Fairies and Folk of Ireland | Page 2

story of the fairies' tune is in part
derived from T. Crofton Croker's "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the
South of Ireland." This delightful book as well deserves the first place
in my list as does Kennedy's, for it gave me one of my most important
stories, that of O'Donoghue, in Chapter I., and it gave me Naggeneen.
Him I first saw, with Mr. Croker's help, sitting on the cask of port in the
cellar of old MacCarthy of Ballinacarthy, as he himself describes in
Chapter III. It is not enough to say that after that he came readily into
my story; he simply could not be kept out of it. The tale of the fairies
who wanted to question a priest, in Chapter X., is also from Croker.
Mrs. O'Brien's method of getting rid of a changeling is founded on one
of Croker's stories, and a story almost exactly like it is told by Grimm.

There is also a form of it in Brittany. Two books by W.B. Yeats have
been of much value--"Irish Fairy and Folk Tales" and "The Celtic
Twilight." Of the former Mr. Yeats is the editor, rather than, in a strict
sense, the author, though it contains some of his own work, and his
introduction, notes, and other comments are of great interest. From this
book I have the story of Hudden, Dudden, and Donald, in Chapter VII.
Mr. Yeats reproduces it from an old chap-book. A version of it is also
found in Samuel Lover's "Legends and Stories of Ireland." Those who
like to compare the stories which they find in various places will not
fail to note its likeness to Hans Christian Andersen's "Big Claus and
Little Claus." The story of the monk and the bird, in Chapter IX., Mr.
Yeats reproduces from Croker, though not from the work of his which
has already been mentioned. I could not resist the temptation to better
the story, as I thought, by the addition of an incident from a German
version of it, and everybody will remember the beautiful form in which
it appears in Longfellow's "The Golden Legend." From Mr. Yeats's
"The Celtic Twilight" I have the little story of the conversation between
the diver and the conger, in Chapter II.
It is a pleasure to refer to two such fine and scholarly works as Dr.
Douglas Hyde's "Beside the Fire" and William Larminie's "West Irish
Folk-Tales and Romances." From the former of these I have borrowed
the substance of the story of Guleesh na Guss Dhu, in Chapter IV., and
from the latter that of the ghost and his wives, in Chapter VII.
Having thus confessed my indebtedness, it would seem that my next
duty was to pay it. I fear that I can pay it only with thanks. I have not
taken a story from the work of any living collector without his
permission. It thus becomes my pleasure, no less than my duty, to
express my gratitude to Mr. Yeats for permission to use the stories in
"Irish Fairy and Folk Tales" and "The Celtic Twilight;" to Dr. Hyde for
his permission to take what I chose from "Beside the Fire," and to Mr.
Larminie and his publisher, Elliott Stock, for the same permission with
regard to his "West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances." My thanks are
equally due to Macmillan & Co., Limited, for permission to take stories
from Kennedy's "Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts," the rights to

which they own. I wish to say also that in each of these cases the
permission asked has been given with a readiness and a cordiality no
less pleasing than the permission itself.
I have learned much concerning the ways of Irish fairies from Lady
Wilde's "Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of
Ireland" and "Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland," and I
have gained not a little from the books of William Carleton, especially
his "Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry," but from none of these
have I taken any considerable part of a story. Indeed I have found help,
greater or less, in more books than I can name here.
It may seem by this time that I am like the lawyer who conceded this
and that to his opponent till the judge said: "Do not concede any more;
you conceded your whole case long ago." But I have not conceded my
whole case. I have used the threads which others have spun, but I have
done my own weaving. The shorter stories have been told before, but
they have never been put together in this way before, and, as I said at
first, the main story is my own.
W.H.F.
NEW YORK, September 1, 1900.
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FAIRIES AND FOLK OF IRELAND
[Illustration:]
I
O'DONOGHUE