CELTIC FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS
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"A compendium of shapeshifters, tricksters, ill advised bargains and arduous quests... Giants and wicked kings find themselves outsmarted by a courageous young girl or an ardent lover. People change into animals and back again. Challenges are issued and lessons are learned about the importance of kindness and forgiveness and the virtue of self-sacrifice. An inexhaustible supply of handsome princes and beautiful princesses are on hand...There are hours of enjoyment to be had in reading these time-honoured tales... with the power to move modern, sophisticated readers"
– The Herald
Enter a word of Celtic enchantment and adventure!
Visit mysterious Otherworlds inside the hills and under the sea.
Meet witches, fairies, heroes, talking animals, dragons, giants and strange underwater beings.
Witness magical transformations, guard a magic cauldron, glimpse a sleeping king inside a mountain and discover the most ancient creature in the world.
Here are sixteen unforgettable tales drawn from the ancient storytelling traditions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
With fascinating background notes and vintage illustrations from vintage artists such as Arthur Rackham.
"Rest for a while! The night is young
Time is short and the road is long
Tell me a story and I'll sing you a song
For tomorrow the road will be calling us on"
– Traditional Celtic song
STORIES
The Sorceress and the Poet (Wales)
The Swan Woman (Ireland)
Mally Whuppy and the Giant (Scotland)
The Devil, the Witch and the Fairies (Wales)
Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Magic Drinking Horn (Ireland)
Kate Crackernuts (Scotland)
The Red Dragon (Wales)
The Twelve Wild Geese (Ireland)
The Secret World of the Seals (Scotland)
The Most Ancient Creature in the World (Wales)
King Cormac and the Golden Apples (Ireland)
The Bogle of the Murky Well (Scotland)
The Sleeping King (Wales)
The Merrows' Song (Ireland)
The Black Bull of Norroway (Scotland)
The Daughter of King Under-Wave (Ireland and Scotland)
"Under the white mist lie the green hills. Within the green hills stand the stone doors. Behind the stone doors lie the sidh, castles of the Otherworld. They illuminate the underground realms just as the full moon brightens the night; for within them stand the dazzling courts of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, the gods of ancient Ireland."
– From The Swan Woman (Ireland)
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"There was once a miller's wife who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl; but on the very night the little one came into this world, she vanished.
How did it happen? No one knew, but what a terrible to-do there was as they all peered into the empty cradle!
Then the old grandmother said, 'She's been stolen by the faeries, I'm sure of it."
– From The Bogle of the Murky Well (Scotland)
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"There was once a youth who was the seventh son of a seventh son – which meant he was blessed with uncanny luck.
One evening in the village inn, he met a man who told him that the streets of London were paved with gold, adding, 'A lucky lad such as you is bound to make your fortune there.'
So the youth packed his bags and set off."
– From The Sleeping King (Wales)
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