Week 8 Extra Reading: Celtic Fairy Tales Reading A

Connla and the Fairy Maiden:

• Written in old English
• Uses 'thou' and 'whom art'
• Beautiful imagery in the word choice


• I.e. "There we keep holiday alway, nor need we help from any in our joy. And in all our pleasure we have no strife. And because we have our homes in the round green hills, men call us the Hill Folk"
• Only the son of the king can see the Fairy, but everyone else can hear her voice
• The king fears that the fairy ill steal away his son so he orders his druid to send her away with magic
•  Druid- Priest or magician in celtic tradition


• "The ocean is not so strong as the waves of thy longing. Come with me in my curragh, the gleaming, straight-gliding crystal canoe." - The Fairy maiden to Connla



• The young prince lets love usurp duty and he runs away with the fairy

The Field of Boliauns:

• A farmer spots a leprechaun drinking ale out of a large bucket by a hedge
• There is a lot of dialogue between the two characters, the text is more modern and less descriptive language
• Tom (the young farmer) catcher the leprechaun and turns quite violent, forcing the little man to show him where his treasure is
• The leprechaun tricks the young farmer

The Horned Women

• A rich mistress allows twelve witches into her house, they begin to weave and hum in ancient rhymes, but the mistress is under their spell so that she cannot speak out against them for helps
• A Spirit of the Well guides and protects the woman from the witches

The Sheppard of Myddvai

• The Sheppard watched three maidens rise from the lake
• instead of questioning this, he falls in love with one of them
• He tries to win the maiden over with bread, but his bread does not satisfy her
• Finally, he wins her over and must choose her out from among her sisters
• Her identifying feature is her sandal strap *cute*
• She agrees to be his bride unless he hits her three times
• He doesn't really hit her, but taps her three times and she returns to the late (this is after they have three kids)

The Sprightly Tailor

• Laird- a person who owns a large estate
• Trews- Scottish trousers
• A giant rises up out of the ground of the church
• The tailor is unfazed until he finished the trousers.. and then he starts running away, but now the giant is chasing him

Munachar and Manachar

• This story was very repetitive and annoying to read, but the ending was comical

Gold Tree and Silver Tree

• Very similar to Snow White, except this time it is Golden Tree's own mother, Silver Tree, who wants to kill her and eat her heart and liver
• The king sends his daughter away to be married and tricks his wife into thinking an animal's heart and liver is Golden Tree's
• Silver Tree poisoned her daughter by pricking her finger with poison 
• This part is very sleeping beauty-esque
• The prince remarries but then the second wife resurrects Gold Tree
• Then the prince of course stays married to both of them
• Then the second wife kills Gold-Tree's mom for her
• This love triangle is crazy

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Connla and the Fairy Maiden. Web Source: the UNtextbook