A review by glanecia
Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by Various

5.0

This is a book of Irish fairy and folk tales. I gave this book such a high rating because I was absolutely fascinated at how fairy lore and catholicism intermingled in the majority of these stories. Some of the stories were about the pooka and banshee, which I'm sure existed in Irish lore long before Ireland became Catholic. In this particular book, the moral often ends up being that you should not listen to the devil, you should not practice witchcraft, you should listen to your priest. etc. In older Irish folklore, I'm sure that the lesson would be to not listen to the fae, to be careful of banshees, and to be kind to strangers. I think that the stories evolved - but never lost their true meaning - when catholicism came to Ireland. I think it's fascinating to see how two belief systems came together to form the stories we know today. It's easy to pick out which parts are catholic and which parts are from an older time. I also really like, how even though St Patrick is said to have chased the "snakes" (pagans) out of Ireland, it's quite clear to me, that the snakes never left. Open this book. The snakes are hiding in plain sight.