Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland

It took me a while to finish this, largely because I'd read quite a few of the stories in other collections. There's a lot of Crofton Croker here, but there's a lot of other stuff too. It is rather a landmark collection, really, a key volume in the whole Celtic Revival, and it presents a nice variety of tales of various types and from various parts of the country. Included is the epic The Three Wishes, which drives one to have some sympathy for the devil, and the story of a bard's feud with the King Of The Cats which is outrageously funny, but the most hair-raising stories are the Christian fables, such as the one about the guy who has persuaded everyone that there's no such thing as a soul who has to beg a child to torture him to death show more with a small blunt knife to prove otherwise, and the daughters of the king converted by St Patrick who immediately elect to die and go to heaven. There's logic to it, and I'm pretty sure I heard stories like that growing up from teachers and priests and nuns and thoroughly approved of them. For anyone interested in Irish folklore, almost unquestionably the best place to start. show less

A worthy collection of tales, short stories, snippets, and even a few poems covering all manner of magickal types from Ireland: Trooping Fairies and Solitary Fairies, Ghosts, Tir n'an Og, and Saints and Priests. Some are told in the Irish dialect, others in a more straightforward language, and all have a different flavor to them. They're not so much morality tales, unless the moral is "Do good unto the faeries, for they will know if you wish them ill. And by all the saints, keep your wits about you when you encounter them!"

A very enjoyable and lively collection of fantastic, quaint tales collected by Yeats from various sources. They are arranged topically by the type of fantasty element: leprechauns, witches, giants, etc. This makes some read too similar, but owning the book and dipping in over a few months has been a real joy. Many tales are much more absurdist and even modernistic than I woud have expected.

Considering how many times I stalled while trying to read this book, I wasn’t sure that I was going to actually finish the whole thing, but I stuck it out and soldiered on, and I’m glad that I did. Yeats is obviously one of the foremost authorities and collectors of Irish folk and fairytales of the modern era, and did much in attempt to document a largely oral tradition, and I would say that his efforts paid off - even if some of the stories are a bit rough about the edges. Collected seemingly at random from personally conducted interviews and borrowed from other Irish writers of his time, Yeats groups these two collections of stories into rough groups based on the type of fairy or supernatural being they are about, ranging in topic show more from tales of the trouping fairies (the fairy courts, if you will) to stories in which the great Irish heroes battle the largest of supernatural beings: giants. I personally prefer the stories which Yeats retells himself, as some of the verbatim copied stories lack his writerly talents and the Irish jargon can be a bit much without a decent translator. Overall, a decent collection of tales, and a good addition to my traditional fairytale collection. show less

This is an interesting compendium of tales from Irish folklore. Yeats sorts the tales and songs by the type of creatures encountered in each tale: giants, solitary fairies, ghosts, and so on. Some stories are taken from other collections of folk tales, while others give the appearance of being recorded from a conversation with a local Irish person knowledgeable about that particular tale. Each section features an introduction by Yeats, and Irish-language words are footnoted with a definition when they are used in the text.

I had to read this book in two goes, because there are a lot of tales and on my first pass I ran out of steam. But the collection as a whole is well put together. I enjoyed finding parallels with the fairy tales of show more other cultures and finally meeting Fin M’Coul in the section about giants. This collection may be better for grownups or older children; younger ones may find it hard to maintain their attention. show less

From what I was able to dig up, this book is a product of the late 19th century Gaelic renaissance. Yeats did not collect all these stories himself, he simply gleaned all the best ones from a variety of sources which are all well documented in the bibliography. At the point of this book's creation, I believe that Yeats was rather well known and he was using his notoriety as a poet to bring attention to the disregarded tradition of Irish folk tales. The general consensus among Yeats and his fellow Irish intellectual contemporaries was that Irish culture was 1. slipping away as the older people died and modern culture was advancing, 2. that through a concentrated effort, Irish language, art, music, and written word could revitalize the show more peoples identity as a separate culture from England, and 3. perhaps spark a nationalistic fervor in the hearts of the peasantry. This collection of folk/fairy tales was one of Yeats attempts to add to this movement.

From a cultural history point of view, its a fine collection, and I think it says a lot about what Yeats considered to be the cultural values worth passing on. Some of the stories are written phonetically, so if one were to read it out loud, one could practice a Donegal or Connemara accent. This proved quite entertaining as I read my wife to sleep from this book. The collection is also divided up into categories so that chapter headings have titles such as: Solitary Fairies, Trooping Fairies, Merrow, Ghosts, Banshees, Witches, The Devil, Giants, ect. Some are written as first hand accounts and some are written in the classic "Once upon a time..." format. I found the story entitled "The Banshee of the MacCarthy's" to be particularly effective and unnerving, despite my complete disbelieve in the existence of such entities. Regardless, a culture's folk tales help describe the fears, hopes, and values of the community who pass them on. This is a fine collection which certainly accomplishes this and I recommend it as a good starting point for delving deeper into the tradition of Irish folk tales.

ps. the cat with the fish on the cover of this Folio Society edition is a depiction of a cat who is an agent of Satan, a "demon cat" if you will. Apparently they were quite common back in day, always stealing peasant's food. After reading this story, I am now considering the possibility that one of my gluttonous cats is likewise possessed by Lucifer; a rumor I fully intend to cultivate. show less

A varied and detailed survey of Irish folk and fairy tales. Magical, strange and unlike any other mythology I've ever read.