Customer Reviews

Traditional Irish Fairy Tales (Celtic, Irish)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was more a book of Faerie Tales than one of Fairy Tales--instead of Cinderella-like maidens being rescued by princes and aided by fairy godmothers, there are the shi' of Faery who mingle with the humans for mischief and pleasure, although often the humans manage both of those quite well on their own.

Most of the tales deal with Fionn the son of Uail, and his life and times. They are well-written and witty, and captured my attention.

The first story, though. The first story was boring, uninteresting and had nothing to do with Fionn (although I admit I had no idea who he was when I read it). It was about Tuan, the son of Cairill and how he started as one of Noah's grandsons, and then after achieving old age, managed to be reborn as every notable creature that inhabits Ireland. It was...not a great start to this otherwise wonderful book, and I was expecting the worst after reading it, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the rest of the stories were actually interesting.

There's a few typo-esque mistakes from the scanning, but nothing to cry about, there's a table of contents that isn't as useful as it wants to be (it's a chart, and you can't see the whole thing at once), and there are no illustrations (are you still expecting those from a kindle?), but otherwise the book is sound.

Stories included are:
The Story of Tuan mac Cairill
The Boyhood of Fionn
The Birth of Bran
Oisin's Mother
The Wooing of Becfola
The Little Brawl at Allen
THe Enchanted Cave of Cesh Corran
Becuma of the White Skin
Mongan's Frenzy (which has VENOMOUS SHEEP in it)

to limit, as you do, your review of Stephens irish fairy Tales to adolescent readers is a disservice to the book. While it is eminently readable, it does far more than many fairy tale compilations. Stephens presents a voice, a carefully chosen, well modulated voice, to present the web of tales which comprise the Irish tradition. As in Crock of Gold, he does this with beautiful natural imagery, and references to the bays and rivers and isles of Ireland. Moreover, unlike much of literature considered adolescent fare,he encompasses adult virtues and vices including lust, envy and pride. This book is written with a compelling sense of humor, aimed not at the cute, but at the failings which each of us possess. it is a book worthy of reading by a person of any age.

This is my favorite collection of Irish Fairy Tales and a wonderful introduction to the the genre for people unfamiliar with it. I frequently give this book as a gift to children who also enjoy Harry Potter books but like the reviewer above it's a wonderful read for all ages.

James Stephen's collection is special because every tale contained in it is a gem and the language, while modern, retains the wit and spirit of these oral tales.

These stories are calmly told, and universal. Very beautifully written, and the illustrations are very charming. It's a good price too. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in folklore in general. Easy to read print and layout, and wonderful stories!

This is a wonderful book of fairy tales! I have read my earlier copy over
so many times that it is falling apart. I sent these out for Christmas
presents last year.

The stories are not intended to be judged by modern sensibilities. There is misogyny and brutality -- as is to be expected in reading ancient folklore.

This version gets only three stars because there are three points in the book where short passages containing songs are missing. I had to find another version of the text online to fill in the gaps. The digitization typos are only rarely distracting.

I got this book in hopes of a light, quick read. Wrongo.....it was like trying to read a very technical novel. I love to read and I will even read the dictionary if I have nothing else to read. The dictionary wins over this and I'm Irish.

Very much fairy tales not like our American fairy tales. {I know the Irish in general believe full in leprechauns and such so this book added to that line of thinking.} An interesting read.

Classic free book. Downloaded for my Great Granddaughter. With the stereo ear buds she can enjoy the evening without disturbing the adults.

The table of contents is messed up. there is more then one page but it only shows one page. The table of contents is active but missing a page. all fairy tales in this book are capter books.