Irish Fireside Tales--Myths - Legends- Folktales

by Leslie Conron

New

Genres: Mythology, Fiction, Ireland, Folklore, Irish Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially a gift book of folk and fairy tales taken from other collections with a few color photos of lovely Irish scenery plopped right in the center.

The storytellers make or break the tales. Lady Gregory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta,... - should be beaten around the head with a shillelagh for taking interesting stories and drowning them in unnecessary genealogical information. Here's an example:

At the time Finn was born his father Cumhal, of the sons of Baiscne, Head of the Fianna of Ireland, had been killed in battle by the sons of Morna that were fighting with him for the leadership. And his mother, that was beautiful long-haired Muirne, daughter of Tadg, son of Nuada of the Tuatha de Danaan and of Ethlinn, mother of Lugh of the Long Hand, did not dare to keep him with her, and two women, Bodhmall, the woman Druid, and Liath Luachra, came and brought him away to care him.

Yeah.

I'm pretty sure I've never seen a paragraph containing more proper names.

I don't really care who begat whom; just tell the story! Unfortunately, m'lady's work takes up over 100 pages, and the book never really recovers, even after the more interesting storytellers come on deck.

On the plus side, all the other tales are well told and entertaining. I particularly enjoyed Patrick Kennedy's stories. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_... - They were similar in style and tone to the Brothers Grimm, with incognito princes, spinning wheels and children being turned into swans.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars, actually. The first eight chapters contained far too many names in Gaeilge considering the very limited glossary. Generally, though, I found the stories charming and the book quite enjoyable.

[Liliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful. The only reason it doesn't have 5 stars is the (somewhat poorly translated) language, a few jarring moments where I thought "I could have written that better" but otherwise a spectacularly fun read. (though honestly, the folktales were the best part of it, with the myths and legends too... 'three year old boy single-handedly defeats three entire armies then goes mad'... mythic. *shrugs* Which is good, actually, and I'm sure they were intended to be this way, it's just not my cup of tea. And when I managed to get past the English student mentality of 'your plot doesn't make sense' and just enjoy it for what it was...

A very enjoyable read.

[yadriel v. s. alvarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Came upon this as a recommendation from an Irish friend of mine.

I give this 3 stars, but I feel it’s more of a 3.5. I unfortunately found Lady Gregory’s way of translation and choice to list so much of the family names VERY hard to follow at times. However, the rating (and my enjoyment) was saved by later stories/translators in the book, especially those from Lady Wilde.

Even given the aforementioned struggle with early chapters, I genuinely really enjoyed this read. The nonsensicality of some of the stories made me laugh more than once. One of the stories that is most memorable to me was of the Bo-Finn, the white cow. The metaphor of the Bo-Finn as Ireland, struck down by the red-haired woman representing Queen Elizabeth, and the affect it had on the country, was moving.

I wish I had the energy to explain my thoughts on this anthology more in-depth- perhaps another time.

[Xavier University Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of writing of Irish tales. Thought one tale was similar to Jack-n-Beanstalk, but more with cows and giants and killing them to take over their powers to defeat a sea monster to win the beautiful Irish princess.

[w gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The folk tales are ancient, for the most part from the days of the druids. The heroes can do superhuman things. They held my interest, but I had expected there would be more stories from the Christian era.

[Tegan Faust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the stories in this book. Though some names were hard to pronounce. I laughed a few times while reading such as when Fin's 3YEAR OLD SON killed 3 armies and 3 princes with great fighting skills.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to follow some of these stories, and others were quite enjoyable!

[☆Angel☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read some Irish folklore for a while now. Some of my ancestors were Irish and I'm very interested in their culture and history. I suppose that could be where I got my love for mythology, legends, and fairytales. The Irish are sort of known for their story telling.

There were elements to some of these stories that I recognize from other fairytales, but mostly, they had their own Irish stamp to them. I can't decide which one is my favorite. It's interesting, though, to see pictures of the Giant's Causeway after reading the legend that is told about it.

If you enjoy folklore in general, or anything pertaining to Ireland, I would recommend this book to you.

[Micaylah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most. Boring. Book. Ever.

The stories are good. The writing is bad.

If you know anything about Ireland and it's folklore, put this volume down and go get a real book.

[Donald Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read. The language was sometimes hard to get through. But the stories were well worth get through.