Courage & Bravery
Stories in which characters face fear, danger or pressure. Their choices invite discussion of preparation, help and responsibility as well as bold action. Ask what each character risks, who else bears the consequences, and whether a dramatic victory resolves the original problem. Consult the story’s audience guidance before choosing.
Celtic Folk Tales
The Shee an Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire
To win the king of Ireland’s daughter, the Shee an Gannon must find out why the Gruagach Gaire, whose laugh once filled the world, stopped laughing.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Huntsman’s Son
Fergus, a huntsman’s son, gives shelter to three strange guests one stormy night, and each repays him when he tries to win a proud princess at Tara.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Horned Women
Late one night twelve horned witches come knocking, take over a woman’s kitchen and spin by her fire, until the Spirit of the Well tells her what to do.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener
A gardener’s youngest son hunts a golden bird with the help of a talking fox, and keeps landing in trouble because he can never resist a golden prize.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Farmer of Liddesdale
A desperate farmer hires the first stranger who knocks, a ploughman who sniffs his stakes and asks a strange wage: all the corn he can carry in one rope.
Celtic Folk Tales
The Battle of the Birds
A prince promises his future son to a giant in exchange for moving a magical castle. Years later, Auburn Mary helps that son escape impossible tasks and reclaim a lost memory.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Princess Finola and the Dwarf
A mute dwarf who loves the lonely Princess Finola is given back his speech by a fairy and sets out for a magic spear and shield to break her enchantment.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Paddy O’Kelly and the Weasel
Paddy O’Kelly pockets a heap of gold that a weasel has piled on a hearth, and the angry creature turns out to be far more than she seems.
Celtic Folk Tales
Munachar And Manachar
Munachar sets out to punish greedy Manachar for eating his raspberries, but every helper he needs asks for something first, all the way to a leaky sieve.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Jack and His Comrades
Poor Jack sets off to seek his fortune and rescues a donkey, a dog, a cat and a cock, and together the five comrades rout a gang of robbers.
Celtic Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Guleesh
Guleesh rides with the fairy host to France to steal a princess on her wedding night, outwits the fairies, then must find a way to give her back her voice.
Celtic Folk Tales
Conal Yellowclaw
Caught stealing the King of Lochlann’s brown horse, Conal Yellowclaw wins his three sons’ lives one by one by telling of the narrowest escapes of his life.