Irish Fairy Tales - Softcover

Finnian, the Abbott of Moville, went southwards and eastwards in great haste. News had come to him in Donegal that there were yet people in his own province who believed in gods that he did not approve of, and the gods that we do not approve of are treated scurvily, even by saintly men. He was told of a powerful gentleman who observed neither Saint's day nor Sunday. "A powerful person!" said Finnian. "All that," was the reply. "We shall try this person's power," said Finnian. "He is reputed to be a wise and hardy man," said his informant. "We shall test his wisdom and his hardihood." "He is," that gossip whispered—"he is a magician." "I will magician him," cried Finnian angrily. "Where does that man live?" He was informed, and he proceeded to that direction without delay. In no great time he came to the stronghold of the gentleman who followed ancient ways, and he demanded admittance in order that he might preach and prove the new God, and exorcise and terrify and banish even the memory of the old one; for to a god grown old Time is as ruthless as to a beggarman grown old. But the Ulster gentleman refused Finnian admittance. He barricaded his house, he shuttered his windows, and in a gloom of indignation and protest he continued the practices of ten thousand years, and would not hearken to Finnian calling at the window or to Time knocking at his door. But of those adversaries it was the first he redoubted. Finnian loomed on him as a portent and a terror; but he had no fear of Time. Indeed he was the foster-brother of Time, and so disdainful of the bitter god that he did not even disdain him; he leaped over the scythe, he dodged under it, and the sole occasions on which Time laughs is when he chances on Tuan, the son of Cairill, the son of Muredac Red-neck.

About the Author:

"James Stephens (February 9, 1882–December 26, 1950) was an Irish novelist and poet.

James Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism (Deirdre, and Irish Fairy Tales are often singled out for praise). He also wrote several books (The Crock of Gold, Etched in Moonlight, Demi-Gods) which are fiction, but loosely based on Irish fairy tales. "The Crock of Gold," in particular, achieved enduring popularity, and was frequently reprinted throughout the author's lifetime.

Stephens began his career as a poet under the tutelage of "Æ" (George William Russell); his first book of poems, "Insurrections," was published in 1909. His last book, "Kings and the Moon" (1938), was also a volume of verse. In the 1930's Stephens had some acquaintance with James Joyce, who found that they shared a birth year (and, Joyce mistakenly believed, a birthday). Joyce, who was concerned with his ability to finish what would later become Finnegans Wake, proposed at one point that Stephens assist him, with the authorship credited to JJ & S (James Joyce & Stephens, also a pun for the popular Irish whiskey made by John Jameson & Sons). The plan, however, never came to fruition, as Joyce was able to complete the work on his own. In the last decade of his life, Stephens found a new audience through a series of broadcasts on the BBC." (Quote from wikipedia.org)