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Meeting the Other Crowd

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 125 ratings · 22 reviews

The Other Crowd', 'The Good People', 'The Wee Folk' and 'Them' are a few of the names given to the fairies by people in Ireland. Honoured for their gifts and feared for their wrath, the fairies remind us to respect both the world we live in and forces we cannot see.

In Meeting the Other Crowd, Eddie Lenihan presents a book about a hidden Ireland, a land of mysterious taboos...more

Paperback, 351 pages

Published September 25th 2003 by Gill & MacMillan (first published January 28th 2003)

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Apr 27, 2012 Patricia Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful and infuriating book. First, the wonderful aspects. It’s a remarkable collection of reminiscences and anecdotes, which all have the ring of truth, being accounts of “meetings” which have been handed down largely within families over some generations. The tellers, ordinary Irish people, commonly offer as confirmation of veracity, descriptions of the exact place where the meeting occurred, and/or the name of the family (or priest!) to whom the incident happened. It feels imposs...more This is a wonderful and infuriating book. First, the wonderful aspects. It’s a remarkable collection of reminiscences and anecdotes, which all have the ring of truth, being accounts of “meetings” which have been handed down largely within families over some generations. The tellers, ordinary Irish people, commonly offer as confirmation of veracity, descriptions of the exact place where the meeting occurred, and/or the name of the family (or priest!) to whom the incident happened. It feels impossible to gainsay such a sincere simplicity of belief – that if one can actually go to the spot, or identify the people involved, then this should be incontrovertible proof that the story is true. Furthermore, the entire book has a consistent, enjoyably ethnic tone, in the coloring of Irish vernacular speech, without ever becoming either densely idiomatic in the grammar, or phonetically complicated in the spelling (thanks, no doubt, to the talented editing of C.E. Green).

The general tone, with its almost matter-of-fact references to “The Other Crowd,” “The Good People,” or “Them,” characterizes Ireland as a place where ancient mysteries are still vitally alive in the hearts and souls of the people. Indeed, Mr. Lenihan, storyteller and collector of these accounts, asserts that there are “few convinced skeptics” in Ireland, even today; and that once he has broken the ice with some of his own stories, individuals from almost any walk of life can themselves often turn out to have an uncanny tale to contribute. Moreover, eschewing coyness, he states in so many words, that he himself is a believer – refreshing honesty in a chronicler of ethnographic material which deals with the paranormal.

The book has been divided into three sections, on the general topics of “Who they are and what they want,” “Fairy places and signs of their presence,” and “Gifts, punishment, and other outcomes of fairy encounters,” although these are fairly arbitrary categories, because many of the stories could easily be ascribed to at least two, if not all three. Most of the accounts are in the two-to-six page range, with a few rather longer ones, particularly the two opening tales, and the final one. Still, the longest only runs seventeen pages. So, it is convenient to pick up and read in short increments – an easy, uncomplicated read for anyone whose days tend to be rather full.
An interesting editorial choice, is the incorporation, at the end of each tale, of a commentary by Mr. Lenihan. In these, he employs an analytical, generally sociocultural tone, pointing out interesting or significant details, comparing and contrasting these to details in other accounts, and sometimes aspiring to explicate both the thinking of the person or persons having the fairy encounter, and/or the attitudes of the Fairies themselves. Less productive, in my view, is the use of introductory quotes, which, while usually having something relevant to say about Fairies, are too fragmented for my taste, and seem excerpted from interviews that have not been deemed worth complete inclusion in this volume. Without providing any story context, for me these add nothing to the credibility factor, and only serve as a tease, with no payoff.

And now for the most infuriating aspect – the very frequent referral to Christian beliefs and/or doctrine, in attempting to explain the existence of the Fairies themselves, and also their apparently arbitrary behaviors. According to the book’s information, there is a persistent Irish belief that fairies are, in fact, fallen angels – too bad for Heaven, too good for Hell. Here is the introduction to the first story: “The Other Crowd, they’re the Devil’s crowd. I wouldn’t be for saying that them’d see Heaven. No.” But like all the other top-of-story quotations, we are not told who it is asserting this. It introduces a fairy encounter on the part of a (Catholic) parish priest. A man, presumably one of Them, wants the priest to tell him, “What’s going to happen to the Good People on the Day of Judgment.” The next story is similar – a priest is asked, “Will the fallen angels ever be saved?”

For me as a reader, these sorts of concepts are a real stumbling-block, since I believe in neither the Devil, nor Heaven, nor a Day of Judgment. So I think that if Fairies do exist (and I certainly feel no need to dispute their reality) then they surely have existed since long before Christian conversion overtook Ireland. No doubt, in the absence of such Bible-based beliefs as Heaven, Hell, angels, devils, and the possibility of offending one all-powerful deity and thereby “falling,” the early Celts would more likely have perceived the Fairies as a separate but equal order of beings, as natural to this planet as ourselves – not damned, not corrupt, only Other from us humans, and for that reason, diverging from us in their culture and ethos.

Of course, throughout the world, virtually all traditional cultures know of other kinds of people – who live in a world parallel to our own, who may appear in different sizes, who only seem able to cross the Veil into our world at certain times, and who may be sometimes helpful, sometimes spiteful. These other Folk include the Hawaiian Menehune, Russian Rusalkas, German Kobolds, and the Little People of the Passamaquoddy Indians (as described by Katharine Briggs, in "An Encyclopedia of Fairies"). Of course, in traditional, indigenous belief systems, such Folk are not believed to be corrupt, “fallen” beings – but rather, simply another race or species, with moral standing equal to ourselves. Even Scottish folklore identifies two distinctly different types of Fairies – the kindly, helpful “trooping” ones of the Seelie (Blessed) Court, and the mostly solitary, malevolent denizens of the Unseelie Court. If this is also part of the Irish belief system, yet there is no mention of any such concept anywhere in the volume. In my reading of the present volume, any idea of the Fairies as naturally-existing, earth-evolved beings, seems to have been completely subsumed by now, in this “fallen angels” superstition. All the Irish Fairies appear equally damned and malevolent.

So, in that regard, the book regrettably left me with a sense of dissatisfaction. It does provide a wealth of detail in regard to Irish Fairies’ interests (protecting the sovereignty of their own particular patches of Earthly real estate, such as “forts,” whitethorn bushes, and roads) and behaviors (speaking Irish Gaelic, dancing, playing music and games, feasting, and especially kidnapping, or “carrying,” humans to the Other Side). But for me it is far more informative about Irish sociocultural attitudes of the past two centuries, than revelatory about what might be the true nature of that Other Crowd.

Finally, in my opinion, Mr. Lenihan draws an erroneous conclusion, in supposing that due to the modernization of Ireland, and the increase of technology and urbanization, both the stories and beliefs are going to die out soon. In my view, the upsurge of a general interest in metaphysics, paranormal experience, and altered states of consciousness, which began in the 1960s, shows no sign of waning. This should mean that there are now probably more people intentionally cultivating their own awareness of other, subtle planes of existence, than there have been at any time since the start of the Spanish Inquisition. So, if the Good People are real (for which the entire book tends to argue), then surely They are not going anywhere – at least, not unless we humans manage to eradicate all other life from the planet, in the process of eradicating ourselves. And as long as The Other Crowd exist, I expect They will continue to find ways to interact with those who are open to meeting them.

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Mar 10, 2009 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

I met Eddie Lenihan (one of the last of the traveling Irish storytellers) and heard him speak on this very subject when I went to Ireland on a class trip in 2006 (in May, no less - the time when the little people are on the move between their world and ours). He was absolutely beyond fascinating. Though not as interesting as hearing Eddie in person, the book is deliciously mesmerizing. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest or half belief (like me) in fairies - . . . I mean, the boys....more

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Jun 15, 2013 Mary-Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tales, folklore

I found this book extremely interesting. It is a collection of accounts of fairy activity in Ireland, told by Eddie Lenihan, who collects such tales. So, these are stories he's heard first hand from various people he's met (although they may have been passed down to these people from others).

It feels authentic to me. But it's meant to. The stories are written down deliberately to retain a sense of being spoken stories rather than written. Words are shortened to attempt to catch the local dialec...more I found this book extremely interesting. It is a collection of accounts of fairy activity in Ireland, told by Eddie Lenihan, who collects such tales. So, these are stories he's heard first hand from various people he's met (although they may have been passed down to these people from others).

It feels authentic to me. But it's meant to. The stories are written down deliberately to retain a sense of being spoken stories rather than written. Words are shortened to attempt to catch the local dialect, "'o," "'twas," "'twould." There are sayings and phrases that repeat, "anyway," "begod," etc.

At any rate, regardless of what one person or another thinks of the stylistic choices of the book, these stories were so readable for me. Most of them are very brief and full of dialogue, which folklore/fairy tales tend not to be. I read through these all in a flash and enjoyed every minute.

Much of the material was familiar to me, but many of these stories were more homely and simple than others I have read. For instance, there are apparently a great deal of stories about fairies and sports, hurling, to be precise (which I looked up to understand more fully). This is not something I'd seen anywhere before.

Lenihan provides commentary on every story and this was refreshing as well! From the introduction, it seems like he honestly believes that these stories are true, and if it means this kind of simple unassuming commentary, then I welcome it.

I honestly have little experience with these types of 'academic' folklore books that are written for adults, but the one other experience I had with it showed what I would expect - the type of pompous, bombastic discussion of the story that destroys it - takes all of the mystery out, and offers some pet theory that is clearly in vogue in academic circles currently and will probably date itself in a few years.

Lenihan's comments, on the contrary, are modest and offer various suggestions along a spectrum of how it would be if the story were true, to the possible factual, practical origins of such a story (For example, with less electric lights in a lonely part of the countryside it might be easy to have one's mind play tricks on one at night).

So, I liked it a lot and if you're into folklore, you might like it too.(less)

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Nov 22, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame".
~ William Butler Yeats

I'd like to start this review by making it perfectly clear how much I absolutely L-O-V-E-D this book!

Meeting the Other Crowd is made up of faerie (Sidhe) stories collected by traditional Irish seanchai, Eddie Lenihan. The stories focus on the interactions between humans and the faeries, and many are not as ol...more

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Sep 02, 2009 Fiona Moyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I was a small bit taken aback when I started reading this book as it was written in the "voice" of the different people that Eddie Lenihan had collected the various stories from. I had read one of his books before and really enjoyed his storytelling style and was looking forward to reading it again. However very quickly I saw the advantage of keeping true to exact words the original story teller used. There are some very funny phrases and colloquialisms included which I enjoyed. I also liked the...more I was a small bit taken aback when I started reading this book as it was written in the "voice" of the different people that Eddie Lenihan had collected the various stories from. I had read one of his books before and really enjoyed his storytelling style and was looking forward to reading it again. However very quickly I saw the advantage of keeping true to exact words the original story teller used. There are some very funny phrases and colloquialisms included which I enjoyed. I also liked the fact that the stories were all set near where I grew up, around Limerick, Clare and Kerry so I knew or recognised a lot of place names. You wouldn’t have to know the area to enjoy the book though. The main theme that Eddie comes back to throughout the book (he writes a short comment after each story) is that he is trying to dispel the Victorian-inspired version of the fairies as cute little helpful creatures with transparent wings. Of course ever Irish child knows that is not what the fairies are like, and we all remember warnings not to go into fairy forts or rings, and most especially not to take anything from them lest we should end up with thorns in our beds at night! Now that I have read this book I realise that the versions we were told as kids were much watered down and that if you offend the fairies much worse things are going to happen you than thorns in your bed!

It’s a large collection of stories and most of them a very short, only one or two pages. Some of them are obviously hundreds of years old and have the layout of a “proper” story, with an obvious moral at the end, such as the story of the “fairy cow” who visited a community and let the locals take advantage of her inexhaustible milk. That was until one doubter in the village decided to see how inexhaustible the milk was when he tried to fill a sieve. The magical cow was of course offended by this behaviour and was never seen again. I’m pretty sure versions of that story have been cropping up all over the world for as long as people have been telling stories. However the majority of the stories in the book aren’t in this category. They are more along the lines of “weird things that happened to people” without an obvious message or moral. Well, apart from “don’t mess with the fairies” of course! There is a great variety of strange experiences recounted here, from the familiar ones such as musicians or hurlers asked to join the fairies at a dance or game, people kidnapped or “carried” by the fairies and infants being replaced by changelings. There are also stranger things described which I had never heard the likes of before, such as an eel/wheel creature who acted as a messenger between the fairies living at the bottom of neighbouring lakes which a man said he saw while cutting reeds for thatching. The same man was reluctant to tell his wife the story in case she thought he was in the pub all day instead of working!

Both the variety and similarity between the stories is strange. Why did so many people (and Eddie often mentions soberness and level-headedness of the person telling him the story) experience these strange things, and why are these sightings uncommon today? Are we simply too noisy and numerous, as one old person in the book explained it…
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Sep 28, 2008 Thorin McGee rated it 2 of 5 stars

Meeting the Other Crowd can be read two ways. As a source book of authentic Irish folklore and the history of fairy lore, it’s good. Lenihan is a folklore preserver who’s combed his chosen habitat (southwest Ireland) for all the legends, fairy-tales and pub talk about Ireland’s mystic beliefs he could harvest, and this collection reads like no other book on fairies. It’s all about what neighbors have heard from neighbors and other relations, the real heart of fairy stories, and there ain’t no T...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: irish, fairy-tales, nonfiction

This was a really interesting collection of orally gathered folk tales about the Good Folk of Ireland. Much of the original dialect and Gaelic has been preserved, and the collector's commentary helps shed light on many of the common themes and elements of the tales. I felt like I had a great sense of fairy lore after finishing the book.

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Sep 06, 2008 Chrissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: persons interested in Irish history or lore, fairy tales, mythologies of place

This is a fascinating collection of as-told-to-the-author tales regarding Irish fairy sightings, each of which is followed by a brief commentary. The stories include familiar fairies, such as the banshee and less familiar ones.

In the particulars of the countryside and the personal narratives, this collection grounds each occurrence in a specific Irish mythology of place that is compelling in itself.

It would have been helpful to have a glossary for specific terms(such as "hurling")and perhaps an...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I probably wouldn't have picked this book upon my own, but it was recommended to me because the author lives in the small town in Ireland where my dad's family is from. It was fun to recognize many of the locations in the book, and I will definitely not be following any strange lights in the dark! More seriously, the knowledge that these stories will be lost as traditional storytellers die out make me happy that this book exists.

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Sep 24, 2012 Shannon McGee rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, faeries

All of these stories about fairies were told to the author by the older generations that are now grandparents. These were stories never written down but told by word of mouth.

There were only a few I really enjoyed. The rest of them seem to tell the same story over and over. A lot of the stories were similar to the last. That being said it is still cool to have the stories written down so generations can see the stories that some of the kids and adults grew up believing about fairies.

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Jan 13, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A brilliant collection of fairy stories, told in the voice of the Irish people who keep them alive. I loved the format of this book, how Eddie Lenihan gave the spotlight to the people he interviewed, let them tell their stories, then added his own short aside at the end to help tie stories together or further explain the underlying beliefs and themes. It has such a wonderfully homey feel, as if you are sitting at your grandfather's feet listening to him pass on strange and fantastic tales (which...more

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May 12, 2010 Shauna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: beautiful-covers, 2010, the-other-crowd, i-own-a-copy, non-fiction

This is the best collection of fairy stories I've ever read. Each one is told as the teller would have spoken - I could almost hear their voices. This is not a book that takes the route of insinuating that these are fictional stories - they are serious, cautionary tales and should be read by anyone who scoffs at they idea of the Gentry. True believers (like myself) will be delighted with each story, and I was sorry when I finished it. I could have read the likes forever.

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Jun 13, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairies, folklore

The "landlords" loom almost as large in some of these stories as the Other Folk do. Lenihan collected these stories from the oral tradition, so they have a very colloquial feel.

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Aug 15, 2012 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: celtic, myth, paranormal

There are reasons why people had so many euphemisms for fairies... grown-up stories about the Good Folk.

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Mar 21, 2010 Minsma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Eddie Lenihan is one of the last seanchai, the old time storytellers of Ireland, and he's been collecting stories for decades, setting onto paper the fading light of the oral tradition. This book is full of the music of Ireland, that lyrical voice of Celtic storymakers and true fairy lore: sometimes dark and threatening, sometimes funny, always walking the line between the mystical and the hardtack reality of "back in them times." I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a good story and the testimo...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review soon @ thefaeryromanticlibrarian.blogspot.com

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May 30, 2008 Padraic rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've seen Eddie speak. Yes he's insane, but how else to label someone who believes in fairies in the 21st century? Insane is not an inappropriate response to a scientific-rational world.

He's also vastly entertaining, and a true shanachie - he mesmerized a crowd of 250 rational people the night I saw him.

He also saved a hawthorn tree from being bulldozed by the ultra-rational Irish highway folks. Little victories for little people.

Rath Dé ort, Eddie!

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Jan 12, 2012 Elizabeth Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiftyfiftyme

What a wonderful collection of fairy "tales"!

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Jan 20, 2013 Martha rated it 3 of 5 stars

From someone who dosen't really believe in this kind of stuff, after reading the majority of it during cold dark nights with the rain lashing on the windows I was left thinking "maybe, just maybe".......

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Mar 01, 2008 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Highly recommended for those with a strong interest in European folk tales. Wonderfully crafted tales collected by Eddie Lenihan from storytellers around Ireland. Easily read in parts, though the recurring characters of Irish legends become better illustrated with each tale concerning them.

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Mar 05, 2008 Deena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-modern

I enjoyed the preservation of what I can only guess is Irish syntax into English. I enjoyed most of the stories. I would have liked a bit more of the "folklore" context on which to hang my hat. I've read a lot of Irish myth (The Tain, etc.), and I wasn't quite sure where these tales fit.

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Jan 16, 2009 Gretchen McNeil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fascinating volume capturing the oral history of Ireland. All transcriptions of recordings made by Eddie Lenihan over the last 25 years, preserving a rapidly vanishing piece of Irish culture.

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Jul 12, 2010 Jeane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, ireland

Written by an Irish and told by Irish.

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Jun 08, 2013 Charlotte rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, folklore, favorites

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Quotes from Meeting the Other Crow...

“Who're them?" says he to the curate.
"Them are the fallen angels," says the curate.
They had a human form, no wings. God took the wings off of 'em after Lucifer rebelled - that way they couldn't go back, d'you see. They had no wings. But there was so many of 'em that you couldn't drive a knife down between 'em. They were as thick as hair on a dog's back. They were the finest people he ever seen. And whatever way he looked at 'em, some o' the finest girls he ever seen was in it, he said. They had to be good-looking, you know! 'Twas the sin o' pride put Lucifer down, d'you see. The best-looking angel in Heaven, 'twas the sin o' pride put him down. I s'pose they were nearly all as good-looking.” — 3 people liked it

“And he got going from there to America. Worked his passage, I s'pose, like a lot more. And I heard he did well in America, too. Got married there. Had a family. But never came back. And you know why? 'Cause if he did, if he ever set foot in Ireland again, you know who'd be waiting for him, don't you?

That's right. The three of 'em. And their box. And the second time they'd make no mistake.

It is a much-overlooked fact that not all of the thousands who fled Ireland in former times did so to escape hunger, deprivation, and persecution. There were also those who went to escape the wrath of the Good People. Many stories illustrated this, the one here being typical.” — 2 people liked it

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