Henry Glassie

This is an amazing collection of folk and fairy tales, featuring everything from historical figures and bog men to ghosts and the fae folk. There are sections for "Faith" ("Saints" and "The Priest and His People"), "Wit" ("The Wise and the Foolish," "Wits and Poets") and "Mystery" ("Death and Tokens," "Ghosts," "Away").

Each tale has been well-documented both as the teller, what County, and who collected it. Many of the collectors are well-known Irish folklorists, including Lady Gregory and Henry Glassie, and the tales range from the 1830's to the 1970's. I found it especially poignant to read the earliest ones or the ones recorded just in the early years of the Famine.

Another thing that kept me drawn into these tales is the dialect that is recorded, or at least the way of speaking. An example is from "Daniel Crowley and the Ghosts" from 1892 in Kerry:

"There lived a man in Cork whose name was Daniel Crowley. He was a coffinmaker by trade and had a deal of coffins laid by, so that his apprentice might sell them when himself was not at home."

There was also a Cinderella-like tale towards the end called "Fair, Brown, and Trembling" that features two older sisters who consign the youngest (and most beautiful) to be a scullery maid. They are the daughters of the King Aedh Curucha. When Trembling is aided by the henwife, she goes to the door of the church three different Sundays wearing three different gowns and riding three different horses. But the similarities are quite striking between the two tales.… (more)

As a basic guide to Irish folklore, you could do a lot worse than this. The introduction gives a nice overview of the history of folklore collection and its development from the early days of good old T Crofton Croker to the current folklore collection in UCD. Then a marvelous selection of stories big and small, from all over the country, from the many collectors and of many varieties. If you're reading this kind of thing, you have to make allowances for the repetitions that arise from oral telling which translates poorly to the written form, but enough of the stories come perfectly formed, whether through the work of the collector or the skill of the teller, to arouse nothing but respect and admiration. There's a long version of the the old King Of The Cats story that is perfect despite the familiarity. There is a flabbergasting epic about a wicked blacksmith who makes a deal with the devil that must have kept entire communities snowed in for months crowded eagerly round the storyteller to hear what happened next. A useful and enjoyable handbook.… (more)