Patrick Kennedy
Irish Fireside Folktales
€14.99
A magical collection of folklore tales about whimsical and mythical Irish creatures and customs
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Description
The fireside stories of the Irish people are part of a heritage unparalleled in the oral literature of the world. Certainly, no other nation has preserved by word of mouth such an exuberance of riddles, sayings, curses, blessings, prayers and ballads. Nowhere has the art of story-telling been more richly developed than in Ireland; through the centuries generations of story-tellers have handed down folktales of all kinds. At a time when modern life had not yet spread into the remotest corners of the countryside, story-telling was a favourite entertainment in the quietness of long country evenings. The voices of Seanachai and wise woman, of wandering pedlar or spalpeen, gathered the people round the fireside and audiences listened to legends and anecdotes, religious, heroic and romantic tales. The stories in this book were written down by Patrick Kennedy, (1801–1873) a Dublin bookseller, who spent the first twenty years of his life (1801–1821) in Wexford. Fifty years after he had heard his stories at some fireplace, in some kitchen, he wrote them down as he remembered them. His sources were the people of Wexford; Mrs. K., 'a woman of gentle manners who could recite passages from the Iliad and the greater part of the Battle of Aughrim'; Jemmy Reddy, 'gardener, horseboy, ploughman', Owen Jourdan, 'the hereditary faggot cutter'. Their voices lead us into the world of magic and marvel, kings and queens, giants and gnomes; the world where time and place submit to the rule of fancy. Colourful, whimsical, mythical, these stories bring alive the fireside scene of bygone days. Everything is told as if happening to the speaker himself, as if there were a truth contained in each tale that preserved its wonder and mystery.
Author
Patrick Kennedy (1801–1873) was a Dublin bookseller, who spent the first twenty years of his life in Wexford. Fifty years after he heard his stories at some fireplace, in some kitchen, he wrote them down as he remembered them