Forget everything you think you know about shiny, friendly fairies. This book is a collection of the real stuff—the stories Irish farmers, fishermen, and families told by the fireside. W.B. Yeats, acting more as a folklorist than a poet here, gathered tales of the Sidhe (the fairy folk), tricky leprechauns, terrifying ghosts, and helpful spirits. There's no single plot, but a journey through a world where the supernatural is just part of daily life. You'll meet a man who spends a night in a fairy fort, a woman helped by a ghost, and plenty of poor souls who learn the hard way not to mess with fairy magic.

Why You Should Read It

This book feels authentic. It's not polished or Disney-fied. The fairies here are capricious and dangerous; the morals are often stark. Reading it, you get a powerful sense of a culture that saw the world as inherently magical and a little frightening. Yeats' short introductions to each section are gold—they give you just enough context to understand why a story mattered, without over-explaining. It’s a window into the imagination of an entire people.

Final Verdict

Perfect for fantasy lovers who want to see the old bones of the genre, or anyone with Irish heritage curious about the stories of their ancestors. It’s also great for dipping in and out of—perfect bedtime reading, though maybe not if you scare easily! This is less of a book to race through and more of an experience to savor, one strange and wonderful tale at a time.