Week 13: Reading Part B: Celtic Tales

Andrew Coffey

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892)

• Quiet decent mind, that knew everything
• One day found himself in an area he did not recognize, but had his horse to help him
• In clearing, rain fell
• There he saw a light in the distance, and went to the home
• There was a chair in the home that had a good welcoming
• He heard his name being called, but there was nothing to be found
• Asked to tell a story
• If no story, the worse would happen to him
• With no story, out came a man out of a cabinet
• It was a man that had gone missing by falling overboard on a boat while fishing
• He ran away
• When he felt okay, he stopped to rest
• Under the tree he was sitting, he tucked himself in it, with the rain stopping
• Saw men with box, and inside the box was Patrick
• He was pale as could be
• The men created a fire, and they were going to roast Patrick
• Patrick began to say "Andrew Coffey"
• Demanded that he came down, and he did
• The 4 men left and he was left with patrick and he continued to spin him
• Patrick said he was burning
• Andrew asked questions on how he was there, and was just confused and did not tend to the fire
• Patrick found himself out of the fire
• Patrick and Andrew back in the cabin, him asking for a story

The Brewery of Eggshells

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892)

Mother with twins: Economist

• Shepherd's cot known by the name of Twt y Cwmrws ["Place of Strife"]
• Man and wife and had twins
• She did not like leaving her little ones, because of the tale of the haunting
• She rushed home and saw that everything looked to be normal
• The twins did not grow like they should have
• Mother went to see Wise Man of Llanidloes because her kids were not growing like they should be
• He knew everything and would give advise
• Wise man said that when she is getting dinner for the reapers, clear out the shell of a hen's egg and boil some potage in it, and then take it to the door as if you meant it as a dinner for the reapers
• See to see if she hears her twins talk that sounds nothing like it should
• If she hears something, then throw them in the lake
• Children talked to one another
• She threw them in the lake and goblins in their blue trousers came and saved their dwarfs and the mother had her own children back and so the great strife ended