The Fireside Stories of Ireland
Patrick Kennedy
Paperback
(Forgotten Books, Nov. 17, 2016)
Excerpt from The Fireside Stories of IrelandA more correct title for the present collection would be "The Fireside Stories of the Aryan peoples, as related in Ireland," for nearly every one of them is told in some shape at the social gatherings of Hindoos, Persians, Slavonians, or Teutons. Their skilful framework and the rapid succession of their incidents may in fact account for their popularity, which has endured from a period ages before the commencement of the Christian era. They enjoy a vitality unknown to fictions invented within historic times.Country folk of the small-farmer and peasant class resort to their neighbours' houses during the long winter evenings, urged by the same want which sends the shopkeepers and mechanics of a city to the reading or tap-room, or the theatre. They soon exhaust the local topics, but are unwilling to withdraw to the comparative loneliness of their own homes; and if one of the company possesses the faculties of a good memory and a good utterance, and condescends to tell a story, he or she is a social benefactor for the time. In this way the great body of fireside lore has been preserved, notwithstanding the small number of good story-tellers in any neighbourhood. Where the office devolves on an incompetent narrator, a change for the worse ensues.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com