''The King of Ireland's Son'' is a children's novel published in Ireland in 1916 written by

Padraic Colum Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival. Early life Col ...

, and illustrated by

Willy Pogany William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...

. It is the story of the eldest of the

King of Ireland King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

's sons, and his adventures winning and then finding Fedelma, the Enchanter's Daughter, who after being won is

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

ped from him by the King of the Land of Mist. The work is solidly based in Irish

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, described as "his great synthesis of fireside tales", and "a marvellous compendium of Irish folktales re-told". The 1916 edition published by Henry Holt is interleaved with plates of illustrations in full colour.

Stories

This is one of the classics of Irish children's literature, its magical stories winding in and out of each other from the start in a long, epic and complex narrative. When the careless King of Ireland's son goes out, ''His hound at his heel,''
''His hawk on his wrist,''
''A brave steed to carry him whither he list,''
''The blue sky above him,''
''The green grass below him'' he meets an eccentric old man full of harmlessness and duplicity who invites him to a game of chess for whatever stake the winner might like. Characters like Flann, otherwise known as Gilly the Goat-Boy, the proud and heartless Lasarfhiona or Flame-of-Wine, the magical Spae-Woman and the vicious farmer who takes on Flann as a farmhand make this an entrancing, funny and always-remembered story. In the first segment, ''Fedelma, the Enchanter's Daughter'', the oldest son of the King of Ireland loses a wager against his father's enemy and should find him in a year and a day's time. He is advised by a talking eagle to spy on three

swan maiden The swan maiden is a mythical creature who shapeshifts from human form to swan form. The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached. In folktales of this type, the male character spies the maiden, ...

s that will descend on a lake. They are the daughters of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands, the wizard the prince is looking for. The prince is instructed to hide the swanskin of the swan with a green ribbon, who is Fedelma, the Enchanter's youngest daughter. After arriving at the Enchanter's kingdom, he promises marriage to Fedelma, resisting her sisters', Aefa and Gilveen, advances, and is forced to fulfill three difficult tasks to the Enchanter. In the chapter ''The Unique Tale'', the Spae-Woman tells the heroes the following story: a queen wishes for a blue-eyed, blonde-haired daughter, and carelessly wishes her sons to "go with the wild geese". As soon as the daughter (named ''Sheen'', 'Storm') is born, the seven princes change into gray wild geese and fly away from the castle. It is later revealed that Sheen changed her name to ''Caintigern'' and became Queen when she married the King of Ireland, who, in turn, is the father of two of the main characters: the King of Ireland's Son and Gilly of the Goatskin ('' Gilla Na Chreck An Gour''). The seven wild geese are, thus, their uncles.Colum, Padraic. ''The King of Ireland's Son''. New York: H. Holt and Company, 1916. pp. 287-295

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Reception

Written in the years before 1916 in America by Colum, a close friend and colleague of some of those who led the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

, this was the ultimate calling-up of Irish mythology and legend, and, paired with James Stephens' ''

Irish Fairy Tales Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

'', made many happy hours for children curled up before glowing turf fires to read by the light of Tilley lamps in the long winter evenings of the new Ireland.

Adaptations

Another evolution from the original folktale was written by

Brendan Behan Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ga, Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English an ...

, published in

Brendan Behan's Island Brendan may refer to: People * Saint Brendan the Navigator (c. 484 – c. 577) was an Irish monastic saint. * Saint Brendan of Birr (died 573), Abbot of Birr in Co. Offaly, contemporaneous with the above * Brendan (given name), a masculine given na ...

, 1962, pp. 136–141.

External links

* * ''The King of Ireland's Son'' at Sacred Texts http://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/kis/index.htm *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King of Ireland's Son, The 1916 novels Irish children's novels Novels set in Ireland 20th-century Irish novels 1916 children's books Swan maidens Children's books set in Ireland Children's books about princes