BESIDE THE FIRE
A COLLECTION OF
IRISH GAELIC FOLK STORIES.
EDITED, TRANSLATED, AND ANNOTATED
BY
DOUGLAS HYDE, LL.D., M.R.I.A.,
(ANCHRAOIBHÍN AOIBHINN.)
MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE GAELIC UNION; MEMBER OF THE PAN-CELTIC SOCIETY, ETC.
WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES
BY
ALFRED NUTT.
Tá siad mar ċeó air dteaċt na h-oidċe
Ḃeirṫear as le gal beag gaoiṫe.—SEAN DAN.
"They are like a mist on the coming of night
That is scattered away by a light breath of wind."—Old Poem.
LONDON:
DAVID NUTT, 270, 271 STRAND.
1890.
PRINTED AT
THE FREEMANS JOURNAL, LIMITED
PRINTING & BOOKBINDING WORKS
DUBLIN
DEDICATION.
To the memory of those truly cultured and unselfish men, the poet-scribes and hedge-schoolmasters of the last century and the beginning of this—men who may well be called the last of the Milesians—I dedicate this effort to preserve even a scrap of that native lore which in their day they loved so passionately, and for the preservation of which they worked so nobly, but in vain
CONTENTS.
Preface: Previous collections of Irish folk-lore; ignorance of the language on the part of collectors. Relation between Irish and Scotch Gaelic tales; the Irish bardic tales; the runs in Irish and Scotch. Date of Irish versions. Two classes of Irish stories; native myths. Narrators of the stories. Discouragement of Irish by schoolmasters, clergy, and politicians. Proper mode of collecting. System of translation accepted. Page, ix-l. | ||
Postscript (by Alfred Nutt): Dr. Hyde's theories discussed; folk-lore and romance; necessity for romance to conform to convention; characteristics of folk-fancy; classification of the products of folk-fancy; myth, saga, Märchen and ballad; romance and folk-lore among the Gael; folk-conception of the Universe Page, li-lviii. | ||
| Tales. | ||
| I. | The Tailor and the Three Beasts | 2-14 |
| II. | Bran | 14-18 |
| III. | The King of Ireland's Son | 18-46 |
| IV. | The Alp-Luachra | 46-72 |
| V. | Paudyeen O'Kelly and the Weasel | 72-90 |
| VI. | Leeam O'Rooney's Burial | 90-103 |
| VII. | Guleesh na Guss Dhu | 104-128 |
| VIII. | The Well of D'Yerree-in-Dowan | 129-141 |
| IX. | The Court of Crinnawn | 142-148 |
| X. | Neil O'Carree | 148-153 |
| XI. | Trunk-without-Head | 154-161 |
| XII. | The Hags of the Long Teeth | 161-166 |
| XIII. | William of the Tree | 167-169 |
| XIV. | The Old Crow and the Young Crow | 169 |
| XV. | Riddles | 170-172 |
| Where the Stories came from | 173-174 | |
| Notes | 175-195 | |
| Notes on the Irish Text | 197-200 | |
| Index of Incidents | 201-203 | |