Ireland’s Animals is a new book by folklorist Niall Mac Coitir which celebrates the creatures that have shaped Irish storytelling for centuries. From the Brown Bull of Cooley to the fairyhorses of the Burren, from wolf kings and warrior hounds to magical cows, hares and seals, this book reveals the wonderful creatures that populate our folklore, myths and legends. In this chapter, Mac Coitir looks at the mysterious little prickly Erinaceus europaeus… the Hedgehog, or Gráinneog… a little creature often much maligned in old Irish tales…

THE HEDGEHOG IS a distinctive sight in the Irish countryside, with its coat of spines and long sensitive snout. It was often persecuted out of a false belief that it sucked the milk out of cows’ udders, but is in fact a useful animal for farmers, as it eats many agricultural pests.

Various beliefs existed about the hedgehog in Irish folklore. One that was widespread was that hedgehogs sucked the milk from cows as they lay down in the field at night, especially on May Eve, so that many hedgehogs were often cruelly killed.

Hedgehogs were also wrongly thought to suck the contents of hens’ eggs in the nest. Another trait of the hedgehog was to predict the weather in spring-time, when it emerged from hibernation. If bad weather was set to continue, it returned to its hiding place to sleep, but if it stayed out it meant that better weather was coming.

It was taken as a particularly good sign if a hedgehog was seen around St Brigid’s Day on 1 February, as this meant milder spring weather was on the way. Later in the year, hedgehogs were thought to enter orchards to steal the apples lying on the ground, by sticking them onto their spikes and making off. The hedgehog was also believed to have helped Christ after his 40-day fast by rolling on the ground and collecting apples for him.

The hedgehog is part of a curious Irish folk cure for aches and pains, which involved frying an unfortunate specimen and rubbing its grease onto the affected area. This was........

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