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Darby O'Gill and the Good People
Originally published in the U.S. in 1903 and long out of print, this is the original story on which Walt Disney based his 1959 movie, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, well-known and much-beloved the world over. Set in turn-of-the-century Ireland, the book is a marvelous collection of tales that tell the story of Darby O'Gill and the Good People, or fairies and leprechauns. And the book is as much about the adventures of Darby O'Gill as it is about Brian Connors, King of the Good People, that lovable rascal. The book tells of Darby's unwilling sojourn among the fairies and his friendship with King Brian, and of Darby's famous meeting with the Leprechaun in which he matches wits with that granter of three wishes. It tells the fantastic story of how the Good People were expelled from heaven and banished to earth, and why they chose Ireland as their home. It relates the hilarious adventures of King Brian when he is caught out after cock-crow and loses his powers--he is mistaken for a baby and almost christened, and is rescued and entertained by the local ballad-maker and his family until sundown. And finally, it recounts the spectacular story of how Darby does battle and matches wit with the banshee and her ghosts, with the aid of King Brian and the Good People.
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1903
44 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Herminie Templeton Kavanagh
11 books5 followersHerminie Templeton Kavanagh was an Irish writer, most known for her short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 2, 2017
This book contains many stories that are full of charm, wit, and humor. If you love Ireland and books like Narnia, then don’t hesitate to read this one. It is written in an Irish accent that transports you to county Tipperary. It’s full of leprechauns, fairies, and angels and hints of dark Irish legends scattered throughout. I wish so dearly to find another book this rich and imaginative that takes place in Ireland. The Disney movie did a great job of keeping the spirit of the book, however the book itself is a collection of different stories and the movie doesn’t really follow any of them particularly. I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. It will turn your heart emerald green and make you dance about with a mad fiddle playing in your ears! I have always loved the combination of gothic, dark, humor mixed with magical whimsy and clever dialogue. Set it in Ireland and you have gold.
February 28, 2016
When I was a kid, I was scared stiff at the Disney film "Darby O'Gill And The Little People". I never realized it was based on a series of stories until today - and what whimsical and delightful tales they are, too. Reading this was a sheer pleasure, but it's far too short! Thankfully, there appear to be more books in this series, so I can revisit. Go - read this today! You'll love it!
May 26, 2008
One Warning: I don't laugh outloud when I read most books, but I couldn't help it with this one. I found myself laughing in the gym, or at the library, or anywhere else I read this. The embarrassing kind of laugh too.
I have had one chapter left to read for a few weeks now, but I didn't want the good times to end. I finally finished it today.
I might just have to read this every March.
WONDERFUL!
P.S. I didn't think there were more but Danny found some. (My HERO!)
I have had one chapter left to read for a few weeks now, but I didn't want the good times to end. I finally finished it today.
I might just have to read this every March.
WONDERFUL!
P.S. I didn't think there were more but Danny found some. (My HERO!)
March 4, 2008
This is the predecessor to Ashes of Old Wishes. I think these stories would be great to read to children at bedtime provided you can muster a convincing brogue and you substitute a more innocuous villain for the devil.
February 1, 2014
Conoscete Darby O’Gill, il fattore? È l’irlandese più gagliardo che abbia mai messo piede su questa terra, nonché il migliore amico di Brian Connor, il re del piccolo popolo. Ah! Quante ne avrei da raccontare su di lui. Sapete di quella volta in cui ottenne dal leprecauno tre desideri, per poi perderli tutti esprimendone un quarto? O di quando rimase intrappolato per sei mesi a Sleive-na-mon, la montagna incantata? O di quella volta in cui sua moglie Bridget lo mandò a spasso la notte di Halloween e lui spaventò la Banshee, la raccoglitrice di anime. O di quando convertì il reverendo Cassidy a credere nelle fate? O di come una sera si ritrovò a viaggiare nel cocchio del cavaliere senza testa? Ma sono troppe, troppe le sue avventure, bisogna leggerle. E come dice sempre il vecchio Darby, contro la tristezza non ci sono che tre rimedi: l’amore, il whisky e la musica. Io ne aggiungo un quarto, le belle storie.
March 30, 2018
Anyone else get totally spooked by the Banshee in Disney’s “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”? The movie’s a bit sappy, and doesn’t follow Templeton Kavanagh’s story-line overall (Darby has a wife and several children in the stories) but I’ve always kinda liked it. Thus a thrill to actually read these stories while in Ireland. The original script is a bit hard to read as Templeton Kavanagh wrote it in “dialect.” On one hand, I kinda liked the dialect as it reads like someone telling you the story, yet it does detract, thus this edition removes some of that and makes it easier to read.
November 24, 2012
Simply grand. These tales capture the spirit of the oral tradition. They are evocative, of not only place, but also of teller telling tale hearth side. In fact, the only thing better than reading it would be just that: hearing the tales told —whilst fireside—over a pint of ale, or three.
June 26, 2019
Never enough! I’m left wanting more!
As a child I was introduced to fairies and leprechauns and have loved every word of the stories of Darby O’Gill’, bit three isn’t enough. It’s a shame Disney didn’t make more movies as well.
As a child I was introduced to fairies and leprechauns and have loved every word of the stories of Darby O’Gill’, bit three isn’t enough. It’s a shame Disney didn’t make more movies as well.
March 14, 2016
This is the Irishest thing I ever did read.
June 22, 2025
These are the stories of Darby O’Gill, a very cunning farmer from Tipperary. Darby knows how to deal with fairies, leprechauns and the likes—all sneaky bastards—, and we could all learn from him. The author Herminie Templeton Kavanagh wrote a whole series of short stories about Darby O’Gill, who became her hero character in fairy-tale-like stories. In this novel, a bunch of Darby O’Gill short stories are combined as individual, interconnected chapters that track O’Gill’s dealings with Ireland’s mythological creatures over a number of years.
I found this novel delightful. My heart is green now. All the trouble starts when fairies steal Darby’s favourite cow Rosie. Darby loses his temper and assaults the mountain Sleive-na-mon in which the fairies live. Darby gets taken but manages to trick the little people into letting him go, along with all the other taken people. Darby becomes a bit of a celebrity in his parish after that. He becomes “the knowledgeable man”. What’s more, he starts a lasting friendship with the king of the fairies, King Brian Connors. Darby may fancy himself a big shot now, but his wife is ready to take him down a peg or two. The novel ends with two longer adventures: one focused solely on a journey made by King Brian, and one about Darby confronting a banshee.
Religion is also quite present in these stories, as it paints Ireland as a wholesome land and provides a contrast between humans and the magic creatures. But there is a complication in that the Little People aren’t entirely evil and can do good, which just makes people wonder how to regard them. And that’s just what makes these stories so compelling: you never know what is going to happen when they show up. Could be good, could be bad, if you bargain right. In one chapter, How the Fairies Came to Ireland, King Brian explains in a jolly way how they jumped from Heaven to the Earth.
There are passages in the text so full of spirit and loveliness that they lifted me up or took my breath away. At the same time, Kavanagh uses an old type of English spelling, which is expressly meant to evoke the Irish dialect of the commoners in the Irish countryside. In any case, it is not terribly hard to read and adds a lot of colour to the telling. Here are some examples:
’Twas one of those warmhearted, laughing autumn days which steals for a while the bonnet and shawl of the May. The sun from a sky of feathery whiteness, laned over, telling jokes to the worruld an’ the goold harvest-fields and purple hills, lasy and continted, laughed back at the sun.
Or:
She had flowers in her brown hair, a fine colour in her cheeks, a gown of white silk and goold, and her green mantle raiched to the heels of the purty red slippers. There she was, flipping back and forth, ferninst a little gray-whuskered, round-stomached fairy man, as though there was never a care nor a sorrow in the world.
Kavanagh’s short stories made their ways into a number of collections, such as Isaac Asimov’s Fairies (1991) and Marvin Kaye’s Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown (1994). Sounds terrifying, but the stories have also been published as children’s stories. In 1959, the Walt Disney company released a live-action film starring a young Sean Connery based on the Darby O’Gill stories, titled Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Disney was inspired to do so after studying Gaelic folklore for three months in Dublin. The film, just like the short stories, seems pretty much forgotten now (but is probably a St. Patrick’s Day classic in old Eire), and received a lot of praise on its release.
I found this novel delightful. My heart is green now. All the trouble starts when fairies steal Darby’s favourite cow Rosie. Darby loses his temper and assaults the mountain Sleive-na-mon in which the fairies live. Darby gets taken but manages to trick the little people into letting him go, along with all the other taken people. Darby becomes a bit of a celebrity in his parish after that. He becomes “the knowledgeable man”. What’s more, he starts a lasting friendship with the king of the fairies, King Brian Connors. Darby may fancy himself a big shot now, but his wife is ready to take him down a peg or two. The novel ends with two longer adventures: one focused solely on a journey made by King Brian, and one about Darby confronting a banshee.
Religion is also quite present in these stories, as it paints Ireland as a wholesome land and provides a contrast between humans and the magic creatures. But there is a complication in that the Little People aren’t entirely evil and can do good, which just makes people wonder how to regard them. And that’s just what makes these stories so compelling: you never know what is going to happen when they show up. Could be good, could be bad, if you bargain right. In one chapter, How the Fairies Came to Ireland, King Brian explains in a jolly way how they jumped from Heaven to the Earth.
There are passages in the text so full of spirit and loveliness that they lifted me up or took my breath away. At the same time, Kavanagh uses an old type of English spelling, which is expressly meant to evoke the Irish dialect of the commoners in the Irish countryside. In any case, it is not terribly hard to read and adds a lot of colour to the telling. Here are some examples:
’Twas one of those warmhearted, laughing autumn days which steals for a while the bonnet and shawl of the May. The sun from a sky of feathery whiteness, laned over, telling jokes to the worruld an’ the goold harvest-fields and purple hills, lasy and continted, laughed back at the sun.
Or:
She had flowers in her brown hair, a fine colour in her cheeks, a gown of white silk and goold, and her green mantle raiched to the heels of the purty red slippers. There she was, flipping back and forth, ferninst a little gray-whuskered, round-stomached fairy man, as though there was never a care nor a sorrow in the world.
Kavanagh’s short stories made their ways into a number of collections, such as Isaac Asimov’s Fairies (1991) and Marvin Kaye’s Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown (1994). Sounds terrifying, but the stories have also been published as children’s stories. In 1959, the Walt Disney company released a live-action film starring a young Sean Connery based on the Darby O’Gill stories, titled Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Disney was inspired to do so after studying Gaelic folklore for three months in Dublin. The film, just like the short stories, seems pretty much forgotten now (but is probably a St. Patrick’s Day classic in old Eire), and received a lot of praise on its release.
June 6, 2022
Ok, I have to admit something. I have never seen Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
I know! I should have to hand in my Irish card. It's a shocker. What can I say? I just never caught it live. I did plan to stream it once I'd read the book, but then I...didn't do that.
And I didn't do it largely because I can't imagine the movie being as sweet and goodhearted as these stories. Darby is not nearly as smart as he likes to make out he is, but he is a genuinely good guy, always ready to help a neighbour or befriend a lonesome fairy. The friendship that develops between him and King Brian is honestly heartwarming.
The tone of the stories reminds me of Michael Scott's folktales. These are full of the feel of Old Ireland without being twee and annoying. They're a really great read, and I think children would enjoy them - they might need a few things explained to them though!
A fantastic read, and I will get around to the movie one of these days...
I know! I should have to hand in my Irish card. It's a shocker. What can I say? I just never caught it live. I did plan to stream it once I'd read the book, but then I...didn't do that.
And I didn't do it largely because I can't imagine the movie being as sweet and goodhearted as these stories. Darby is not nearly as smart as he likes to make out he is, but he is a genuinely good guy, always ready to help a neighbour or befriend a lonesome fairy. The friendship that develops between him and King Brian is honestly heartwarming.
The tone of the stories reminds me of Michael Scott's folktales. These are full of the feel of Old Ireland without being twee and annoying. They're a really great read, and I think children would enjoy them - they might need a few things explained to them though!
A fantastic read, and I will get around to the movie one of these days...
February 11, 2025
I first saw the Disney movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People when I was six years old. All I remember is the “Coach of Death” with the headless coachman, and that it scared the stuffin’ out of me.
So, when I happened upon a paperback version of the original book in a thrift shop, I was intrigued.
Written in the late 19th Century and first published in the U.S. in 1903, this is a set of stories about an Irishman of Tipperary and his adventures and misadventures with the fairies, aka the Little People or Good People. As a modern reader, you might have to work a wee bit, since the prose is written in a dense but charming Irish brogue.
The stories are outstanding, involving not only fairies, but ghosts, banshees and Irish country folk of strange and amusing manners. My favorite is the tale in which Brian O’Connor, the two-foot tall King of the Fairies, recounts how his people first came to dwell in Ireland.
Great fun!
So, when I happened upon a paperback version of the original book in a thrift shop, I was intrigued.
Written in the late 19th Century and first published in the U.S. in 1903, this is a set of stories about an Irishman of Tipperary and his adventures and misadventures with the fairies, aka the Little People or Good People. As a modern reader, you might have to work a wee bit, since the prose is written in a dense but charming Irish brogue.
The stories are outstanding, involving not only fairies, but ghosts, banshees and Irish country folk of strange and amusing manners. My favorite is the tale in which Brian O’Connor, the two-foot tall King of the Fairies, recounts how his people first came to dwell in Ireland.
Great fun!
April 24, 2023
Super enjoyable read!
“Darby O’Gill” is a collection of stories that run sequential to each other. It’s delightfully told, tongue-in-cheek, with a bit of dialect thrown in to boot. (I like dialect).
Simply put, I LOVED IT. It was fun and authentic, showing the capricious nature of Irish fairies, and the island’s juxtaposition of religion and folklore. (MUCH better than the stereotyped Disney film of the 50s, though the banshee in that fascinated me as a kid.)
I’ll definitely be reading the sequel, “The Ashes of All Wishes”.
“Darby O’Gill” is a collection of stories that run sequential to each other. It’s delightfully told, tongue-in-cheek, with a bit of dialect thrown in to boot. (I like dialect).
Simply put, I LOVED IT. It was fun and authentic, showing the capricious nature of Irish fairies, and the island’s juxtaposition of religion and folklore. (MUCH better than the stereotyped Disney film of the 50s, though the banshee in that fascinated me as a kid.)
I’ll definitely be reading the sequel, “The Ashes of All Wishes”.
October 5, 2017
Audible:This was a highly entertaining retelling of the well known stories.I enjoyed Anne Hancocks performance.“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”
January 16, 2023
With my only intro to Darby being the Disney adaptation, this was really good. Love the 'accent' that is written in as well.
April 2, 2025
Some of the stories were quite good but the top-of-the-mornin-to-ye Oirishness got old very quickly.
August 18, 2010
This book has six stories about Darby O'Gill and his adventures with King Brian Connors and the leprechauns. In the first story, Darby becomes trapped in Sleive-na-mon (home of the leprechauns) when he tries to rescue his cow Rosie. When he escapes, King Brian comes after him. Darby traps them in a ring of holly and forces King Brain to grant him three wishes. In the second story, Darby catches a leprechaun and wishes for a huge castle, but loses all his wishes when accidently makes a fourth wish during dinner, for some salt. The most interesting story was about how leprechauns came to Ireland. The leprechauns didn't take sides when Satan attempted to take over heaven. Since they didn't fight on the side of good, they were sent to Earth. The story, "The Luck of Mulligans" they mistake King Brian for their baby and then have to hide him from the parish priest. For his help, King Brian gives him a magic noggin. When they say "noggin noggin where's your manners" it sets the table and fills it with food. :) All the stories were very entertaining, but other than the names, it has very little in common with the Diseny movie "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" (not a bad movie :) )
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2025
When Tipperary man Darby O’Gill is imprisoned by the fairies of Sleive-na-mon in their home under the hollow mountain, he starts a lasting friendship with their King Brian Connors. Using the voice of a local story-teller, Herminie Templeton Kavanagh shares this series of tales of Darby and King Brian’s adventures. We follow Brian as his fairies are banished from Heaven for not taking sides as angels wage war against each other, and we follow Darby to face the Banshee in Croaghmah, the realm of ghosts and the final destination of the spectral death coach driven by its headless horseman. We join Darby as he matches wits with the crafty Leprechaun, and join King Brian as he debates philosophy with parish priest Father Cassidy. Pious Christianity, superstition, and pagan folklore are each real and important elements of Darby’s life and world. Reconciling them is a persistent theme in Kavanagh’s stories, one that was largely absent from the classic children’s film that it inspired.
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Read for production of e-book, available at
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/her...
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Read for production of e-book, available at
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/her...
March 17, 2011
When I was a kid, I saw the Disney movie Darby O'Gill and the Little People at the local public library. It was a little scary, a lot funny, and so exciting. As I got older, I thought it was cool that it had a very young and dashing Sean Connery in it. The movie has stuck with me for years, with a tinge of wonderful childlike nostalgia. So when I found the book on Google Books recently, I had to download it. The stories are traditional Irish folk tales with fairies and ghosts and wishes - Oh my! I had fun reliving my childhood in it.
October 31, 2020
This is the sort of book that will set a room laughing. It’s a down to earth telling of the unearthly. My favorite story is The Banshee’s Comb, in which poor Darby is sent, on “All Sowls' night” (“whin the spirits of the dayparted dead visit once again their homes”), in the rain, to deliver tea to a banshee-visited house.
link: Read more at StorybookCat.com
link: Read more at StorybookCat.com
March 27, 2024
This book was so much fun! It reads exactly in the idiolect of how you would imagine King Brian Connors himself would speak. Darby starts off as a scoundrel but he turns out to be a foine hayro and a knowledgeable man, he does.
August 15, 2007
I loved the Disney movie with Sean Connery and found the book online being published by a very small company. It's been a while but I've remembered it fondly.
June 26, 2011
A primeira história do encontro com os Leprechauns é engraçada, mas toda a escrita em irlandês arcaico torna a leitura muito cansativa
November 13, 2012
I love the dialogue and the way the author dips into traditional style.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews