amongst the country people by the name of Goody Grope:* because she had,
for many years, been in the habit of groping in old castles, and in
moats,** and at the bottom of a round tower*** in the neighbourhood, in
search of treasure. In her youth she had heard someone talking, in a
whisper, of an old prophecy, found in a bog, which said that before many

"St. Patrick's days should come about,
There would be found
A treasure under ground,
By one within twenty miles round."

This prophecy made a deep impression upon her. She also dreamed of it
three times: and as the dream, she thought, was a sure token that the
prophecy was to come true, she, from that time forwards, gave up her
spinning-wheel and her knitting, and could think of nothing but hunting
for the treasure, that was to be found by one "within twenty miles
round."

[*Goody is not a word used in Ireland. Collyogh is the Irish appellation
of an old woman: but as Collyogh might sound strangely to English ears,
we have translated it by the word Goody.
**What are in Ireland called moats, are, in England, called Danish
mounds, or barrows.
***Near Kells, in Ireland, there is a round tower, which was in imminent
danger of being pulled down by an old woman's rooting at its foundation,
in hopes of finding treasure.]

Year after year St. Patrick's day came about, without her ever finding a
farthing by all her groping; and as she was always idle, she grew poorer
and poorer. Besides, to comfort herself for her disappointments, and to