Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland

Lady Gregory

Lady Augusta Gregory (15 March 1852 - 22 May 1932), was an Irish dramatist and folklorist. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrote numerous short works for both companies. Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology. Born into a class that was identified closely with British rule, her interest in the language and the legends of the local area was fostered early in her life by her nanny. After the death of her husband, her interest in the language and folklore was re-ignited. Lady Gregory is mainly remembered for her work behind the Irish Literary Revival. Many of the diaries and journals she kept for most of her adult life have been published, providing a rich source of information on Irish literary history during the first three decades of the 20th century. This edition of Lady Gregory's Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland is a collection of stories and folklore that she had gathered from the local Irish inhabitants.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Sea Stories
• Seers And Healers
• The Evil Eye--The Touch--The Penalty
• Away
• Herbs, Charms And Wise Women
• Astray And Treasure
• Banshees And Warnings
• In The Way
• The Fighting Of The Friends
• The Unquiet Dead
• Appearances
• The Fool Of The Forth
• Forths And Sheoguey Places
• Blacksmiths
• Monsters And Sheoguey Beasts
• Friars And Priest Cures
• Notes (W.B. Yeats)
• Witches And Wizards And Irish Folk-Lore (W.B. Yeats)
• Swedenborg, Mediums And The Desolate Places (W.B. Yeats)