This is a new and freshly published edition of this culturally important work by Joseph Jacobs, which is now, at last, again available to you.

Enjoy this classic work today. These selected paragraphs distill the contents and give you a quick look inside Celtic Fairy Tales:

The daughter of the king of France is to be married to-night, the handsomest woman that the sun ever saw, and we must do our best to bring her with us; if were only able to carry her off; and you must come with us that we may be able to put the young girl up behind you on the horse, when well be bringing her away, for its not lawful for us to put her sitting behind ourselves.

...The king gave her a years grace, and when that year was up he gave her another years grace, and then another; but a week or a day he would not give her longer, and she is eighteen years old to-night, and its time for her to marry; but, indeed, says he, and he crooked his mouth in an ugly way-indeed, its no kings son shell marry, if I can help it.

...He began thinking with himself what he ought to do, and he did not like to bring her home with himself to his fathers house, for he knew well that they would not believe him, that he had been in France and brought back with him the king of Frances daughter, and he was afraid they might make a mock of the young lady or insult her.

...When Guleesh said from what he saw he thought the girl was not satisfied with the marriage that was going to take place in the palace before he and the sheehogues broke it up, there came a red blush into the girls cheek, and he was more certain than ever that she had sooner be as she was-badly as she was-than be the married wife of the man she hated.

...The noise stopped; but as Tom looked sharply through the bushes, what should he see in a nook of the hedge but a brown pitcher, that might hold about a gallon and a half of liquor; and by-and-by a little wee teeny tiny bit of an old man, with a little motty of a cocked hat stuck upon the top of his head, a deeshy daushy leather apron hanging before him, pulled out a little wooden stool, and stood up upon it, and dipped a little piggin into the pitcher, and took out the full of it, and put it beside the stool, and then sat down under the pitcher, and began to work at putting a heel-piece on a bit of a brogue just fit for himself.