Mythology

The Irish language has thirty-two words for field. Among them Geamhar – a field of corn-grass Tuar – a field for cattle at night Réidhleán – a field for games or dancing Cathairín – a field with a fairy-dwelling in it The richness of a language closely tied to the natural landscape offered our ancestors a more magical way of seeing the world. Before we cast old words aside, let us consider the sublime beauty and profound oddness of the ancient tongue that has been spoken on this island for almost 3,000 years. In Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán Magan meditates on these words – and the nuances of a way of life that is disappearing with them.

The Táin Bó Cúailnge, centre-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's nearest approach to a great epic. It tells the story of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cúailnge. The hero of the tale is Cúchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed, while Ulster's warriors lie sick. Thomas Kinsella's presents a complete and living version of the story. His translation is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts, with elements from other version, and adds a group of related stories which prepare for the action of the Táin. Illustrated with brush drawings by Louis le Brocquy, this edition provides a combination of medieval epic and modern art.

Book by Lenihan, Eddie, Green, Carolyn Eve

The poem about a man that falls in love with a mermaid only to lose his soul. And how his soul must win him back again.

Journalist Marie Heaney skillfully revives the glory of ancient Irish storytelling in this comprehensive volume from the great pre-Christian sequences to the more recent tales of the three patron saints Patrick, Brigid, and Colmcille.

Mythologies is the definitive edition of W.B. Yeats' folklore & early prose fiction, edited according to Yeats' final textual instructions. Its extensive annotation makes luminous Yeats' 'fibrous darkness', that 'matrix out of which everything else has come', by dealing with oral & written sources, abandoned & unpublished writings. Mythologies is a must-have for any fan of Yeats.

Bitel retells little-known, anonymous tales from Ireland, written a thousand years ago or more, about human and supernatural lovers who cross the boundaries between our world and the Otherworld (síd). Set in a lost time of heroes, demi-gods, warrior queens, and otherfolk of the Irish Otherworld (áes síde), these stories inspired some of the earliest fairy tales of France and England—but they are sexier, funnier, and bloodier than better-known medieval myths and romances.

Lady Gregory tells about Ireland's gods and her fighting men from the old Irish sagas.

Robust and funny, sorrowful and heroic, this collection of 125 lively tales tells the story of Ireland. Spanning the centuries from the first wars of the ancient Irish kings through the Celtic Renaissance of Yeats to our own time, they are set in cities, villages, fields and forestsfrom the wild Gaelic western coast to the modern streets of Dublin and Belfast. Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

1st ed, name neatly on f.f.e.p., Faded strip on cover, along spine. Original invoice tipped in dated 1981,

\* Well-wrought original translations giving access to a corpus of unpublished Gaelic material relating to major figures of literary and folk tradition.