Transcriber's Note:
1. A detailed list of typographical corrections and other transcriptionnotes appears at the end of this e-text.
2. Hover a mouse over the underlined Celtic phrase to see a translation.
MORE CELTIC
FAIRY TALES
SAY THIS
Three times, with your eyes shut
Moṫuiġim bolaḋ an Éireannaiġ ḃinn ḃreugaiġ
faoi m'ḟóidín dúṫaiġ
And you will see
What you will see
MORE CELTIC
Fairy Tales
JOHN D. BATTEN
New York: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
London: D. NUTT
1895
[Rights of translation and reproduction reserved]
To
THE MANY UNKNOWN
LITTLE FRIENDS
I HAVE MADE
BY THE FORMER BOOKS
OF THIS SERIES
Preface
or the last time, for the present, I givethe children of the British Isles a selectionof Fairy Tales once or still existingamong them. The story store of GreatBritain and Ireland is, I hope, nowadequately represented in the four volumes which havewon me so many little friends, and of which this is thelast.
My collections have dealt with the two folk-lore regionsof these Isles on different scales. The "English" region,including Lowland Scotland and running up to the Highlandline, is, I fancy, as fully represented in "English" and"More English Fairy Tales" as it is ever likely to be.But the Celtic district, including the whole of Ireland andthe Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, still offers a richharvest to the collector, and will not be exhausted for manya long day. The materials already collected are far richerthan those which the "English" region afford, and it has[viii]accordingly been my aim in the two volumes devoted tothe Celts, rather to offer specimens of the crop than toexhaust the field.
In the present volume I have proceeded on much thesame lines as those which I laid down for myself incompiling its predecessor. In making my selection Ihave attempted to select the tales common both to Erinand Alba. I