The King of Ireland's Son

The King of Ireland's Son is a children's novel published in Ireland in 1916 written by Padraic Colum, and illustrated by Willy Pogany. It is the story of the eldest of the King of Ireland's sons, and his adventures winning and then finding Fedelma, the Enchanter's Daughter, who after being won is kidnapped from him by the King of the Land of Mist.

The King of Ireland's Son
AuthorPadraic Colum
IllustratorWilly Pogany
CountryIreland
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's novel
Publication date
1916
Media typePrint (Hardcover)

The work is solidly based in Irish folklore, described as "his great synthesis of fireside tales",[1] and " a marvellous compendium of Irish folktales re-told".[2] The 1916 edition published by Henry Holt is interleaved with plates of illustrations in full colour.[3]

This is one of the classics of Irish children's literature, its magical stories winding in and out of each other from the start, when the careless 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

and 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.

Written in the years before 1916 in America by Colum, a close friend and colleague of some of those who led the Easter Rising, this was the ultimate calling-up of Irish mythology and legend, and, paired with James Stephens' Irish Fairy Tales, 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.

Another evolution from the original folktale was written by Brendan Behan, published in Brendan Behan's Island, 1962, pp. 136–141.

References
  1. Kiely, Benedict (October 1949), "The Core of Colum's Ireland", The Irish Monthly, 77 (916): 448, JSTOR 20516057
  2. O'Connor, Anne (April 1994), "The Lure of Lore", Books Ireland (176): 96–97, JSTOR 20626869
  3. Colum, Padraic (1916), The King of Ireland's Son, New York: Henry Holt
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