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    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales
    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales
    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales
    Ebook89 pages3 hours

    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales

    By Joseph Jacobs

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Experience the whimsy, charm and magic of the Celtic imagination in this captivating collection of timeless stories that have enchanted generations of youngsters and adults.
    Among the eight popular tales included here are "The Fate of the Children of Lir," a haunting narrative of four children turned into swans by a wicked stepmother; "The Shepherd of Myddvai," in which a beautiful woman, risen from the sea, orders her husband-to-be to observe certain rules; and "Beth Gellert," a touching tale of a brave dog that dies after saving a child's life. Five additional stories include "The Tale of Ivan," "Morraha," "The Story of Deirdre," "The Llanfabon Changeling," and "The Sea-Maiden."
    Reset in large, easy-to-read type, these engaging stories are enhanced by six new illustrations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMar 1, 2012
    ISBN9780486111308
    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales
    Author

    Joseph Jacobs

    Joseph Jacobs (1854–1916) was a noted folklorist, critic, and historian who gained fame compiling English folktales. Born in Sydney, Australia, Jacobs completed his studies at the University of Cambridge. His career began with a post as the secretary of the Society of Hebrew Literature. Work with Jewish literature and history became a principal pursuit in his life, and he eventually became president of the Jewish Historical Society of England, a revising editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia, and editor of the American Hebrew. In 1890 Jacobs began releasing collections of English fairy tales in a mission to give English children homegrown stories to read in addition to the more traditional French and German fairy tales. 

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    Reviews for Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales

    3.5/5

    23 ratings5 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This is NOT written as a children's book. The language in this book is written in Old English and reads more like a Shakepearean sonnet. I bought this to add to my young son's library, but it is not appropriate for that. I'm sure however that adults who can read Old English with ease would find this book entertaining.
    • 2/5
      This is NOT written as a children's book. The language in this book is written in Old English and reads more like a Shakepearean sonnet. I bought this to add to my young son's library, but it is not appropriate for that. I'm sure however that adults who can read Old English with ease would find this book entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Collection of tales from various folklore collectors --as the introduction notes, it is dependent on early scholars and includes more Irish and Scottish tales than Welsh ones because there had been more collecting of Irish and Scottish tales up to that time (though I think he may have missed the tales incorporated in Burrows' Wild Wales). There is also one tale from the extinct Cornish language. Rather nice sub-pre-Raphaelite illustrations.I believe this was also one of the exts of the Celtic and Germanic Folklore honors calls I had at Bowling Green in about 1968-69.
    • 4/5
      nice collection of stories from the celtic culture
    • 4/5
      The fairy tale I read from this book is "The Wooing of Olwen." Before the imminent death of his wife, having bore his child, King Kilyth is instructed by her not to take another wife until “a briar with two blossoms” is seen upon her grave. At sight of such phenomena, King Kilyth marries the widow to King Doged. She then prophesizes to the young Kilhuch, son of King Kilyth, that it was his destiny to marry the maiden Olwen, “or no other.” Kilhuch then goes to his cousin, King Arthur, beseeching him to search for his destined love. Knowing of her father, Yspathaden Penkawr, but not of their whereabouts, King Arthur sends messengers to search for them. After a year of searching, not yielding any new information, Kilhuch takes it upon himself to search for Olwen. To journey with Kilhuch, Arthur sends his companions: Kay, who could hold his breath under water and go sleepless for nine days, and also retained an inner heat so great, that items in his hand would stay dry in rain, Bedwyr, a one-handed warrior who could kill faster than three warriors, Kynthelig, as guide, Ieithoedd knowing “all tongues,” Gwalchmai, who was always successful in quest, and Menw, a mage who could make the bunch invisible. Upon their journey they reach a castle in an open plain. Upon entering the house of a local herdsman, his wife instructs them that the maiden Olwen “came there every Saturday to wash.” Kilhuch meets Olwen and proclaims his love to her. She then instructs him to beseech her father in order that he may possess her love. Yspathadenm, her father then instructs Kilhuch to retrieve a comb and scissors “between the two ears of Turch Truith, son of Prince Tared.” He then instructs Kilhuch on how he may do so: they must hunt Turch Truith with Drudwyn, a dog who cannot be hunted with except by Mabon. First, the bunch come to the Ousel of Cilgwri, who takes them to where the Stag of Redynvre resides, who also joins them as guide to the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, in search of Mabon. The owl takes the bunch to the eagle of Gwern Abwy, who then takes the group to the Salmon of Llyn Llyw. The Salmon of Llyn Llyw allows them to ride upon his shoulders to the walls of a prison in Gloucester, and upon reaching, hear the wailing of Mabon from within the walls. Kay and Bedwyr break into the dungeon rescuing Mabon. Arthur, then summons all his warriors in search of Boar Truith. They hunt Boar, who flees to the ocean, but not before snatching the comb and scissors from his head. Yspathaden receives his request and Kilhuch receives his wife. I thought this folktale was ok. I wasn't enthralled by its prose, but I enjoyed the story.

    Book preview

    Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales - Joseph Jacobs

    Sea-Maiden

    The Fate of the Children of Lir

    IT HAPPENED that the five Kings of Ireland met to determine who should have the head kingship over them, and King Lir of the Hill of the White Field expected surely he would be elected. When the nobles went into council together they chose for head king, Dearg, son of Daghda, because his father had been so great a Druid and he was the eldest of his father’s sons. But Lir left the Assembly of the Kings and went home to the Hill of the White Field. The other kings would have followed after Lir to give him wounds of spear and wounds of sword for not yielding obedience to the man to whom they had given the over-lordship. But Dearg the king would not hear of it and said: Rather let us bind him to us by the bonds of kinship, so that peace may dwell in the land. Send over to him for wife the choice of the three maidens of the fairest form and best repute in Erin [Ireland], the three daughters of Oilell of Aran, my own three bosom-nurslings.

    So the messengers brought word to Lir that Dearg the king would give him a foster-child of his foster-children. Lir thought well of it, and set out next day with fifty chariots from the Hill of the White Field. And he came to the Lake of the Red Eye near Killaloe. And when Lir saw the three daughters of Oilell, Dearg the king said to him: Take thy choice of the maidens, Lir. I know not, said Lir, which is the choicest of them all; but the eldest of them is the noblest; it is she I had best take. If so, said Dearg the king, Ove is the eldest, and she shall be given to thee, if thou willest. So Lir and Ove were married and went back to the Hill of the White Field.

    And after this there came to them twins, a son and a daughter, and they gave them for names Fingula and Aod. And two more sons came to them, Fiachra and Conn. When they came Ove died, and Lir mourned bitterly for her, and but for his great love for his children he would have died of his grief. And Dearg the king grieved for Lir and sent to him and said: We grieve for Ove for thy sake; but, that our friendship may not be rent asunder, I will give unto thee her sister, Oifa, for a wife. So Lir agreed, and they were united, and he took her with him to his own house. And at first Oifa felt affection and honour for the children of Lir and her sister, and indeed every one who saw the four children could not help giving them the love of his soul. Lir doted upon the children, and they always slept in beds in front of their father. But thereupon the dart of jealousy passed into Oifa on account of this and she came to regard the children with hatred and enmity. One day her chariot was yoked for her and she took with her the four children of Lir in it. Fingula was not willing to go with her on the journey, for she had dreamed a dream in the night warning her against Oifa: but she was not to avoid her fate. And when the chariot came to the Lake of the Oaks, Oifa said to the people: Kill the four children of Lir and I will give you your own reward of every kind in the world. But they refused and told her it was an evil thought she had. Then she would have raised a sword herself to kill and destroy the children, but her own womanhood and her weakness prevented her; so she drove the children of Lir into the lake to bathe, and they did as Oifa told them. As soon as they were upon the lake she struck them with a Druid’s wand of spells and wizardry and put them into the forms of four beautiful, perfectly white swans, and she sang this song over them:

    "Out with you upon the wild waves, children of the king!

    Henceforth your cries shall be with the flocks of birds."

    And Fingula answered:

    "Thou witch! we know thee by thy right name!

    Thou mayest drive us from wave to wave,

    But sometimes we shall rest on the headlands;

    We shall receive relief, but thou punishment.

    Though our bodies may be upon the lake,

    Our minds at least shall fly homewards."

    And again she spoke: Assign an end for the ruin and woe which thou hast brought upon us.

    Oifa laughed and said: Never shall ye be free until the woman from the south be united to the man from the north, until Lairgnen of Connaught wed Deoch of Munster; nor shall any have power to bring you out of these forms. Nine hundred years shall you wander over the lakes and streams of Erin. This only I will grant unto you: that you retain your own speech, and there shall be no music in the world equal to yours, the plaintive music you shall sing. This she said because repentance seized her for the evil she had done.

    She struck them with a Druid’s wand of spells and wizardry and put them into the forms of four beautiful, perfectly white swans.

    And then she spake this lay:

    "Away from me, ye children of Lir,

    Henceforth the sport of the wild winds,

    Until Lairgnen and Deoch come together,

    Until ye are on the north-west of Red Erin.

    "A sword of treachery is through the heart of Lir,

    Of Lir the mighty champion,

    Yet though I have driven a sword,

    My victory cuts me to the heart."

    Then she turned her steeds and went on to the Hall of Dearg the king. The nobles of the court asked her where were the children of Lir, and Oifa said: Lir will not trust them to Dearg the king. But Dearg thought in his own mind that the woman had played some treachery upon them, and he accordingly sent messengers to the Hall of the White Field.

    Lir asked the messengers: Wherefore are ye come?

    "To

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