Author: LIGHTNING SOURCE INC

Publisher: Kraus Press

Published: 2008-10-07

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13: 1443754013

Preface FOR the last time, for the children of the British Isles a selection of Fairy Tales once or among them. The story Britain and Ireland is, present, I give still existing store of Great I hope, now adequately represented in the four volumes which have won me so many littIe 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 ScotIand 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, incIuding 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 l 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 compiIing its predecessor. In making my selection I have attempted to select the tales comrnon both to Erin and Alba. I have included, as specimen of the Irish medival hero tales, one of the three sorrorrful 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 Cennedy, whiIe the great J. F. Campbell still stands out as the most proninent figure in the history of the CeItic Fairy TaIe. 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-Iore 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 evidentiaI value of folk-tales regarded as cnjita movfua of anthropology. The ready transit of a foIk-tale from one district to another of the same linguistic area, robs it to my mind of any anthropoIogicaI 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 conplaisance of the various collectors from whom I have culled my treasures. In particuIar, I have to thank Mr. Larminie and Mr. EIiot Stock for permission to include that fine tale Morraha from the formers 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 disposaI another of the tales collected by him in Connaught, and my colleague, Mr. Duncan, has translated for me a droIl from the Erse. Above all, I have to thank Mr. Alfred Nutt for constant supervision over my selection and over my com- ments 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 Ioss of Campbell...