O'Donohue's white horses
Preserved but no longer current.
Waves which come on a windy day, crested with foam. The hero reappears every seventh year on May-day, and is seen gliding, to sweet but unearthly music, over the lakes of Killarney, on his favourite white horse. He is preceded by groups of fairies, who fling spring flowers in his path.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “O'Donohue's white horses” mean?
Waves which come on a windy day, crested with foam. The hero reappears every seventh year on May-day, and is seen gliding, to sweet but unearthly music, over the lakes of Killarney, on his favourite white horse. He is preceded by groups of fairies, who fling spring flowers in his path.
Is “O'Donohue's white horses” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.