a less whimsical illustration that encapsulates the fun of searching an archive of over 15

The Archive...

Have a wander through the Fireside folktale archive below, and see what you stumble into. Use the filters to narrow the world down, or fling the doors wide and browse by country, region, theme, collector, or whatever takes your fancy, then let the table do the rest. A few clicks can carry you from storm-tossed coasts to mountain villages, from clever tricksters to quiet miracles, and you will often find that the story you meant to read is not the one that chooses you.

Archive under construction...

Structured Filters

Use these drop down lists to choose one or more filters to select groups of tales to investigate in more detail

Other than my own versions of tales (as indicated), the stories in this archive are in the public domain

Stories in this view:

3988

Title	Book	Author / Collector	Country	Subject	Year
Friar Brian	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Friar Brian: clerical cunning, mischief, popular religion, humour, friar lore, sharp wit, trickery, human weakness, satire, earthy devotion	1896
The Poor Widow And Grania Oï	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Poor Widow And Grania Oï: poverty, widowhood, compassion, female power, otherworld aid, justice, charity, hardship, blessing, folk piety	1896
The Farmer's Son And The Bishop	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Farmer’s Son And The Bishop: class encounter, humility, church authority, wit, rural life, social contrast, clever speech, morality, innocence, satire	1896
Knock Mulruana	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Knock Mulruana: sacred place, local legend, place lore, holiness, landscape, memory, miracle, communal belief, origin tradition, Irish locality	1896
The Beetle, The Dhardheel, And The Prumpolaun	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Beetle, The Dhardheel, And The Prumpolaun: animal fable, comic debate, small creatures, personification, absurdity, folk humour, quarrel, verbal play, hierarchy, imaginative nonsense	1896
Dialogue Between Two Old Women	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Dialogue Between Two Old Women: age, memory, poverty, wit, complaint, resilience, folk wisdom, social hardship, female voices, mortality	1896
Legends Of St Deglan	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Legends Of St Deglan: saintly miracles, pilgrimage, local cult, holiness, healing, sacred landscape, devotion, legend cycle, divine favour, regional tradition	1896
God Spare You Your Health	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	God Spare You Your Health: irony, blessing, hardship, dark humour, poverty, endurance, folk speech, suffering, resilience, social commentary	1896
The Lady Of The Alms	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Lady Of The Alms: charity, noble generosity, hidden holiness, compassion, social duty, blessing, humility, feminine virtue, Christian mercy, reward	1896
The Adventures Of Leithin	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Adventures Of Leithin: beast lore, transformation, wandering, wonder, cunning, survival, strange encounters, animal world, quest, archaic folklore	1896
The Death Of Bearachan	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Death Of Bearachan: mortality, saintly conflict, curse or judgement, fate, vengeance, moral consequence, local legend, death lore, reputation, warning	1896
How Saint Moling Got His Name	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	How Saint Moling Got His Name: naming legend, saintly childhood, identity, miracle, holy destiny, origin tale, innocence, providence, reputation, sacred biography	1896
Shaun The Tinker	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Shaun The Tinker: travelling life, outsider figure, wit, poverty, improvisation, social margins, humour, resilience, craft, folk cunning	1896
Mary's Well	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Mary’s Well: holy well, healing, pilgrimage, Marian piety, sacred water, blessing, local devotion, miracle, purity, landscape holiness	1896
Oscar Of The Flail	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Oscar Of The Flail: strength, labour, rustic heroism, martial spirit, comic bravado, physical prowess, challenge, peasant life, reputation, folk hero	1896
The Comparison As To Ages	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Comparison As To Ages: age, time, creation memory, ancientness, boasting, continuity, biblical imagination, wonder, oral tradition, cosmic scale	1896
How The First Cat Was Created	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	How The First Cat Was Created: creation legend, animals, household life, vermin, divine order, folk invention, humour, necessity, origin myth, domestic folklore	1896
Saint Peter	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Saint Peter: apostolic legend, heavenly authority, justice, humility, divine testing, popular religion, moral lesson, Christian folklore, mercy, judgement	1896
St Patrick And Crom Dubh	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	St Patrick And Crom Dubh: conversion, paganism versus Christianity, saintly power, contest, tyranny, sacred triumph, Irish mythic memory, miracle, confrontation, moral victory	1896
The Buideach, The Tinker, And The Black Donkey	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Buideach, The Tinker, And The Black Donkey: trickery, travelling folk, bargaining, poverty, comic deceit, animal companion, rustic life, cunning, misfortune, social satire	1896
The Great Worm Of The Shannon	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Great Worm Of The Shannon: monster legend, river lore, heroic struggle, fear, sacred intervention, landscape myth, communal peril, wonder, Irish locality, marvel	1896
The Old Hag Of Dingle	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Old Hag Of Dingle: hag figure, coastal folklore, supernatural old woman, fear, local legend, ambiguity, curse, otherworld presence, place lore, uncanny power	1896
St Patrick And His Garron	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	St Patrick And His Garron: saint and animal, humility, travel, companionship, rustic comedy, holy journey, folk miracle, simplicity, loyalty, everyday sainthood	1896
Teig O'Kane And The Corpse (2)	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Teig O’Kane And The Corpse: death, ghostly encounter, obligation, fear, burial, supernatural journey, penance, humour, otherworld, moral reckoning	1896
The Minister And The Gossoon	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Minister And The Gossoon: child wit, clerical authority, humour, verbal sparring, innocence, social contrast, folk wisdom, satire, religion, rural life	1896
Prayer After Tobacco	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	Prayer After Tobacco: everyday devotion, humour, habit, gratitude, rustic piety, ordinary ritual, bodily pleasure, religious language, folk prayer, domestic life	1896
The Gambler Of The Branch	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Gambler Of The Branch: risk, chance, temptation, fate, boasting, bravado, downfall, supernatural undertone, moral warning, folk drama	1896
The Old Woman Of Beare	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Old Woman Of Beare: age, lament, sovereignty echoes, loss, memory, landscape, female endurance, mortality, poetic folklore, ancient Ireland	1896
The Minister's Son	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Minister’s Son: inheritance, family expectation, religion, moral testing, youth, pride, repentance, social standing, change, fate	1896
The Priest Who Went To Do Penance	Legends of Saints & Sinners	Douglas Hyde	Ireland	The Priest Who Went To Do Penance: sin, penance, pilgrimage, temptation, supernatural trial, repentance, clerical duty, suffering, redemption, moral warning	1896
Legend Of The Living Spectre	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Living Spectre: bilocation, wonder, death afar, and supernatural transport.	1910
Legend Of The Puente Del Clérigo	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Puente Del Clérigo: forbidden love, jealous murder, remorse, and haunting memory.	1910
Legend Of La Mujer Herrada	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of La Mujer Herrada: diabolic punishment, shame, and bodily transformation.	1910
Legend Of The Callejón Del Padre Lecuona	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Callejón Del Padre Lecuona: charity, mystery, and a soul trapped in death.	1910
Legend Of The Calle De La Machincuepa	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle De La Machincuepa: scandal, inheritance, public humiliation, and greed.	1910
Legend Of The Aduana De Santo Domingo	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Aduana De Santo Domingo: dead love, grief, and miraculous completion from beyond death.	1910
Legend Of The Mulata De Córdoba	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Mulata De Córdoba: beauty, sorcery, injustice, and miraculous escape.	1910
Legend Of The Accursed Bell	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Accursed Bell: sacrilege, divine punishment, and doom clinging to objects.	1910
Legend Of The Callejón Del Muerto	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Callejón Del Muerto: unfulfilled vows, posthumous duty, and restless repentance.	1910
Legend Of The Calle De La Quemada	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle De La Quemada: beauty, self-sacrifice, devotion, and love beyond appearances.	1910
Legend Of The Calle De La Cruz Verde	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle De La Cruz Verde: tragic love, marriage, and brief happiness shadowed by loss.	1910
Legend Of The Calle Del Puente Del Cuervo	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle Del Puente Del Cuervo: greed, ill-omen, and a lingering sinister familiar.	1910
Legend Of The Altar Del Perdon	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Altar Del Perdon: sacred art, mercy, repentance, and spiritual redemption.	1910
Legend Of The Calle De La Joya	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle De La Joya: love, temptation, lost treasure, and fatal desire.	1910
Legend Of Don Juan Manuel	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of Don Juan Manuel: jealousy, paranoia, murder, and damnation.	1910
Legend Of The Obedient Dead Nun	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Obedient Dead Nun: obedience beyond death, sanctity, and miraculous fulfilment.	1910
Legend Of The Calle De Los Parados	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Calle De Los Parados: dead lovers, constancy, and love persisting after death.	1910
Legend Of La Llorona	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of La Llorona: grief, loss, guilt, and eternal wandering lament.	1910
Legend Of The Callejón Del Armado	Legends of the City of Mexico	Thomas A. Janvier	Mexico	Legend Of The Callejón Del Armado: honour, vengeance, armed haunting, and violent justice.	1910
The Elephant And Other Animals	Literary Fables of Yriarte	Tomas de Iriarte	Spain	The Elephant And Other Animals: general satire, collective offence, types rather than individuals, moral instruction, sensitivity, social criticism, vanity, allegory, fairness, universality	1855

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