Scope and Contents Legend about the dreolan or wren and the Irish army that when the English were asleep and the Irish were about to attack them during the night [at the Battle of the Boyne] the wren began eating crumbs on the drummer's head, waking him up and allowing him to alert the English to the attack. Consequently, 'the irish take a day in the year to kill the Dreathan (wren (St Pat[rick]?)' [referring to Wren Day or St Stephen's Day, 26 December]. Text has been scored through in pencil perhaps to...

Scope and Contents

Story about the killing of the wren after the Battle of the Boyne noting that it tapped its beak on the drum of the Protestants, waking them, and that [the wrens] are killed everywhere by Catholics. The text has been scored through as if transcribed elsewhere.