Eddie fired up by ‘endless’ wealth of Irish stories

Eddie Lenihan looks a bit like one of the characters from the colourful stories he regales children with in schools across Galway County and City. Small and wiry, with a wild beard and long hair, he’s a picture-perfect storyteller who could have been magicked straight of his collection, Fionn Mac Cumhail’s Tales from Ireland.

That has just been republished by Mercier Press alongside Fionn Mac Cumhail’s Epic Adventures and Fionn Mac Cumhail’s Amazing Stories.

The stories, which were out of print for some years, contain such gems as How the First Blackbird Came to Ireland, Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Making of the Burren and Taoscán Mac Liath and the Magic Bees. Costing just €4.99 each, they are designed to be read by children aged 7-9, having been simplified somewhat from the original versions.

These were the stories Eddie told to his own children when they were young, he explains over tea and biscuits at his home in Crusheen, just south of the Galway-Clare border.

Eddie drew on Irish tales for his children because they are great, exciting yarns. And, as he tells them, they offer something to adults too.

“The books, as they become more complex, work at two levels. The top level is for kids and the lower level, which is for adults, is a critique of society.”

In Eddies books, the High King of Ireland, Cormac, is like many modern-day leaders –    arrogant and indifferent to people’s suffering. Fionn Mac Cumhail and his army are there to carry out the “King’s stupid orders”, while the Druid is the person who holds it all together and steers Fionn and his gang back on the right path.

Eddie isn’t sure there is a Druid-type figure around these days, but he has no doubt that Cormac and Fionn are reflected in modern society.

Alan Clarke’s beautiful and quirky illustrations complement Eddie’s stories – they are imaginative, occasionally scary and drawn with warmth and humour.