The Birthday Boy

In the sometimes dreary and sometimes sinister history of Ireland there was a little known fable or wives tale, what ever you want to call it, that still chills me to the bone.  Not that I want to scare anyone, BUT, I do think that more people should be aware of it, just in case.

It was said that many years ago a boy was born to a very poor family.  When his birthday came each year, his parents could only wish him Happy Birthday because they had no money to have a party or to buy him a gift.  At first the little boy didn't seem to even notice, but as he grew older he became aware of his friends all celebrating their birthdays with ice cream and cake and presents galore.

This started gnawing at the boy.  Each year he became saddened on his birthday.  Not actually mad at his parents, just disappointed with his lot in life.

Each year it seemed to intensify.

Each year, as the boy grew older, he became more and more upset.  At least that is how the story goes.

When the boy reached adulthood and moved out of his parent's house, he had very little to get him started on his own.  He lived in a small cave, back in the forest.  He learned to subsist off the land.  A very bleak life, but pretty much all the life he had ever known.

As time passed and he continued to see people around the area having birthday parties, he started to turn mean.  Why did everybody else have such a glorious day each year and he had nothing, but a small turnip and a drink from a pig track?  He wanted what others had.

At first it seemed coincidental, but after a few times, people started taking notice.  It seemed that right before someone's birthday party the cake and ice cream and all the presents would mysteriously disappear.  After the townspeople really started to take notice, they investigated.  It always seemed that there would be tracks in the yard around the birthday house.  Shredded wrapping paper, birthday cake crumbs, and drips of melting ice cream, they knew something was going terribly wrong.

Over time the locals just decided to quit trying to celebrate birthdays because the parties were always spoiled by this phantom party crasher.

They began to refer to him as the Birthday Boy, and the legend still continues.