Nearly related to this is, "May you melt
like butther before a summer sun!" These are, indeed, essentially
poetical; they present the mind with appropriate imagery, and exhibit a
comparison perfectly just and striking. The former we think unrivalled.
Some of the Irish imprecations would appear to have come down to us from
the Ordeals. Of this class, probably, are the following: "May this be
poison to me!"--"May I be roasted on red hot iron!" Others of them,
from their boldness of metaphor, seem to be of Oriental descent. One
expression, indeed, is strikingly so. When a deep offence is offered
to an Irishman, under such peculiar circumstances that he cannot
immediately retaliate, he usually replies to his enemy--"You'll sup
sorrow for this!"--"You'll curse the day it happened!"--"I'll make you
rub your heels together!" All those figurative denunciations are used
for the purpose of intimating the pain and agony he will compel his
enemy to suffer.
We cannot omit a form of imprecation for good, which is also habitual
among the peasantry of Ireland. It is certainly harmless, and argues
benevolence of heart. We mean such expressions as the following:
"Salvation to me!--May I never do harm!--May I never do an ill
turn!--May I never sin!" These are generally used by men who are
blameless and peaceable in their lives--simple and well-disposed in
their intercourse with the world.
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