The Irish Fairy Book

by Alfred Perceval Graves (Editor)

Welcome to a world of wild banshees, leprechauns, mermaids, battle-tested kings, churchyard demons, and treasure-guarding cats. This is the world of the Irish fairy tale, a magical realm kept alive by generations of storytellers and their avid listeners. As Alfred Perceval Graves, author of the ballad "Father O'Flynn" and a former president of the Irish Literary Society, wrote in the introduction, "The truth is that the Gaelic peasant, Scotch and Irish, is a mystic, and believes not only in this world, and the world to come, but in that other world which is the world of Faery, and which exercises an extraordinary influence upon many actions of his life." In The Irish Fairy Book, Graves has collected Ireland's best-loved fairy tales written by some of its favorite authors. Included are W.B. Yeats' "The Stolen Child," Lady Gregory's "Cuchulain of Muirthemne," Standish James O'Grady's "The Coming of Finn," Lady Wilde's "The Horned Women" and "The Demon Cat," and many more. Illustrations by George Dunham add a delightful touch to this charming collection.

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folklore, Fiction, Ireland, Mythology, Classics

355 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Alfred Perceval Graves was an Anglo-Irish poet, songwriter, and school inspector. He took a leading part in the revival of Irish letters. He was for several years president of the Irish Literary Society, and was the author of the famous ballad of Father O'Flynn and many other songs and ballads. In collaboration with Charles Stanford he published Songs of Old Ireland (1882), Irish Songs and Ballads (1893), the airs of which are taken from the Petrie MSS.; the airs of his Irish Folk-Songs (1897) were arranged by Charles Wood, with whom he also collaborated on Songs of Erin (1901). He published an autobiography, To Return to All That, in 1930. He was a contributor of prose and verse to the Spectator, The Athenaeum, John Bull, and Punch magazine.

Reviews

[Ethel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a lovely book to learn about some Irish folk tales. While some stories were a bit confusing (lots of names and occasional ambiguous structures), the magical feeling the stories transmit made me reconnect with the more imaginative and innocent side of myself that used to believe in the fantasy that exists within our world, even if it may just be accessed through books.
From all the stories, my favourite one was "The Voyage of Maeldune" because of the descriptions of the magical landscapes that it offers. Also, reading the epilogue is a must since it explains why the Irish people starting believing in fairies and the different theories to why they exist!

Quote: "Blossom, and blossom, and promise of blossom, but never a fruit!" (P.285)

[Olena G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picking up this book feels like you just stumbled into an old Irish pub, and instead of some tired cover band, you get whisked away by stories that practically hum with magic. The pages are packed with all the classic Irish goodies—mischievous fairies, bold heroes who don’t know when to quit, and legends that’ve been floating around for centuries. There’s this wild sense of adventure, but also a bit of that cozy, fireside vibe, like someone’s spinning yarns just for you.
You’ll probably pick up a few weird facts about Irish culture you never knew, too—like why you should never trust a fairy or how some hero’s probably going to outwit a monster with nothing but luck and a loaf of bread. I mean, who doesn’t want that?

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32202

The Lament of the last Leprechaun, by Nora Hopper

For the red shoon of the Shee,
For the falling o’ the leaf,
For the wind among the reeds,
My grief.

For the sorrow of the sea,
For the song’s unquickened seeds,
For the sleeping of the Shee,
My grief.

For dishonoured whitethorn-tree,
For the runes that no man reads
Where the grey stones face the sea,
My grief.

Lissakeole, that used to be
Filled with music night and noon,
For their ancient revelry,
My grief.

For the empty fairy shoon,
Hollow rath and yellow leaf,
Hands unkissed to sun or moon,
My grief—my grief!

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it odd how much dialogue was in these fairy tales; usually the format has little direct speech. The style of these ones seemed strange to me, therefore. Nevertheless, I liked reading the tales, especially those relating to Fionn mac Cumhaill.

[Todd Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad really, though there were a few stories in there with terrible spelling that I ended up skipping.

[Alex Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective into Irish history, to be sure, but almost a little exhausting to have to decipher the often-confusing words and grammar.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't the edition I have, but that edition doesn't seem to exist. A varied collection, some in the high heroic, some literary retellings and some oral transcriptions edited to a greater or lesser degree. Lots of actual fairies, which is nice. Two stories from T Crofton Croker's collection, though one of them is credited to William Maginn, no idea why. An episode from Lady Gregory's Cuchulainn veers perilously near self-parody with the overwhelming awesomeness of himself. There's an Irish variation on Jack The Giant Killer and elsewhere a hero who vaguely resembles Hercules, but I think my favourite was Lady Wilde's sinister tale of The Horned Women. The divide between the formal hagiography of the heroic stories and the irreverent, even subversive humour of the more formless, peasant folky stories is wide. An excellent collection, I think.

[Caitlin ~WordsAreMyForte~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how to rate this; it's really just an eccentric grouping of Irish fairy tales sharing many common themes. It features a ton of strange stuff: magical cows, talking ponies and dancing pudding for example. Yep. The writing was a bit hard to follow at times due to the literal Irish dialect translation and my lack of cultural knowledge, but I think I got the gist of what was happening. A lot of the stories were so all over the place that it was difficult to follow at points, but I guess that's oral tradition for ya'.