Irish Fairy Tales

The World's Greatest Myths and Legends

by Jake Jackson (Editor)

Fairy stories, especially from the rich tradition of Ireland where the supernatural grew from the legends of the Celts, are the magic stories of everyday folk seeking solutions to the challenges of the day. This spritely new collection brings together the fables and stories of banshees, kings, trembling farmers, tricksters and beloved princesses. ‘Smallhead and the King's Sons’ (a Cinderella story) and ‘The Haughty Princess’ (recalling Grimm’s ‘Kings Thrushbeard’) are amongst the many delightful tales of hope and reckless determination.

Fairy tales bring the myths of ancient times into the Victorian and Modern eras, where superstition and the supernatural still exist. Rooted in the past, such fairy stories bring morals and lessons for the young, and wise words for the old. They are a reminder of the power of the natural world and offer suggestions for our inner fears of the dark and the shadows. These tales provide a link between the myths and legends of the Celts, and the modern tales of dark monsters, of vampires and bewitchment, of the dark voices hidden in the earth, and the stars.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, Classics

254 pages, Paperback

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

SF and dark fantasy author but also a writer/creator of practical music books - Beginner's Guide to Reading Music, Guitar Chords, Piano Chords, Songwriter’s Rhyming Dictionary and How to Play Guitar. Other publications include Advanced Guitar Chords, Advanced Piano Chords, Chords for Kids, How to Play the Electric Guitar, Piano & Keyboard Chords, Scales and Modes and Play Flamenco. Also editor of Mythology books 

Released EP Jakesongs on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, LastFM, etc and on CDBaby. Lifelong passion for fantastic worlds of any kind, from movies to fiction, art to music, posters, album and paperback book covers.

Jake Jackson is the artist name for Nick Wells, Publisher of Flame Tree Press / Flame Tree Publishing.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. I loved the first parts best. Especially the Snow White story. There were a lot of Princes and Princesses in this book.

I got a bit confused by the dialect in two or three of the stories. I usually enjoy dialect so it was funny at times for me, there was a story with a man who was remarkable for keeping his head underneath his hat, of all places.
I enjoyed the witch tales, especially Small head.

I'll look forward to rereading this book.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me so much longer to read than it should have, and I blame that on my sheer laziness when it comes to long chapters. It’s a curse, but I will persevere 💪🏼

Anywho, this was an interesting introduction to Irish fairy tales. Many of the tales are the kind of stories you imagine when you hear “fairy tales”: princes, princesses, poor men marrying princesses, poor women marrying princes, fairies, mermaids, giants, you get the picture. However, there are a few thrown into the mix that aren’t quite like any tales that I have read before.

Really the only issue I had (other than my laziness, see above) was that a few of the tales towards the end of the book are written how the words would sound in an Irish accent. Typically, I’m fairly good at deciphering accented text (thank you, Outlander 🫡), but in several-page format…not so much. But I just took what I could from those tales and moved on lol

In total, it’s a pretty good read and an easy introduction to Irish tales.

[Fionnuala · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty interesting collection with lots of classic fairy-tale antics, though I'll admit I haven't heard of the half of them 😂 Still, it was entertaining enough. Nothing stood out insanely, but what was there was fun. I mean, it's fairy tales. You know what you're expecting and this book delivers.

The only thing I didn't gel with was that some of the stories were written phonetically in an imitation of an Irish accent. I really cannot stand it when books do that with any accent -- it's jarring and difficult to follow even for a native English speaker, so God knows how people with English as a second language might feel. Books like these, which are likely sold in places catering to tourists, will probably have a disproportionate number of ESL readers, so it seems like an odd choice. (Not to mention a little cheesy. It always seems gimmicky at best and offensive at worst. Turns of phrase are a much better way to capture a person's voice, and we Irish have a lot of brilliant ones, as well as unique syntax. You really don't need to be bajayzus'ing us all in the narrative.)

Overall though, it was fun. Fairy tales are always entertaining to read and there were some funny ones in here, as well as some spooky ones. I don't think any lover of fairy tales would be disappointed.

[airy xie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karena baca buku ini jadi niat belajar tentang folklore. Beberapa cerita di buku ini di tulis dengan bahasa lisan aksen setempat, yang terus terang saja membuatku kesusahan membacanya, dan dengan jujur mengakui ada satu atau dua cerita akhirnya tidak terbaca karenanya.

Dari buku ini akhirnya mengetahui juga betapa dekatnya masyarakat dunia meski terpisah jauh oleh lautan dan benua. Beberapa cerita yang mirip dengan cerita rakyat di Indonesia menggelitik untuk lebih memperdalam lagi seluk beluk folklore dan kelimuannya.

[Andrew Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not find this as interesting as the Japanese Myths within the same series. Owe that a little to the archaic language of many of the tellings and the introduction. Heroes and Romance were the best parts.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this so much. Only the first story grabbed me. I only finished it because of my reading challenge this year, not because it was something I enjoyed.

[Mary Phipps · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fairly interesting, but there's a lot of superfluous info that can make some of the stories difficult to get through.

[Autumn Araujo · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're on the hunt for a book that dives deep into Irish Fairytales, you've come to the right place. But if you're after something light and breezy, this isn't the book for you.