6. Folktales of Ireland

I have always had a soft spot for books of fairy or folktales. So when I spotted this book of Irish folktales I was interested right away, especially since Ireland is another topic that interests me greatly. I was actually hoping for a quick read, thinking that there would be lot of short stories and I would just fly right along. It's taken me over a week to read so I guess that backfired a little.

I had a bit of trouble with reading comprehension - I found that I would get to the end of the tale and wonder what the point of it all was. There are a bunch of indexes at the back that detail theme and motif as well as a set of notes on the tales themselves; sometimes these were helpful and sometimes they weren't. I'm not sure if my confusion speaks more to the translation of the tales from oral Gaelic to written English or to the mediocrity of my knowledge of old Ireland or both. It was definitely frustrating to feel at times that there were references being made that were just passing right over my head. I am not sure if those are references I will ever be made privy to or if they are lost with the oral nature of the tales. I suppose only time will tell.

There were some familiar themes and characters present: the hero & the villain, the tales that involved multiple tasks, the hidden treasures, the animals/undesirables who were really handsome men & women. I felt connected with these motifs and they came along often enough to remind me that there was a common denominator between what I know and what I was reading.

I was also really excited to get to the part about historical characters where they mentioned Daniel O'Connell because Melly & Beth and I learned a little bit about him when we were in Dublin so I was awash with fond memories of our trip together.