Title Page : BESIDE THE FIRE A Collection Of Irish Gaelic Folk Stories. Edited, Translated, And Annotated By DOUGLAS HYDE. With Additional Notes By Alfred Nutt London, David Nutt Second Edition [1910] Scanned And Redacted By Phillip Brown. Additional Formatting And Proofing , By John B. Hare. This Text Is...
Dedication : Dedication To the memory of those truly cultured and unselfish men, the poet-scribes and hedge-schoolmasters of the last century and the beginning of this--men who may well be called the last of the Milesians--I dedicate this effort to preserve even a scrap of that native lore which in their day...
Neil O'carree : Neil O'Carree [148] THERE was no nicety about him. He said to his wife that he would go to the forge to get a doctoring instrument. He went to the forge the next day. "Where are you going to today?" said the smith. "I am going till you make me an instrument for doctoring. What is the instrument I...
The Court Of Crinnawn : The Court of Crinnawn [142] A LONG time ago there came a lot of gentlemen to a river which is between the County Mee-h (Mayo) and Roscommon, and they chose out a nice place for themselves on the brink of a river, and set up a court on it. Nobody at all in the little villages round about knew...
Preface : Preface IRISH and Scotch Gaelic folk-stories are, as a living form of literature, by this time pretty nearly a thing of the past. They have been trampled in the common ruin under the feet of the Zeitgeist, happily not before a large harvest has been reaped in Scotland, but, unfortunately, before...
Trunk Without Head : Trunk-Without-Head [154] LONG ago there was a widow woman living in the County Galway, and two sons with her, whose names were Dermod and Donal. Dermod was the eldest son, and he was the master over the house. They were large farmers, and they got a summons from the landlord to come and pay him...
Paudyeen O'kelly And The Weasel : Paudyeen O'Kelly and the Weasel [73] A LONG time ago there was once a man of the name of Paudyeen O'Kelly, living near Tuam, in the county Galway. He rose up one morning early, and he did not know what time of day it was, for there was fine light coming from the moon. He wanted to go to the fair...
The Well Of D'yerree In Dowan : The Well of D'Yerree-in-Dowan [129] A LONG time ago--before St. Patrick's time--there was an old king in Connacht, and he had three sons. The king had a sore foot for many years, and he could get no cure. One day he sent for the Dall Glic (wise blind man) which he had, and said to him: "I'm giving...
Riddles : Riddles [170] A great great house it is, A golden candlestick it is, Guess it rightly, Let it not go by thee. Heaven. There's a garden that I ken, Full of little gentlemen, Little caps of blue they wear, And green ribbons very fair. Flax. I went up the boreen, I went down the boreen, I brought...
William Of The Tree : William of the Tree [167] IN the time long ago there was a king in Erin. He was married to a beautiful queen, and they had but one only daughter. The queen was struck with sickness, and she knew that she would not be long alive. She put the king under "gassa "(mystical injunctions) that he should...
The King Of Ireland's Son : The King of Ireland's Son [19] THERE was a king's son in Ireland long ago, and he went out and took with him his gun and his dog. There was snow out. He killed a raven. The raven fell on the snow. He never saw anything whiter than the snow, [21] or blacker than the raven's skull, or redder th...
Untitled : BESIDE THE FIRE BY DOUGLAS HYDE. [1910] Title Page Preface Postscript (by Alfred Nutt) Dedication The Tailor and the Three Beasts Bran The King of Ireland's Son The Alp-Luachra Paudyeen O'Kelly and the Weasel Leeam O'Rooney's Burial Guleesh na Guss Dhu The Well of D'Yerree-In-Dowan The Court...
The Tailor And The Three Beasts : The Tailor and the Three Beasts THERE was once a tailor in Galway, and he was sewing cloth. He saw a flea springing up out of the cloth, and he threw his needle at it and killed it. Then he said: "Am I not a fine hero when I was able to kill that flea?" Then he said that he must go to Blacklee...
Postscript : Postscript by Alfred Nutt I HAD hoped to accompany these tales with as full a commentary as that which I have affixed to the Argylishire "Mrchen, "collected and translated by the Rev. D. Maclnnes. Considerations of business and health prevent me from carrying out this intention, and I have only...
Guleesh Na Guss Dhu : Guleesh na Guss Dhu [104] (from this point onward the stories are all in English with no Gaelic text] THERE was once a boy in the County Mayo, and he never washed a foot from the day he was born. Guleesh was his name; but as nobody could ever prevail on him to wash his feet, they used to call him...
Bran : Bran [15] FINN had a splendid hound. That was Bran. You have heard talk of Bran. This is the colour was on him: Yellow feet that were on Bran, Two black sides, and belly white, Grayish back of hunting colour, Two ears, red, round, small, and bright. Bran would overtake the wild-geese, she was th...
The Hags Of The Long Teeth : The Hags of the Long Teeth [161] LONG ago, in the old time, there came a party of gentlemen from Dublin to Loch Glynn a-hunting and a-fishing. They put up in the priest's house, as there was no inn in the little village. The first day they went a-hunting, they went into the Wood of Driminuch...
The Old Crow And The Young Crow : The Old Crow he's stooping for a stone to throw at you." "But tell me," says the young crow, "what should I do if he had a stone already down in his pocket?" "Musha, go 'long out of that," says the old crow, "you've learned enough; the devil another learning I'm able to give you."
The Alp Luachra : The Alp-Luachra [47] THERE was once a wealthy farmer in Connacht, and he had plenty of substance and a fine family, and there was nothing putting grief nor trouble on him, and you would say yourself that it's he was the comfortable, satisfied man, and that the luck was on him as well as on e'er...
Leeam O'rooney's Burial : Leam O'Rooney's Burial [91] IN the olden time there was once a man named William O'Rooney, living near Clare-Galway. He was a farmer. One day the landlord came to him and said: "I have three years' rent on you, and unless you have it for me within a week I'll throw you out on the side of the road...
