For our third specimen of the literature of our ancestors we have
selected an example of what may be called the fireside stories, in vogue
from a very ancient period till the last century. These stories are for
the most part only personal traditions, and as they are not found in any
vellum manuscripts which have descended to us, it might be concluded
that they are of very modern date. Such conclusion, however, would be
erroneous; there is no doubt that in their groundwork at least they are
of an antiquity of several centuries, although modified in their language
and allusions in conformity with the changes in manners and customs of
succeeding times. The personages who figure in them are always either
historical, or belonging to the ancient mythology of Ireland, and they
are well worthy of preservation, for the light which they reflect on the
habits of thought, as well as the manners and customs of bygone times.