Synopsis
The Celts have always been great storytellers. Across the years, Celtic imagination and belief has spawned a host of heroes, monsters, fairies, spirits, and phantoms all of which have coalesced into a colourful tapestry of lore and legend that has been transmitted from one generation to another. From the earliest legends, told around the fires of the Celtic warriors, through the fireside tales of the rural hearths to the written word of the polished scribe, these stories have a resonance and an immediacy that is hard to dismiss. They represent a vibrant and unbroken link to the Celtic past. Celtic Lore And Legend includes tales of the heroes and gods from the Great Myth Cycles and tales of witches, ghosts and fairies - from Sir Walter Scott's Letters on Witchcraft and Demonology and Edmund Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland to Douglas Hyde's Tales of Saints and Sinners and Lady Gregory's Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland. It is also a treasure trove of lesser-known stories, such as Sir Walter Scott's Wandering Willie's Tale, James Hogg's The Brownie of the Black Hags and Don Byrne's A Tale of the Piper.
Celtic Lore And Legend is both an examination and celebration of that tradition. It is one of the first attempts to trace the development of these stories from their earliest mythical roots, through the stores of the rural fireside to the writers of fiction who have used Celtic belief as a source for their own stories. This is the first anthology to seek out and record the traditions from many parts of the Western Celtic world, Ireland, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales and Brittany, from as early as the 17th century. It is a highly readable and enjoyable collection of legend and lore never before available in a single volume. Bob Curran Lives in Coleraine, County Londonderry
