Customer Reviews

Celtic Tales of Birds and Beasts (Stories from the Otherworld)

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These sagas are engrossing, with vivid details of setting and costume that re-create the mystique of an ancient culture. Storyteller Mara Freeman adopts Scots, Welsh, and Gaelic accents for different characters, but her intonation is clearly for American ears. Gerry Smida's beautiful musical track (featuring bagpipe, Celtic harp, whistle, and drum) is so finely attuned to the stories that it greatly enhances their impact. All folktale collections will be enriched by these tapes.

Some materials invite immediate attention, and such was the case with these beautifully packaged tapes. It was a pleasure to discover that their exterior quality reflected the care that was given to the production of the stories themselves. Mara Freeman, a British storyteller now living in California, has adapted the stories from a variety of sources, and much of the strength of the tapes is in her lyrical retellings.... and they are stories that are too good to miss!

"I listened the first time in my car -- with great pleasure. And was pleasantly surprised when my 6 year old grandson said, "Play it again. I have to hear it again!" Great tapes, and the appeal is wide-ranging."