This is Eddie Lenihan, folklorist and storyteller of Irish stories. He has collected and recorded more than 20,000 personal stories from Irish men and women, stories of their own first-hand experiences. What stories? Well, among them, fairy stories.
Are fairies real? If you talk with many Irish people, they will not answer that question "yes" or "no." Their answer will be related to someone they know whose life has seemingly been affected by fairies. Eddie told us a few, and our bus driver to Killarney Monday told us some more.
We heard a lot about "fairy forts."
"A Fairy Fort, also known as raths, are the ruins of old houses where the ancient Celts lived. It is believed that the Druids’ magic surroundings these raths. Although a superstition, many Irish believe that misfortune will come to anyone who disturbs these raths. These raths are located throughout Ireland." (found at http://www.romanceeverafter.com/Fairy%20Forts,%20Music%20&%20Language%20of%20Ireland.htm)
We heard story after story of people who had bulldozed a fairy fort and suffered early deaths or disease in themselves and loved ones. Every Irish man or woman we asked knew just where the local fairy forts were.
After hearing Eddie's stories, next day we travelled to Killarney, a 25,000-acre national park that felt like a fairy land. We rode in boats, horse-drawn carts, and listened to the wind through the heather and mountain gorse.
On the bus ride back to Cork, the driver stopped for us to show us this fairy fort! You can see (through the window, sorry) the trees are in a ring.
Whether or not they believe, the Irish respect fairies and don't ever want to meet them.
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