According to Yeats' Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry the fear gorta walks the earth during times of famine, seeking alms from passers-by. In this version, the fear gorta can be a potential source of good luck for generous individuals.[1] Harvey relates a myth that the fear gorta was a harbinger of famine during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, and that the spirit originally arises from a patch of hungry grass (féar gortach).[2] In the region of Kiltubbrid, the term is also used to refer to a sudden hunger that can seize people traveling in the mountains, that will become fatal if not quickly satiated.[3]
