Irish Fairy Tales Book

I recently read an excellent book of some less well known fairy tales ('The Fairy Ring', free online at Gutenberg) and glibly joked that the four Gaelic stories included were a little disappointing because none of them featured a leprechaun!

I resolved to find a book dedicated solely to Irish fairy tales.

Well, 'Irish Fairy Tales' by James Stephens doesn't have any leprechauns either, but that is hardly a let down. No, these stories are steeped in the very depths of Irish folklore, from the same sources that Yeats immersed himself in, going right back to the recoded beginnings.

That means historical and spiritual fairy tales of ancient Tara, those heard, adapted and written by the monks and priests of Ireland as Christianity came to the land and proceeded to convert the indigenous pagans to the new creed.

'The Story of Tuan, the son of Cairill', is the tale of one of the original Ulsterman, the brother "of Partholon, the son of Noah's son", who had lived through the centuries as both man and beast until being gladly converted by Finnian, the Abbot of Moville.

Next is the story of 'The Boyhood of Fionn', whom Saint Patrick called 'a king, a seer and a poet ... He was our magician, our knowledgable one, our soothsayer', who became the Chief Captain of the Fianna and is more commonly known as Finn MacCool.
Raised in secret by female druids, traveling poets, a robber, a king, and a wise man, Fionn (pronounced to rhyme with 'tune') becomes a mighty man of both knowledge and action, defeating the deadly faery god Aillen mac Midna on the Feast of Samhain, our Halloween.
His upbringing is truly the stuff of legend. When debating the best music with friends, his answer is very apt for a hero:
"The music of what happens," said great Fionn, "that is the finest music in the world."

'The Birth of Bran' tells of the origins of one of Fionn's beloved dogs, which was also one of his cousins thanks to an interfering faery whose jealous plans turn a fair maiden into a hound.

'Oisin's Mother' relates the birth of Fionn's poet son, born to him by his faery love Saeve, who was was turned into a fawn and stolen from her husband by The Dark Man of the Shi.

The story of 'The Wooing of Becfola' takes us briefly away from the adventures of Fionn to illustrate the judgement of the new religion on adultery, as the wife of the monarch Dermod becomes infatuated with two other men in turn.

Then it's back to Fionn and his entourage for three largely comic tales that feature, in turn, a drunken scrap ('The Little Brawl at Allen'), a foot race ('The Carl of the Drab Coat') and a starring role for Fionn's fierce ally and enemy all in one, Goll mor mac Morna, who fights four faery hags and delivers 'one of the three great sword-strokes of Ireland' ('The Enchanted Cave of Cesh Corran').


The penultimate tale, 'Becuma of the White Skin' turns attention to the High King, or Ard-Ri' of Ireland, Conn the Hundred Fighter, who has to choose a new wife and chooses badly. The story contains much of interest, including the quest of the king's son Art and an isle of apples - Arthur and Avalon perhaps?
It also contains an obvious Christ-like figure, Segda, who the people wish to be sacrificed, as well as this simply brilliant opening sentence:

"There are more worlds than one, and in many ways they are unlike each other. But joy and sorrow, or, in other words, good and evil, are not absent in their degree from any of the worlds, for wherever there is life there is action, and action is but the expression of one or other of these qualities.'

The collection closes with 'Morgan's Frenzy', which brings back the Abbot of Moville as a framing device and introduces another aspect of Fionn in a meandering spouse swapping story.

I can't tell you how glad I am to have discovered this book. The author, James Stephens, a friend of James Joyce, clearly knew and revered his subject, yet is bold and gifted enough to retell these stories in his own way.

There is more poetry, wit and wisdom in this collection than you could ever hope to find in any book.