Book Review: Irish Lore and Legends

Folk art.. is the soil where all great art is rooted ~ W.B. Yeats

As the title would indicate, Irish Lore and Legends is a compilation of various tales passed down through time centered in the magical land of Ireland. You won't find leprechauns here, but you will encounter giants and fairies, along with a slew of other colorful characters... including one tale centered around King Arthur.

These tales were gathered and selected by S.M.W. Dunnit, which sounds like a jest in itself, dunnit? I'm not sure who he is, but I like his selections a great deal.

There are a total of 17 stories here, some tales you will be familiar with in some incarnation or another, such as The Little Weaver. I've heard variations of this tale since I was a wee lass, and I'm sure you have too... but I really enjoyed this take on the matter, and suspect this was it's original incarnation (or close to it...) see if this rings a bell...

I'm the man of all min
That kill'd three score and tin
at a blow

As I heard it here in the states, he killed ten flies and etched that on his belt, here he has it painted on his shield. Very cute tale. I like this version the best of all I've heard over the years... it has a dragon!

The Chivalric Quest deal with one of Arthur's knights, a fella name of Kymon, and how he takes on the Black Knight. It's only a flesh wound! (Ok that line isn't in there, I couldn't resist.) This is the Black Knight as you've not seen him before. A very engrossing and fun tale.

One of my favorites in this book though is A Legend of Knockmany, about a giant who went around proving his strength upside the heads of all the villagers but one. This is the story of how Finn and his wife Oonagh outsmart Far Rua so Finn doesn't get his butt whooped. Delightful!

These are fairly short which makes this book a very easy read. One or two were barely 2 pages in length. They are mostly comical in some way so it's not a chore to read at all.

There's just no better way to learn about a different culture than to read their lore, and this is a fine sampling of Irish tales. It left me satisfied and wanting to hunt down more books on this subject.