From the battles of Nuada, king of the Tuatha de Danaan, to the arrival of St. Patrick, Lady Gregory presents the great tales of Ireland, telling them faithfully with the voice of the Irish countryside -- in "the manner of the thatched houses."

In the woods of Slieve Bladhma a boy was reared in secrecy, and taught the skills of the woods and the court. In his travels he met many friends, and many enemies -- above all the magical Aillen, chief of the Sidhe of Beinn Boirche . . . whose defeat might gain the young Finn, the Fair, his rightful place, as a king, a seer, and a poet