Darby O'Gill and the Crocks of Gold

Herminie Templeton Kavanagh

Illustrated by Ted Schluenderfritz

Old as Ireland but written down only a century ago, these whimsical Irish folktales bring you the jumble and tumble of men and magical creatures who walk the lanes of the Emerald Isle by day and wander its fields by night.

Henpecked husbands scheme to get rich; ghosts roam the land seeking rest. There are fortune-tellers and fairies, leprechauns and laggards, and priests - wise old Irish priests - straining their wits to contain the strange tumult of it all and to bring to their charmed land a measure of order and peace.

In one tale, two lads in a pub play cards with the Devil, who wins the sound of the bell they're taking to the local church. The bell's rude new sounds disrupt the parish until clever Fr. O'Leary wins the old sound back.

In another tale, Jerry O'Flynn finds that his pig Charles is a magician trapped in a pig's body. Soon both are locked in a life-and-death struggle against the enchanter who trapped the magician there.

In yet another story, a terrified Darby O'Gill and Bothered Bill Donohue dig for crocks of gold in the ruins of an abbey. Just after midnight the Devil, tall as a tree and breathing fire, comes to snatch them. How they escape is for you to find out.

Haunted abbeys, mournful ghosts, deadly brigands, enchanted gold, and a host of fairies and leprechauns. Add to them a few wily old priests and scampish Darby O'Gill, and you wind up with this hilarious collection of wild and improbable adventures that's sure to delight children and grown-ups alike!