Island Stories
Tales and Legends from the West

The Aran and Blasket Islands have been a source of inspiration for writers and artists. Liam O’Flaherty, a world renowned author, based some of his finest stories on incidents from Aran life. John Millington Synge came to Aran and the Blaskets as a visitor and found in the character of the people the material from which he created his dramas. Sean O’Sullivan, the Folklorist, presents a selection of folktales, told in the natural idiom of the Seanchaí or storyteller who handed his stock of tales down to the next generation.