Fairies

Stories tagged Fairies:

• The Fairy Rath of Keshcorran Aug 13, 2025

  

  On the slopes below Keshcorran, where caves breathe out air cold as a well, sits a green ring in the grass—a rath, neat as a coin on a table. Cattle give it a wise berth; so did men, until a certain year when butter ran thin and a farmer’s patience ran thinner.

  Pádraig Ó Hehir, who had more sons than spoons and a thatch that could use three new bundles, eyed the rath with a measuring look. “It’s dry ground,” he told his wife. “I’ll move the shed to the top. What harm can a circle of old earth do?”

• The Fairy Tree of Dooros Aug 10, 2025

  

  In the heart of County Clare, near the village of Dooros, there stood an ancient hawthorn tree on a small hill overlooking the countryside. This was no ordinary tree, but a fairy tree – a sacred hawthorn that had been growing in that spot since time immemorial, its gnarled branches twisted into fantastic shapes by centuries of Irish wind and weather.

  The local people knew well enough to leave the tree alone. Their grandparents had told them stories of the fairies who lived within its branches, and their grandparents’ grandparents had told the same tales. The tree was beautiful in spring when it bloomed with white flowers that seemed to glow in the moonlight, and even in winter its bare branches had a mystical quality that made travelers pause and cross themselves as they passed.