The Three Daughters of King O'Hara

[pameladlloyd]

While looking for fairy lore about handkerchiefs in response to this post by asakiyume, I came across the following story on the SurLaLune Fairy Tales website: The Three Daughters of King O'Hara. This story is from the book Myths and Folklore of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin. I'd never come across this story before and was really delighted with it as it combines elements of a number of different fairytale motifs.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

SurLaLune is a lovely site; this is the second time I've been there. Really beautiful. And I see what you mean by the tale--it does have lots of motifs in it.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

A lot of my writing is based on fairytales, so the SurLaLune site is an important resource for me. I also love all the wonderful images of illustrations by amazingly wonderful artists like Dulac, Goble, Rackham, Tarrant, and Adrienne Ségur. (This last is a French artist who illustrated a couple of fairytale books published Golden. I grew up with these and they are just so wonderful.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes, I love fairytales too, and I know what you mean about the art. I loved the illustrations in Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book, and I love Howard Pyle's illustrations for The Wonder Book.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I love fairytales too

I can tell. :)

I love the way you are able to make connections between the beauty you find in the natural world around you and the Faerie Realm. So many of us lose that ability as we grow older, so that by the time we're twelve, there are very few left who can see these things. Or, at least, who'll admit to them. I can still remember being teased by the kids on the playground who noticed me talking to one of the trees; they just couldn't see that I was actually talking to a prince who'd been magically transformed into a tree, or maybe trapped in the tree.

The desert-dwelling fae are, I think, a bit more subtle, although they are there. Or, perhaps it's just that most of us who are recent immigrants to this region don't know what to look for.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The connection between other realms and the physical landscapes of this world, and then too with the cultures of the people our world, is fascinating. I wonder, indeed, about the sprits of the canyons and deserts.

non sequitur, but did you ever see Cold Fever? It has the most awesome Icelandic fairy in it.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

did you ever see Cold Fever? It has the most awesome Icelandic fairy in it.

Oooh! No. I will have to look for this. Thanks!