Reading Notes: More Celtic Fairy Tales, Part B

"The Legend of Knockgrafton"

This story was about two different men with humps on their back. The first, Lusmore, was a kind man. One night he heard fairies singing and sang along with them. The fairies liked this so much that they removed his hump, gave him fine clothes, and improved his life. The second man, Jack Madden, was more mischievous and rude. When we heard about Lusmore, his family brought him to the fairies. When the fairies started singing, he interrupted their song instead of singing along. For this, the fairies punished him by giving him Lusmore's old hump, so that Jack would have two humps.

To me this story was a tale about being kind in life. Those who are kind in life are rewarded, while those who are not are punished.

(Fairy Bridge from Wikimedia)

Bibliography: "The Legend of Knockgrafton" from More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs