"Darby O'Gill and the Good People" by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh (first published in McClure's Magazine, December 1901, as by Herminie Templeton; reprinted in The Idler, July, 1902; reprinted the collection Darby O'Gill and the Good People, 1903 [and in 1915 as by Heminie Templeton Kavanagh), later published as Darby O'Gill, 2006, as Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, and as Darby O'Gill and the Little People, 2006, as Herminie T. Kavanagh; reprinted in Fairies, edited by Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, 1991; reprinted in Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown. edited by Marvin Kaye, 1883; included in The Adventures od Darby O'Gill and Other Tales of Supernatural IrelandHeminie Kavanagh, 2009)
"Although only one living man of his own free will ever went among them there, still, any well-learned person can tell you that the abode of the Good People is in the hollow heart of the grrat mountain, Sleive-na-mon. that same one man was Darby O'Gill, a cousin of my own mother."
For some "mysterioue rayson". the fairies "soured on Darby, and took the eldest of his three foine pigs." They next week, thry took a second pipg, and the following week, the thiord, leaving Darby forcced to sell his cow Rosie to pay the rent. Before he could sell Rosie, the fsiries made away with her, too. So Darby, bold and desperate ion his anger, sought out the fairies in Sleive-na-mon, challenging them to meet his wrath. In his attempt to retreive Rosie, Darby found himself in the heart of Sleive-na-mon, trapped by the Little People. The fairies marched Darby before Brian Connors, King of the Fairies, blowing on his bagpipes. He was surrounded by thousands of fairies, but also by a number ofpeople from his own parish -- including his late sister-in-law, dead these past three years. "three things in the worruld banish sorrow -- love, whiskey, and music." Darby, the finest reel-dancer in all of Ireland, began to dance. The Fairie king was impressed with Darby but he could not let him go go; Darby was to spend the rest of his life among the fairies, who would nevertheless provide for Darby's wife and children by giving them a good sovereign every day of their lives.
Darby's stay with the Good People lasted six month's. His late sister-in-law bemoaned the fact that he was away from his wife, Bridget. But can Darby, the silver-tongued con man, be able to escape the hordes of Fairie?
The Darby O'Gill stories have entertained readers for a centruy and a quarter, but the charaacter is best known for being the subject of the 1959 Walt Disney film, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, directed by Robert Stevenson, wriiten by Lawrence Edward Watkin, and starring Albert Sharpe as Darby and Jimmy O'Dea as King Brian, and featuring Janet Munro and a pre-James Bond Sean Connery (his first leading role). The movie is considered one of Disney's best films, with Leonard Maltin calling it one of the best fantasies ever put on films. Disney himself spent three months studying Gaelic folklore at the Dublin Library and received input from seanchaithe (traditional Irish storytellers) as he developed the film.
"Darby O'Gill and the Good People" is available to read on the internet at many of the usual places.
Interesting, thanks. I've not seen the film, but have been aware of it, and did not know of the source fiction. (Unlike Patti's entry...to some extent, this is the week of filmed short fiction...)
ReplyDeleteI should also mention that the film's writer, Lawrence Edward Watkin, novelized his script for a Dell paperback in 1959 -- a book that I had read when issued and barely remember.
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