In Irish mythology, hungry grass (Irish: féar gortach; also known as fairy grass) is a patch of cursed grass. Anyone walking on it was doomed to perpetual and insatiable hunger.
Harvey suggests that the hungry grass is cursed by the proximity of an unshriven corpse (the fear gorta).[1] William Carleton's stories suggest that faeries plant the hungry grass.[2] According to Harvey this myth may relate to beliefs formed in the Great Famine of the 1840s.[1] In Margaret McDougall's letters the phrase "hungry grass" is - by analogy to the myth - used to describe hunger pains.[3]
An alternative version of the hungry grass story relates that anyone walking through it is struck by temporary hunger; to safely cross through one must carry a bit of food to eat along the way (such as a sandwich or several crackers), and some beer.
See also
References
- ^ a b Harvey, Steenie. Twilight places: Ireland's enduring fairy lore. World and I, March 1998, v13 n3.
- ^ Carleton, William. Phelim O'toole's Courtship and Other Stories
- ^ McDougall, Margaret. The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through Ireland