Old Celtic Romances

These are the old stories, the ones the bards sang around fires when the world was younger and magic still walked the hills of Ireland. This collection gathers tales from the Gaelic, preserving the strange, luminous quality of myths that have survived centuries of telling. The most famous here is "The Fate of the Children of Lir" - a tragedy of enchantment and sorrow. When Lir's second wife, Eva, grows jealous of his four beautiful children, she transforms them into swans. For three hundred years they must wander Ireland's waters, singing their heartbreaking song, until Christian bells finally free them from the spell. These are stories of deep feeling: a father's grief, a stepmother's cruelty, the ache of separation and the possibility of redemption. They are not fairy tales for children. They are the real thing, raw and strange and unforgettable.