Hag's Rant, The

DESCRIPTION: Old Susie spins in the corner and asks for her tollies. We have to eat them dry because the cream turned. Hags have a connection with milk and butter. That old crone "some day at a witch stake will burn." "If only old Ireland was free!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1991 (Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder)
KEYWORDS: age magic food witch
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder, pp. 28-29, "The Hag's Rant" (1 text)
NOTES [66 words]: Tunney-WhereSongsDoThunder: "tollies" are "potatoes" [though the play on "toll" is interesting - RBW]. Tunney doesn't say so but this may only be a song in Gaelic, which he has translated into "the slave's patter, as you say."
Pure speculation: Potatoes, an old woman, free Ireland: is Suzy just an old lady, or Granuaile or Granua [see notes to "Granuwale" and "The Young Man's Dream"], or both? - BS
File: TST028

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