THE CROCK OF GOLD

by Mrs. Alison Hirschberg

Needless to say when I saw the "Crock of Gold" there was no gold in it.

We had an old neighbour living down at Greeve crossroad, a little lane leading out from Greeve crossroads down along the wood and circling back into Farrenconnell. An old man lived down the lane called O'Reilly. I remember visiting him when I was a small child and he told me "I have something that will interest you". He brought out a big cooking pot. In fact it was an old fashioned style cooking pot they use to make bread in. A big round body and three legs. A pot that would be pushed into the ashes and the bread baked in it. I remember it being lovely bread to. He showed me the pot and said "that held a whole pot of golden pieces but you and I never saw them".

He went on to tell me that there was an old lady who lived down the same land and she was trying to find her way home from Granard to Oldcastle on a very wild stormy night just before Christmas. She had lost her way and she asked somebody "where will I find Oldcastle". As you can see she was a long way from it. She had got down almost to Greeve. But they said to her if you could not find Oldcastle tonight go on down the land and someone will give you a bed. So she went down this small land and she saw the house of Mr. Kearney. She said this must be where I will find shelter. It was a very cold dark night and she was very wet. She knocked on the door and the old man inside wonder who on earth could be knocking on his door at this hour of the night. He waited a bit because he thought he had not heard right. But the knocking came on again and a little voice called "can you let me in". He got up and went to the door and saw this poor bedraggled figure outside and she said , "can you give me help for the night I've lost my way and I don't know where to go". So old Kearney brought her in and gave her something to eat and drink. He took the wet clothes and put her beside the fire and then said "well now, you will want to stay for the night and I have a very comfortable barn and I will sleep in the barn and you can have my bed here by the fire". So this is what they arranged.

The old farmer found his barn and the hay bed so comfortable that he sleep late into the morning and when he woke up he thought, my goodness I must find the old lady she is locked inside the house. He went down to the house and knocked and called but and there was no reply. So finally he pushed the door open and there was no old lady in side the house. But there was a little note on the table.

The old man could not read. He had to get a boy from up the way, from Clontyduffy, to read the note. This young boy had received an education. He was brought from the school to read the note. The note said - if you would go at the next full moon to the mearing between here and Farrenconnell. You must get over the mearing and you will find a gravel pit half dug out on the other side. In that gravel pit you will find something to your advantage. But you must wait till the full moon and then dig. The old man decided that the boy must come along as well because he had deciphered the letter. It would be fair to bring him along.

They waited for two weeks for the moon to be full and they went together. They had to crawl out from their side under the mearing fence, out into Farrennconnell side. Which was where the gravel pit was. They started digging. They dug and dug and nothing turned up. They watch the sky and it was getting near dawn and nothing had still turned up. Just as the sun was coming over the edge of Mullaghmeen the boy hit something in the ground with his spade. They dug frantically around this hard spot and sure enough they suddenly found the pot. It was heavy and the lid of the pot was tied firmly down.

Old Kearney said to the boy, "you come back to the house with me and we will open it inside the house. You're to keep quite about it". They opened the pot and sure enough inside it was a crock of gold. They decided that the two of them would share what was in the pot. The old man kept the crock and the young boy got his share from it.

Forty years ago the young boy turned up in Oldcastle. No one had seen him for years and years. The people asked "where have you been all this time and where do you come from now". He told them he had gone to America. They asked how did you do that, you had no money? Oh yes I did said the returned man - I had half the crock of gold and I went to America with it and I have done very well thank you and I just thought I would come back and look at the old home. He was genuine and he returned to America. I never meet him but people I know in Oldcastle did.

The old man used the second half of the crock of gold. I don't know how they used it but there was none left anyway. The old man who found it decided that he would show that he was well off and he bought himself a very suave pony and trap and drove around the countryside to show what he had got. Afterwards the crock disappeared but turned up all those years later in the house of O'Reilly at Greeve crossroads. He was the man that showed it to me. It was empty but looked very nice and he said "Now you can tell people that you have seen the crock of gold, but it didn't have the gold in it.