![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Seanachai tales cover the highlights from the construction of Newgrange (“a long, long time ago”) to the Easter Rebellion of 1916, the formative moment of present-day Ireland. The boy spends years tracking the elusive visitor down.īut the plot line is chiefly a vehicle for lessons in Irish history, Storyteller-style. The plot, such as it is, focuses on a young Irish boy entranced by a Storyteller who drops in one night, spins stories in return for a meal and a bed, and moves on. I thought of Eddie almost as soon as I started reading Ireland: A Novel, by Frank Delaney (Time Warner Books, 2004). Thickly bearded with minimal hairline and horn rim glasses, Eddie entered into his story with enough body language and facial contortion to bring listeners into the tale with him. ![]() His name is Eddie Lenihan, and he told us a story about Biddy Early, a folk healer who arranged a comeuppance for a disapproving curate. (There were just seven left in Ireland, he claimed at the time.) He was one of a vanishing breed of Celtic Storytellers, alias Seanachai, who trace their craft back to an era before writing came along. One pleasant evening in June 2001, I spent an hour in Ennis, Ireland, listening to a Seanachai spin folk stories. ![]()
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