Sacred Texts  Legends and Sagas  Celtic 

Folk Tales of Brittany

by Elsie Masson

[1929]


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This selection of folk-tales from Brittany by Elsie Masson, vividly illustrated by pen and ink drawings, is an enjoyable read. The usual folklore themes with Celtic influence are present and accounted for; humble peasants, magic livestock, enchanted castles, evil husbands, brave children, star-crossed lovers, and tricky fairies. Particularly the latter. For some reason the Breton fairies seem to have a more hostile, darker edge, than elsewhere in the Celtic region...

This book was true find. I had ordered a copy of Legends and Romances of Brittany, by Lewis Spence, the only readily available Enlish language source on this topic in the public domain that I could locate. The same day that the Spence book arrived, this one showed up at a local used bookstore--not the first time this kind of serendipity has occurred.

--John Bruno Hare, September 1st, 2004.


Title Page
Foreword
Contents
Illustrations
The Castle of Comorre
The Basin of Gold and The Diamond Lance
Lady Yolanda's Thimble
The Witch of Lok Island
Little White-Thorn and the Talking Bird
Princess Ahez and the Lost City
The Changeling
The Foster Brother
The Hunchback and the Elves
The Four Gifts
The Magic Rocks and the Beggar
The Country Bumpkin and the Hobgoblin
The Wasp, the Winged Needle and the Spider
Yannik, the Fairy Child
The Hazel Scepter