The Milk Charm

County Antrim

An old woman once lived who had a particularly strange power. By incantation, she had the ability to draw milk to herself from cows.

One night, when the moon was bright, a man wearing knee-high boots was riding his horse along the road to Cushendall. Suddenly in front of him, he saw a woman with her hands stretched out.

"Come a' to me" she was continuously blurting. The man did not know the woman, but he slowed his horse by its reins in order to see what the woman was doing.

He had an idea in his mind that it was a kind of magic, though he was never one to believe in witchery. However, he thought it was a prime opportunity to play a joke on the woman.

He opened up his own arms in a similar fashion to the woman, and said, "Come some to me!" a number of times. Hilariously, his knee high boots filled right up to the top with milk! The man was rather bemused by the incidents that had taken place, and he quickly spurred his horse to a sharp gallop. Only when the man arrived home did he feel any sense of safety.