Customer Reviews

The King of Ireland's Son

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Readers of this delightful collection will discover that what initially appear to be seven different stories actually blend together to become tales-within-tales. The primary tale is a coming-of-age story of the quests of the youngest son of the King of Ireland. During the course of the quest, the king's son and others in the primary tale relate stories of their own. Characters from these secondary tales then appear later in the primary tale. The end result is a rich and complex tapestry of interconnecting histories and experiences as each character grows and finds out more about him- or herself. It soon becomes clear that for the central characters, learning the stories themselves becomes the goal of their quest. This in turn illuminates the importance of storytelling in the Irish tradition. A wonderful book which, if read aloud to older children before bedtime, will provide weeks of thrilling adventures with lovable characters.

Our child came home from school one day and excitedly announced that the teacher was reading to the class "the best story," The King of Ireland's Son, by Padraic Colum. After much hunting I finally found the book on Amazon.com. It is a beautifully crafted story full of rich images and detail. The charecters and environments come to life with a sophistication that children and adults both appreciate. My husband never used to like to read to our child at bedtime but now has taken over this role - because he loves reading The King of Ireland's Son. He says nightly after finishing a chapter, "this is such a great story!!"

I read this book to my 8- and 4- year old sons and they were both enthralled. We've decided that it is the best book we've ever read, even compared with the Chronicles of Narnia or Half Magic. We're going to read once a year for probably the next five years! It's beautiful, thrilling, and even if you get lost among the many plot twists, it all comes back in the end, and the wandering is so enjoyable it doesn't matter.

My, this tale wanders! But it always manages to stagger back, and within its digressions one gradually becomes aware that the characters have come to accept that their main business is to be about finding how their own story comes out.

If that sounds a bit like life itself, it isn't. It is, rather, the exuberant piling-on and folding-in of narratives by a master story-teller. In the end, evil is trumped and love triumphant, as we always knew it would be. But like those bards of old who earned their place nearest the fire by their hypnotic words and unflagging invention, Colum delights in the texture of the telling, and assumes that old bargain with his audience, where we come to the tale with an appetite for wonder and an ability to listen, and he builds those gorgeous stage-sets and animates them with his language.

I enjoyed this somewhat less than "Nordic Gods and Heroes"; although Willy Pogony does the illustrations here as well, they are not as powerfully evocative. Also, in that other book I felt I was learning something: it was a story, but it was also "official" myth. This is just a shaggy prince story that wanders confusingly. But, though not very educational, it was still a thoroughly entertaining ramble.

Read a child this book. According to Ulick O'Connor (All the Olympians: A Biographical Portrait of the Irish Literary Renaissance) Colum was expected to be one of the great authors/playwrights of Irish letters, "alas" Padraic marched to the beat of his own drummer, instead of contributing to the Abbey he wrote childrens books.

Being a genius he wrote awesome childrens books!

This may be his best work. A story about stories within stories, this is the type of book that if read to a young child will "make the light go on." Expect exclamations like, "He was in the other story!" and wide eyed stares as the readee sees the threads weaving the tapestry come together in his minds eye. Needless to say, read the book before reading it to the readee, in this way the readee is impressed no end with your eridition! (It's a joke! I know its' spelled wrong! Bwahahaha!)

p.s. To any writers out there, like maybe, Charles R. Saunders(!), how about an alternative retelling of this classic? I'm sure Padraic wouldn't mind, just put him in the new story!

p.p.s. You may notice this is available for FREE download! Buy the book AND get then free download. We need great writers and books!

What a joyful and engrossing book this is! An marvelous network of interlaced stories-within-stories keeps you on your toes, trying to keep it all in your head at one time. Each tale is a marvel of masterful storytelling in itself, but the relationships of the stories and characters to each other compounds the delight. Treat yourself to a unique experience - read this book.

I immensely enjoyed the fine job Padraic Colum did of crafting these disparate tales into a rambling--yet consistently attention-riveting--"tale within a tale" in the Arabian Nights (e.g., Tale of the Hunchback) style. I am sure that people new to the genre will sit spellbound while the often humorous, always enchanting, adventures of the various characters play and interplay. I was a bit disappointed that many episodes were familiar to me from the folklore of other nations, and--given Colum's background and predilections--one wonders how much of that was accidental and how much, quite deliberate albeit (Colum may have presumed) safely beyond detection. For example, the Unique Tale is reminiscent of both the Grimm's story of the seven geese and the Norwegian tale of the twelve wild ducks (sans the sewing gaffe that leaves the youngest brother with one arm and one wing). The Churl's comeuppance is identical to a southern French tale about the clever servant, though--since the erstwhile denigrated youngest brother (Askeladde, as it were) outdoes his elder siblings, the tale could easily have hailed from Scandinavia. Next, during Flann's adventures with the giant Crom Dubh, I was all but certain that the episode would segue into the thrice-plus-thrice hiding contest, but I was let down when the king of Greece's daughter--on hand to coach our hero as the giant hid in the ring, the football, etc.--was nowhere to be found. (By the way, for the Prydain fan, the side tale of Gilly's origin smacks of extreme familarity anent one of Alexander's novellas--if not in the chronicles of Taran Pig-Keeper, then somewhere along those lines.) Names were also freely borrowed from other sources: Art (but where are Neart and Ceart?) and Aefa (Ler's wife: more commonly, Aeife) spring immediately to mind. Notwithstanding these picayune (if not sciolistic) criticisms--which would only be of concern to the folklore expert with encyclopedic recall and fingertip command of such nineteenth- and twentieth-century authorities as Asbjornsen, Burton, Glassie, Moe, O'Suilleabhain, Pourrat, and Thygesen-Blecher--the saga is extremely well done and a profound pleasure to adults and older children alike. Enjoy!

The King of Ireland's Son was a beautiful, enjoyable wonderful fairy tale. If you read one sentence you would already love it. It has excitement, sadness and happiness. You should read it.

Hi, my great grandmother was Bridgit Colum, and Padriac Colum is my cousin from county Longford, in Ireland. I haven't read Padriac's book yet...but I am sure that it will be an exciting tale to read. The Ireland they knew was surrounded by family...and sometimes joy and also sorrow. I can only imagine the colorful characters that Padriac Colum has invented in his stories.....they will truly be a great legacy to uphold on the richness of Ireland's culture and folklore. I am going to read all of the books written by my cousin and hope that you too will enjoy them!