Publisher's Synopsis
Sgealta Mhuintir Luinigh / Munterloney Folktales is a unique compendium of Tyrone lore in the Irish language including folktales, legends, songs, proverbs, riddles, charms, toasts and accounts of various calendar and other folk customs. The bulk of its contents was collected between 1929 and 1932 by the Professor of Irish at Trinity College Dublin, Eamonn O Tuathail, and the main body of his material was taken down from Eoin O Cianain, an Irish countryman born in Greencastle and resident in nearby Creggan. The balance was collected earlier in the twentieth century elsewhere in Munterloney by individuals such as Father Cornelius Short, a curate in Termonmagurk, Peadar Mhac Culadh of Glenelly and Pilib de Bhaldraithe, a native of county Mayo. First published in 1933 by Institiuid Bhealoideas Eireann / The Irish Folklore Institute, its republication by Comhairle Bhealoideas Eireann / The Folklore of Ireland Council eighty-two years later marks a landmark event in the history of the Irish-language culture of Tyrone. This new edition of Sgealta Mhuintir Luinigh / Munterloney Folktales comes with a full English translation by Seosamh Watson, former Professor of Modern Irish at University College Dublin (UCD), a foreword by Seamas O Cathain, former Professor of Irish Folklore and former Director of the National Folklore Collection at UCD, and updated folklore notes by Dr Kelly Fitzgerald, also of UCD.
