Ireland has always been a nation of story-tellers. This magnificent anthology chronicles the development of a rich literary tradition, from the earliest folk-tales to James Joyce, Liam O'Flaherty, and the rising stars of the new generation.

William Trevor, novelist, short story writer, and dramatist, is the author of The Ballroom of Romance, Angels at the Ritz, The News from Ireland, and numerous other works.

• Introduction


• The Hour of Death


• Fionn in Search of his Youth


• Cromwell and the Friar


• The Girl and the Sailor


• The Four-leafed Shamrock and the Cock


• The Cow that ate the Piper


• Conal and Donal and Taig


• Adventures of a Strolling Player


• The Limerick Gloves


• The Death of a Devotee


• The Brown Man


• Green Tea


• Albert Nobbs


• The Sphinx without a Secret


• Philippa's Fox Hunt


• The Priest


• The Weaver's Grave


• The Dead


• My Little Black Ass


• The Triangle


• Bush River


• The Pedlar's Revenge


• The Fanatic


• Her Table Spread


• The Faithless Wife


• The Sugawn Chair


• Guests of the Nation


• The Majesty of the Law


• Pastorale


• The Hare-Lip


• The Poteen Maker


• The Ring


• Sarah


• Desert Island


• The Pilgrims


• Weep for our Pride


• Loser


• The Bird I Fancied


• Death in Jerusalem


• The Diviner


• An Occasion of Sin


• Irish Revel


• First Conjugation


• The Beginning of an Idea


• Life Drawing


• The Airedale


• Acknowledgements


• Index of Authors