Produced by David Edwards, Christine Aldridge and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_;
" in bold are surrounded by single =equals=;
" in bold Gothic font are surrounded by double ==equals==;
2. A detailed list of typographical corrections and other transcription
notes appears at the end of this e-text.
3. A translation of the celtic passage below is thought to be:
"I sense the smell of a sweet lying Irishman on my home turf."
[Illustration: MORE CELTIC FAIRY TALES]
MORE CELTIC
FAIRY TALES
_SAY THIS_
_Three times, with your eyes shut_
==Mothuighim boladh an Eireannaigh bhinn bhreugaigh
faoi m'fhoidin duthaigh.==
_And you will see_
_What you will see_
[Illustration: .THE.GOLDEN.BIRD.FLIES.AWAY.WITH.THE.APPLE.]
MORE CELTIC
FAIRY TALES
_SELECTED AND EDITED BY_
JOSEPH JACOBS
LATE EDITOR OF "FOLK-LORE"
_ILLUSTRATED BY_
JOHN D. BATTEN
[Illustration]
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: D. NUTT
1895
[_Rights of translation and reproduction reserved_]
_To
THE MANY UNKNOWN
LITTLE FRIENDS
I HAVE MADE
BY THE FORMER BOOKS
OF THIS SERIES_
Preface
For the last time, for the present, I give the children of the British
Isles a selection of Fairy Tales once or still existing among them. The
story store of Great Britain and Ireland is, I hope, now adequately
represented in the four volumes which have won me so many little
friends, and of which this is the last.
My collections have dealt with the two folk-lore regions of these Isles
on different scales. The "English" region, including Lowland Scotland
and running up to the Highland line, is, I fancy, as fully represented
in "English" and "More English Fairy Tales" as it is ever likely to be.
But the Celtic district, including the whole of Ireland and the
Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, still offers a rich harvest to the
collector, and will not be exhausted for many a long day. The materials
already collected are far richer than those which the "English" region
afford, and it has accordingly been my aim in the two volumes devoted
to the Celts, rather to offer specimens of the crop than to exhaust the
field.
In the present volume I have proceeded on much the same lines as those
which I laid down for myself in compiling its predecessor. In making my
selection I have attempted to select the tales common both to Erin and
Alba. I have included, as specimen of the Irish mediaeval hero tales, one
of the three sorrowful tales of Erin: "The Tale of the Children of Lir."
For the "drolls" or "comic relief" of the volume, I have again drawn
upon the inexhaustible Kennedy, while the great J. F. Campbell still
stands out as the most prominent figure in the history of the Celtic
Fairy Tale.
In my method of telling I have continued the practice which I adopted in
the previous volume: where I considered the language too complicated for
children, I have simplified; where an incident from another parallel
version seemed to add force to the narrative I have inserted it; and in
each case mentioned the fact in the corresponding notes. As former
statements of mine on this point have somewhat misled my folk-lore
friends, I should, perhaps, add that the alterations on this score have
been much slighter than they have seemed, and have not affected anything
of value to the science of folk-lore.
I fear I am somewhat of a heretic with regard to the evidential value of
folk-tales regarded as _capita mortua_ of anthropology. The ready
transit of a folk-tale from one district to another of the same
linguistic area, robs it to my mind of any anthropological or
ethnographical value; but on this high topic I have discoursed
elsewhere.
This book, like the others of this series, has only been rendered
possible by the courtesy and complaisance of the various collectors from
whom I have culled my treasures. In particular, I have to thank Mr.
Larminie and Mr. Eliot Stock for permission to include that fine tale
"Morraha" from the former's "West Irish Folk-tales," the chief addition
to the Celtic store since the appearance of my last volume. I have again
to thank Dr. Hyde for permission to use another tale from his delightful
collection. Mr. Curtin has been good enough to place at my disposal
another of the tales collected by him in Connaught, and my colleague,
Mr. Duncan, has translated for me a droll from the Erse. Above all, I
have to thank Mr. Alfred Nutt for constant supervision over my selection
and over my comments upon it. Mr. Nutt, by his own researches, and by
the encouragement and aid he has given to the researches of others on
Celtic folk-lore, has done much to replace the otherwise irreparable
loss of Campbell.
With this volume I part, at any rate for a time, from the pleasant task
which has engaged my attention for the last four years. For the
"English" folk-lore district I have attempted to do what the brothers
Grimm did for Germany, so far as that was possible at this late day. But
for the Celtic area I can claim no such high function; here the
materials are so rich that it would tax the resources of a whole clan of
Grimms to exhaust the field, and those Celtic Grimms must be Celts
themselves, or at any rate fully familiar with the Gaelic. Here then is
a task for the newly revived local patriotism of Ireland and the
Highlands. I have done little more than spy the land, and bring back
some specimen bunches from the Celtic vine. It must be for others, Celts
themselves, to enter in and possess the promised land.