To Thomas Bodkin...

“Will you leave that donkey alone,” said Patsy Mac Cann to his daughter. “I never heard the like of it,” he continued testily. “I tell you the way you do be going on with the ass is enough to make a C...

“Will you leave that donkey alone,” said Patsy Mac Cann to his daughter. “I never heard the like of it,” he continued testily. “I tell you the way you do be going on with the ass is enough to make a C...

And yet it was but a short distance from where they camped that the angels first put foot to earth. It is useless to question what turmoil of wind or vagary of wing brought them to this desert hill in...

The remarkable thing about astonishment is that it can only last for an instant. No person can be surprised for more than that time. You will come to terms with a ghost within two minutes of its appea...

Her hair was not braided; it was tied at the neck with a piece of whitish cloth torn from some part of her clothing, and upon her shoulders it billowed and rolled in magnificent living abundance. Very...

The visitors had not awakened. Now the air was growing clearer; the first livid pallor of the dawn had changed to a wholesome twilight, and light was rolling like clear smoke over the land. The air lo...

It was the donkey awakened them. For some time he had been rolling along the ground in ecstasy; now his agitated legs were pointing at the sky while he scratched his back against little stones and clu...

It was true enough. Mac Cann was coming to them from a point at right angles to where he was expected. Now and again he turned to look over his shoulder, and as he was taking advantage of dips in the ...

Now at this moment Mary was devoured with curiosity. She wanted to know how her father had become possessed of the basketful of provisions. She knew that three shillings would not have purchased a tit...

In truth Patsy Mac Cann was a very able person. For forty-two years he had existed on the edges of a society which did not recognise him in any way, and, as he might himself have put it, he had not do...

It is to be remarked that the angels were strangely like Patsy Mac Cann. Their ideas of right and wrong almost entirely coincided with his. They had no property and so they had no prejudices, for the ...

It might be asked why Patsy Mac Cann permitted the strangers to remain with him. Now that they were dressed like himself he had quite forgotten, or he never thought of their celestial character, and t...

It may be surprising to learn that the names of the angels were Irish names, but more than eight hundred years ago a famous Saint informed the world that the language spoken in heaven was Gaelic, and,...

Early in the morning the sun had been shining gloriously, and there was a thump of a wind blowing across the road that kept everything gay; the trees were in full leaf and every bough went jigging to ...

Early in the morning the sun had been shining gloriously, and there was a thump of a wind blowing across the road that kept everything gay; the trees were in full leaf and every bough went jigging to ...

While this conversation had been taking place the others stood in a grave semicircle, and listened intently to their words. Caeltia, regarding the sky, intervened: “The rain will be here in a minute, ...

Inside the house was an earthen floor, four walls, and plenty of air. There were breezes blowing in the empty house, for from whatever direction a wind might come it found entrance there. There were s...

Said Finaun: “While generation succeeds generation a man has to fight the same fight. At the end he wins, and he never has to fight that battle again, and then he is ready for Paradise. “Every man fro...

Mac Cann was asleep, but when Finaun’s voice ceased he awakened and stretched himself with a loud yawn. “I didn’t hear a word of that story,” said he. “I heard it,” said Eileen Ni Cooley; “it was a go...

The ass stood quietly where he had been left. Rain was pouring from him as though he were the father of rivers and supplied the world with running water. It dashed off his flanks; it leaped down his t...

They shared the food: there was little of it, and some of it was wet; but they each had a piece of bread, a knuckle of cheese, and three cold potatoes. Mary said there was something wrong with her, an...

They continued their travels. It would be more correct to say they continued their search for food, for that in reality was the objective of each day’s journeying. Moving thus, day by day, taking prac...

They continued their travels. It would be more correct to say they continued their search for food, for that in reality was the objective of each day’s journeying. Moving thus, day by day, taking prac...

“I’ll tell you the story,” said Billy the Music, “and here it is: “A year ago I had a farm in the valley. The sun shone into it, and the wind didn’t blow into it for it was well sheltered, and the cro...

“This,” continued Billy the Music, “is the wonderful thing that happened to me. “Bit by bit I got fonder of the money. The more I got of it the more I wanted. I used to go away by myself to look at it...

Said Patsy: “There isn’t very much to tell, but this is how it happened. “About two weeks before your dog died myself and the girl were tramping up towards Dublin. We hadn’t got the ass with us that t...

Billy the Music did put another pinch of tobacco into his pipe, and after drawing on it meditatively for a few minutes he snuffed it out with his thumb and put it into his pocket. Naturally he put it ...

Said Caeltia: “When Brien O’Brien died people said that it did not matter very much because he would have died young in any case. He would have been hanged, or his head would have been split in two ha...

“And then,” said Mac Cann thoughtfully, “we came along, and they stole our clothes.” “That wasn’t a bad tale,” he continued to Caeltia. “You are as good a storyteller, mister, as the man himself,” poi...

“On a day long ago I laboured with the Army of the Voice. The first syllable of the great word had been uttered, and in far eastern space, beyond seven of the flaming wheels, I and the six sons drew t...

The search for work and food led them back, but by different paths, through Kerry, up into Connemara, and thence by stony regions to Donegal again and the rugged hills. Their days were uneventful but ...

The search for work and food led them back, but by different paths, through Kerry, up into Connemara, and thence by stony regions to Donegal again and the rugged hills. Their days were uneventful but ...

She did get food. She nourished her three children sumptuously, but she made them help her to get it. She looked at Finaun’s high nose, his sweeping beard, his air as of a good child well matured, and...

When Mac Cann saw the visitors he halted for an instant and then came forward very slowly, with his head on one side and his thumb rasping steadily on his chin. He was staring at Brien O’Brien, and as...

They walked through the evening. Dusk had fallen and in the drowsy half-lights the world stretched itself in peacefulness. They had come to a flat country that whispered in grass; there were no more o...

No one was awake. In the brazier a faint glow peeped from the white turf-ash; the earth seemed to be holding its breath, so still it was; the clouds hung immovably each in its place; a solitary tree n...

Mac Cann strode through the darkness for a little time, but when he found himself at sufficient distance from the camp he began to run. There was not very much time wherein to do all that he had engag...

Mary awakened early. The morning was grey and the sky flat and solid, with here and there thin furrows marking its gathered fields. She raised her head, and looked towards her father’s place, but he w...

That day they did not stay their travel, even to eat. Finaun was urgent, and they ate from their hands as they marched. The ass moved his slender legs briskly, the cart rumbled, and the metals in it c...