disrupting the holly bush. Sure enough, the young man agreed to clear the land and got to work. The other workers relaxed while he worked, relieved they found a solution to their problem. When the young man said he was done with the work, they went outside. All of the land was perfectly cleared, exactly as they had instructed. All of the land - except the holly bush. Which now stood on it's own in an otherwise cleared plot of land.
I love this story!
This reminds me of Hawaiian folklore. They have a similar respectful-fear of their ancient sites. There's often comes down to a "You might own the land, white man, but we won't touch the sacred stones on it. You'll have to get someone else to dig them out." I have heard of construction crews simply building around the sacred places or workers simply refusing to do anything with that part of the job. There are also tales of machines failing.
Love this piece Róisín. I’m very familiar with the tale of the faerie fields - as a daughter of Irish parents. Wonderful stuff.
Thanks Sharon, they are endlessly interesting aren’t they.