(Connla the Fiery Hair from Tooele Transcript Bulletin)
- "Connla and the Fairy Maiden"
- Connla the Fiery Hair
- son of Conn of the Hundred Fights
- meets a maiden only he can see who professes her love for him and asks him to go away with her
- plains of the ever living
- no death, no aging, everyone is happy
- hillfolk
- the king and others can hear the maiden but cannot see her
- Conn calls his druid Coran to cast spells so that the maiden cannot take his son
- maiden disappears but throws an apple to Connla before she goes
- after meeting the maiden Connla will not eat or drink anything but the apple
- regenerates everytime he eats it
- also will not speak when spoken to
- overwhelmed with longing for the maiden
- a month later the maiden visits Connla again on the plain of arcomin
- Conn asks Connla if he wants to go
- says he is caught up with longing for the maiden.
- eventually, Conn agrees and Connla and the fairy maiden cross the sea in her curragh or crystal canoe.
(Tom Fitzpatrick and the Leprechaun by Sarah McCormick)
- "The Field of Boliauns"
- I don't actually know what a boliaun is but Google seems to think it is some sort of flower
- other sources translate it as ragweed
- Story of Tom Fitzpatrick and his run-in with a leprechaun
- meets a leprechaun working on a shoe
- "little wee teeny tiny bit of an old man"
- Tom talks to the leprechaun and asks why he is working on holiday
- leprechaun basically tells him to mind his own business
- has a pitcher of beer he claims he made out of heath
- Tom asks for a taste and the leprechaun basically tells him to go away and worry about his farm work
- Tom almost leaves
- but instead, siezes the little man and demands for him to show him where his money is or he will kill him
- Leprechaun is fearful so he agrees
- leads Tom to a field full of Boliauns
- points to a specific Boliaun and tells Tom to dig under it and he will find gold
- Tom doesn't have a shovel so he ties a red garter around the Boliaun and threatens the leprechaun if he removes it while he is gone
- when Tom returns all of the Boliauns have red garters
- the leprechaun tricked him
- Storytelling Ideas: I liked both of these stories because of the appearance of the fair folk. I may combine these stories or others like "The Horned Women" - with the 12 horned witches, or "The Shepard of Myddvai" - with the women that come out of the lake. I just really like Celtic fair folk tales and want to use as many of these creatures and magical people as I can in my stories.
- Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).
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