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Mac Govern of Glangevlin |
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In the late nineteenth century a man called Mac Govern lived in Glangevlin Co. Cavan who had the cure for rabies.
It was told that one time his own son was bitten by a rabid dog and that his wife had gone to bed exhausted from caring for the sick child and he had sat up with him.
He had dozed off slightly and when he opened his eyes he saw a red-haired woman bending over the child and stroking his swollen cheek which was where he had got bitten. She told Mac Govern to make a porridge of barley and put in a few foxglove leaves and that would cure the child.
Mac Govern did as he was told and the child was cured and ever after that he had the power to cure anyone who had been bitten by a rabid dog.
His neighbours said he would go walking late at night and that was when he met the fairies and learnt their cures.
A man called Hugo Prior from Tullywan Co. Leitrim took a man to see Mac Govern who had a swollen leg from a bite and it was cured. When people went to get the cure they usually stayed for two days for the cure to take effect.
Source: Patrick Logan - The Old Gods, The facts about Irish Fairies. Appletree Press, Belfast 1981.
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