Turf Fire Stories and Fairy Tales of Ireland

Several years ago, I came across a collection of tales at the local library called Turf Fire Stories and Fairy Tales of Ireland. It was originally published in 1890, and filled with tales I never saw anywhere else.

I knew at the time that I wanted to bring that book back into print, but like many projects, it was put on the back burner for a good many years. Until now.

Turf Fire Stories is again available in a new, unabridged edition as part of the Folklore and Mythology Archive. Tales include The Hag's Bed, The Gold Seeker, The Fairy's Purse, The Luckpenny, The Emigrants, The Hunchbacks, The Red Knight, Purcel the Piper, the Irish Chameleon, The Haunted Cliff, Smuggled Poteen, and more. Fifty-six tales in all.

Learn more about it here.

If you have a favorite old Irish folktale collection you'd like to see back in print, e-mail me.

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day

It’s the night before St. Patrick’s Day, and Tim and Maureen are wide awake setting traps to catch a leprechaun! When they wake the next morning to the sound of their dad playing the bagpipes and the smell of their mom cooking green eggs, they’re shocked to find that they’ve actually caught a leprechaun. But will they be able to find his pot of gold? Natasha Wing’s latest title is once again told in verse to the same meter of Clement Moore’s classic.

Turf Fire Stories and Fairy Tales of Ireland

A classic of Irish folklore and myth will soon be back in print. Turf Fire Stories and Fairy Tales of Ireland: A Collection of Irish Myth and Legend will be available later this month. Check back for details.

Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory

For over a thousand years Lough Derg, County Donegal, Ireland, has been a place of pilgrimage, where the faithful come to walk in the footsteps of Ireland's beloved patron saint. Legend says that it was here St. Patrick spent forty days and nights in prayer and fasting and faced many temptations. In the end, he was given a vision of Purgatory that he might share with the Irish people. Throughout the centuries pilgrims came to Lough Derg, and after intense fasting and constant prayer, were led into Patrick's "Purgatory"-the cave where he prayed-and left there over night with hopes of achieving a vision. Although the cave has long since been filled in, pilgrims still visit Lough Derg to this day. In The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory, originally published in 1917, Shane Leslie has collected several tales surrounding the ancient pilgrimage site.

The Legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory is available here.

The Piper Came to Our Town, a Book of Bagpipe Folklore

Joanne, your blog host at St. Patrick's Day History, has just released a new book of folklore and mythology that is all about bagpipes and pipers!

Barnes and Noble and Amazon are the first of the major booksellers to have The Piper Came to Our Town listed.

You can learn more about the book by visiting Bagpipe Folklore, Legends, and Fairy Tales. There you will find vintage photos, engravings, and other images of bagpipes and pipers from around the world, as well as stories, legends, and true-life tales related to piping.