In this volume Joseph Jacobs has proceeded on much the same lines as those which he laid down in compiling "Celtic Fairy Tales". In making his selection he attempted to select the tales common both to Erin and Alba. He included, as specimen of the Irish medi- eval hero tales, one of the three sorrowful tales of Erin: "The Tale of the Children of Lir." For the "drolls", or "comic relief", of the volume, he drew upon the inexhaustible Kennedy and the great J. F. Campbell, who still stands out as the most prominent figure in the history of the Celtic Fairy Tale. Jacobs attempted to do what the brothers Grimm did for Germany, so far as that was possible. In Jacob`s own words "The Celtic materials are so rich that it would tax the resources...
