Welsh Legends and Fairy Lore

by D. Parry-Jones, Ivor Owen (Illustrator)

The Welsh are a poetic and deeply traditional people with lively imaginations and a great love of storytelling. This book collects the old myths and fairy tales, including legends of the lakes, caves, and wells; stories of animals and birds, of fairy gold and human hoards; tales about fairies, their enchanted circles, their marriages with humans, and their baby-snatching; more. B&W illus.

Genres: Mythology, Folklore, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1953

Reviews

[Rupert Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

D. Parry-Jones brings his own voice to the many varied local and national legends of Wales. He begins thoroughly with the faery theme and then moves to places, structures and fauna. He introduces his work with the intention of faithfully reproducing the stories from the oratory rather than the written. However, I think that this endeavour lets the vigour of the stories down a bit, I drifted off a few times, finding that allowing the legends to speak for themselves may not be quite enough to grip me. All in all, though, it's a good introduction to Welsh Legend and Faery Lore and I am under no illusions that D. Parry-Jones was being faithful to his interest in this fascinating subject.

[Captain Comic Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't quite what I expected. While this proves to be highly informative, it wasn't particularly reader-friendly. The author writes in a way that seems to presume the reader has previous knowledge of Wales in general. On one hand, this comes across as intellectual and studious, but on the other it seems like the author loves hearing the sound of his own voice.

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry and dated in most parts and transitions poorly between stories; reads more like a textbook than a collection of narratives. Definitely not exactly what I had been expecting or hoping for, but useful if studying the topic.