Hungry grass
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.[1]
History
[edit]Steenie Harvey suggests that the hungry grass is cursed by the proximity of an unshriven corpse known as the fear gorta,[2] who in some retelling he asks for alms and rewards those who offer them.[3] William Carleton's stories suggest that faeries plant the hungry grass,[4] or that a meal had been eaten in the area with no portion left to share with the "otherworld".[1] According to Harvey, this myth may relate to beliefs formed in the Great Famine of the 1840s.[2] In Margaret McDougall's letters, the phrase "hungry grass" is - by analogy to the myth - used to describe hunger pangs.[5]
Carrying a crust in a pocket was believed to protect or ward off the effects of the grass[1] as eating something immediately would avoid death from the sudden hunger.[6]
Hungry grass or Féar gortach is also the native name for quaking-grass, believed to be a reference to its poor nutritional value.[7]
A 1969 novel by Richard Power, is entitled The Hungry Grass.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 McMahon, Sean; O'Donoghue, Jo (2004). Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 380. ISBN 9780304363346.
- 1 2 Harvey, Steenie. Twilight places: Ireland's enduring fairy lore Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. World and I, March 1998, v13 n3.
- ↑ "hungry grass". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Carleton, William. Phelim O'toole's Courtship and Other Stories
- ↑ McDougall, Margaret. The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through Ireland
- ↑ "Hungry Grass – Tipperary Studies". 8 August 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ "Wildflower Quaking-grass Irish Wild Flora Wildflowers of Ireland". www.wildflowersofireland.net. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Maye, Brian (20 February 2021). "The Hungry Grass (1969) by Richard Power: Poignantly symbolic". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 August 2026.
