Celtic Fairy Tales: 20 classic stories including The Black Cat, Lutey and the Mermaid, and The Fiddler in the Cave

The Celts have a rich storytelling tradition, and this collection of fairy tales from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, and Brittany showcases their romantic artistry. Each story is retold by Neil Philip and has a common Celtic heritage in its love of extravagance, poetry, quick wit, and daring sense of adventure. The tales include familiar stories with a Celtic twist, such as Duffy and the Devil and The Black Cat, as well as new and strange stories, such as Lutey and the Mermaid and The Little Bird. The Irish tale of The Soul Cages is particularly riveting, as it involves a fisherman making friends with one of the sea-people, Coomara, and using that friendship to free the souls of drowned sailors. Illustrated in watercolour and gold by acclaimed artist Isabelle Brent, these tales are full of Celtic magic.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 144 pages
\n Publication date: 15 December 2020
\n Publisher: Anness Publishing
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An Irish proverb tells us that a tale is more precious than the wealth of the world, and judging from the richness of their storytelling traditions, the Celts have always believed this. In fairy tales, as in music, the romantic artistry of the Celts came to full flower. In this wonderful collection of fairy tales from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, and Brittany, we meet heroes and villains, princes and paupers, enchanting creatures and magical mermaids. Each story has been retold by Neil Philip and displays a common Celtic heritage in their love of extravagance and poetry, their quick wit and their daring sense of adventure. Here, retold much as they were around Celtic peat fires a hundred years ago, are the enthralling tales of Fair, Brown, and Trembling, The Brown Bear of the Green Glen, and The Ship That Went to America. Some of the stories give familiar tales a Celtic twist: Duffy and the Devil is a comic Cornish take on the Rumpelstiltskin story; The Black Cat is a dark and mysterious Breton Cinderella. Others seem new and strange: the doomed love of Lutey and the Mermaid, or the mystic rapture of The Little Bird. Perhaps most riveting of all is the Irish tale of The Soul Cages, in which a fisherman makes friends with one of the sea-people, Coomara, and uses that friendship to free the souls of drowned sailors, kept by Coomara in lobster pots in his house beneath the waves. Illustrated in watercolour and gold by acclaimed artist Isabelle Brent, these tales are full of Celtic magic.

\n Weight: 652g\n
Dimension: 182 x 262 x 18 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781861478757\n \n