Giving voice to the fairies

Lifestyle – Storyteller Rab Fulton’s new book for children gives a fascinating insight into the world of fairies. He is besotted by homegrown folklore as he tells Judy Murphy.

“I’ve done a lot of research to try and get a sense of fairies,” says storyteller Rab Fulton of his latest book, West of Ireland Folk Tales for Children. Glasgow-born Rab has created a unique niche in Galway as a live storyteller since he moved here nearly two decades ago. He first came here for a summer with his English girlfriend Jennie, now his wife, about 19 years ago. “It was a neutral place,” he says with a laugh. “And, like so many people who come here, we very much get taken by it.”

Rab had grown up in Glasgow in a community where storytelling was woven into daily life. He went on to become a poet, writing and performing his own work. But when he moved to Ireland, his pronounced Glasgow accent meant people had problems understanding his poetry.

Instead, he began telling stories about the background to the poems as well as broader tales about Scotland. Audiences loved them. Rab continued to develop his storytelling, quietly, and without “any great plan”, until he became an integral part of the arts scene in his adopted city. He hosts regular scary storytelling nights for adults in the Crane Bar, and gives school and family performances in places like the National Museum in Mayo. He also lectures in storytelling at NUIG, with the BA Connect Project. And Rab writes stories based on folk tales and fairy lore.

His latest, West of Ireland Folk Tales for Children, will be launched in Galway City Library on February 3. Beautifully illustrated by Spiddal-based artist Marina Wild, it offers a broad sweep of folk stories from Galway and Mayo, giving an insight into the world of fairies and darker spirits.

It follows the success of Rab’s previous collection, 2013’s Galway Bay Folk Tales. That went to a second print run and encouraged him to focus on a children’s collection.

In the first half of his latest book, Rab explains how fairies came about and brings mythology to life using a storytelling style similar to that employed in the popular Horrible Histories series.

He’s an ideal person to write about fairies. As he gazes into the distance while contemplating his answers to questions during our interview, there’s something other-worldly and fey about Rab. But it’s just that he’s not used to analysing what he does, he explains, as he totally focuses on each question, answering in a Glasgow accent that’s undiminished by 19 years in Galway.

The general feeling about fairies, he concludes, is that they are angels who didn’t take sides in Heaven in the battle between God and Lucifer, and so have been forced to roam the earth until Judgement Day when their fate will be decided.

Rab is a subversive writer – in his heaven, God is a woman and, as he outlines how civil war broke out between God and Lucifer, he cautions young people against believing everything their elders tell them.  Being old doesn’t necessarily make you right, is the message.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.