Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales (Reading A)

Connla and the Fairy Maiden:

Connla was the son of a king and one day he heard a maiden’s voice call out to him to join him in the Plain of Pleasure where no one aged or died.
He wished to join but the king had a Druid come and do a spell to make the maiden’s voice disappear
She returned later and once again called out to Connla and even though his father was against it, he wished to join the maiden.
She convinced him to join him so he did and they rode away into the sun and were never seen again

The Field of Boliauns:

As Tom was walking along he saw a Leprechaun
Tom grabbed the leprechaun and made him show him where his money was
The leprechaun showed him which boliauns with was under and tom marked it with his garter and made the leprechaun swear he wouldn’t move it
When Tom returned he did not see any boliauns with a garter on it
He returned home with his spade empty-handed

The Horned Woman:

A woman was at home when there was a knock on her door. When she answered she saw that it was a witch with one horn
More and more witches came and walked into her home and sat down to spin until there were twelve witches; the first with one horn and the last with twelve.
The witches spell the women and she was unable to move or speak until they ordered her to make them a cake
As she fetched water from the well she called to the spirits to help her get rid of the witches
They fled but later came back but the woman had prepared her home for their spells this time
The home was protected from the witches so they fled and never came back

The Shepard of Myddvai:

A Shepard saw three beautiful maidens come from the lake and tried to offer one of them some bread
She did not like it and ran away
The next day he took some better bred to the maidens but they did not like it and ran away
The third time he found bread floating near the shore and gave it to a maiden who then promised to become his wife if he was able to tell her apart from her sisters the next day
They married but she said she would leave if he struck her three times
For many years they were happy but a couple times he had tapped her on the shoulder and when he did it the third time she left him

Source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

Mythology & Folklore