Told at feasts and gatherings by bards and storytellers, and handed down from generation to generation for centuries, Irish myths and legends are full of bold heroes, dastardly villains, fierce battles, and passionate romances. In this thrilling collection, Marie Heaney provides a sampling of one of the world's greatest literary traditions. She divides the stories into the three cycles scholars have established for Irish literature: the Mythological cycle, the Ulster cycle, and the Fenian cycle, providing a brief introduction to each. From the "Children of Lir," in which a king's four children are turned into swans by an angry stepmother, to "Bricriu's Feast," the bloody tale in which the champion of Ulster is determined, to "Oisin in the Land of Youth," about a man who is lured to the Land of Youth, only to return to his homeland centuries later and become withered and ancient, these stories are riveting. Patrick James Lynch's sweeping, dramatic illustrations reflect the glorious, beautiful, horrifying, or sometimes downright gory nature of the myths and legends of Ireland. If the nine tales themselves don't give readers delicious fodder for nightmares, the pictures will! For the truly insatiable, a section with further reading, source notes, and a pronunciation guide is provided. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter