Flynn Lally Paula - Irish Gothic Fairy Stories: From the 32 Counties of Ireland

IRISH
GOTHIC

FAIRY STORIES

Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize
whatever prey the heart long for, and have no
fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and
the earth is only a little dust under our feet.

William Butler Yeats

FAIRY STORIES

FROM THE 32 COUNTIES OF IRELAND

STEVE LALLY & PAULA FLYNN LALLY

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO PAULAS MOTHER AND STEVES FATHER, WHO ARE NO LONGER WITH US

CAIT FLYNN

(1947 2016)

PATRICK LALLY

(1945 1993)

First published 2018

The History Press Ireland

6-9 Trinity Street

Dublin 2

D02 EY47

Ireland

www.thehistorypress.ie

Steve Lally & Paula Flynn Lally, 2018

Illustrations Steve Lally and James Patrick Ryan

The right of Steve Lally & Paula Flynn Lally, to be identified as the Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9036 3

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed and bound by TJ International Ltd

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

PAULA FLYNN LALLY grew up in Forkhill, Co. Armagh. From a young age she would pack her small bag with a notebook and pencil and go through the fields and find a nice tree and sit under it and write for hours. Paula is a singer-songwriter who once upon a time had a hit with David Bowies Lets Dance. She is now back in the recording studio. She is a graduate from Dublin City University, and when leaving was awarded the Uaneen Fitzsimons Award. She worked for a spell in radio. Paula loves reading a good thriller, watching a scary movie and a decent BBC drama, and she loves nothing more than a good country song. She admires the work of Salvador Dali, Sean Hillen, David Shrigley, and Minton Sparks. She loves the poetry of Edna St Vincent Millay and Emily Dickinson and the music of The Carter Family, the Moldy Peaches, Gram Parsons and Nick Cave. The child inside her loves vintage dolls houses and Blythe Dolls. She has a 7-year-old son called Woody who keeps her heart young. He is an aspiring writer who sells his books from a stand made by granddad Sean and uncle Micky Flynn at the front of the house. Paula loves her cats, going to the seaside, and spending time with Steve. She appreciates the darkness and the light and she believes in the fairies.

STEVE LALLY was born in Sligo, the Kingdom of the Fairies; he later moved to Dublin and then settled in Rathcoffey, Co. Kildare. This is where his imagination flourished, fired by the landscape, ancient sites and stories. As a teenager he developed a love of gothic horror literature, music and film, spending the long, dark winter nights reading Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft and writing stories with the music of Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy filling the night air. He is a graduate of Limerick College of Art and Ulster University, and now resides in Ulster. Steve is an international storyteller and successful writer who has already written and illustrated three books on folklore. He loves classic horror movies. He enjoys the work of Arthur Rackham, Harry Clarke, Jean Michelle Basquait and Neil Gaiman. He admires the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh and Patrick Mac Gill and the music of Einstrzende Neubauten, David Bowie, Nick Cave and Planxty. He is kept on his toes by his 7-year-old daughter Isabella, who constantly asks him to tell her stories based on the wonderful characters that she creates. Like Paula, Steve appreciates the darkness and the light and he too has great respect for the Good People.

Long before I became a storyteller I learned to have great respect for the Good People, those from the otherworld.

I grew up in Co. Antrim listening to the story of how my eldest brother encountered a banshee the night before the death of his friends grandmother. I had to walk home from school past the very spot where it happened but I was always careful never to do it after dark. This was a tale he retold to me before his death some sixty years after the incident, and it was as vivid to him then as when it took place. How could I have any doubt?

As a child I was brought up on stories of magic and enchantment. My favourite film was Darby OGill and the Little People, even though the pooka and banshee terrified me and the fairies were very tricky. Little did I know then that I would end up becoming a storyteller, based in the Glens of Antrim close to Tiveragh, a hill famous as a fairy stronghold. Folk in the Glens do not like to talk about the other crowd, as my friend Eddie Lenihan calls them, but they know better than to cut down a lone thorn tree or to give away milk or a light on May Eve. Although we live in a world where scepticism is rife, tales of fairies playing hurling still survive and those of us who live here are proud of the rich folklore of the area.

As I travel throughout Ireland sharing stories, members of the public regularly tell me their own tales of magical encounters. There are many cautionary accounts about what happened to foolish people who cut down lone thorn trees. I have even been asked for advice about building a house on a site with a fairy tree and on one occasion how to deal with one that blew down in a storm. Even references to people who are away with the fairies refer back to tales of changelings that were left when human babies were stolen from their mortal homes. So, even in our hi-tech world, stories of the otherworld are still being told.

It is therefore very appropriate that we now have a collection of tales of the good folk gathered from every county in Ireland. This is no light-hearted Disney-like account of flittering winged creatures; these stories have been collected with respect by two people steeped in tradition. As an author and storyteller Steve Lally has proven his dedication to folklore, not simply by preserving the tales but by performing them to audiences of all ages. His co-author and wife Paula, a talented singer, grew up in the Ring of Gullion, an area of outstanding natural beauty, rich in mystery and fairy lore. By combining their talent and background knowledge they present a very readable collection, which will give a greater insight into the magical world of Irish fairies.