Publisher's Synopsis
These collections of tales from around the world bring together magical tales told by firelight since the very first men and women came together to make sense of the world around them. These tales are universal. These tales have instructed us, have cautioned us, and entertained us for millennia.These particular tales are the from the wonderful Irish storytelling tradition, and this is the third book in a new series bringing together tales from all corners of the world. Such tales can be heartwarming, just as they can be dark and chilling. In the days when candlelight and the spoken word thrilled us all, these were the equivalent of YouTube sensations and social media channel hopping.Read these stories again in soft light with a glass of something warming by your side. Read them aloud to friends and family. These stories are magical. Let that magic flow...Book three is, in fact two volumes, so rich are the story-mining seams taken from just the few Irish collections I have in my possession at the moment. Across the two volumes we have around one hundred and forty tales taken from pretty well every tradition, including classic tales of Irish legend, fairy and folk beliefs, and tales in the vernacular, oral tradition.For the most part these tales are as collected by my Victorian and Edwardian counterparts, but there are one or two tales where I have amended the original to suit modern language tastes and norms.There are also a few stories that clearly share a common root, and appear similar at first reading, but there always seem to be sufficient and interesting differences to keep the reader's attention.I hope you enjoy this ever-growing collection from a grand British and Irish heritage. These Irish tales have taken a lot of work to collect and sift and prepare, but as ever, I've loved putting this collection together. As far as these isles are concerned I'll move on to the English next, where again, a brief perusal of my source material suggests that we may be heading towards a couple of volumes of collected tales. There will be no shortage of things to do as we head into the autumn.
