One day, while a woman was spinning yarn in her house, there was a knock at the door. When she opened the door, twelve witches entered the house.
The first witch had one horn on her head, the second witch had two horns and so on. They were very ugly. The witches sat down and started spinning. They gave the frightened woman a sieve and ordered her to bring water from the well nearby. The woman went to the well and tried to fill the sieve but the water wouldn’t stay in it. The poor woman was even more scared of what the witches might do to her.
Then the well spoke, “Plaster the sieve with clay. Take it to the house and shout that there is a fire in Slievenamon. Slievenamon is the place where the witches live.”
The woman did as she was told. When the witches heard her, they were terrified and ran away, never to be seen again.