A re-release of the second ever episode of Unreal, while I recover from illness. A new episode will come soon once my voice is back at full strength!

Giants sculpted our landscape. They are strong, and fierce, and can be terrifying if you’re unprepared. But anyone can defeat a giant – if you are clever enough to trick them…

The Story of Fionn and the Giant

• The Giant’s Causeway, Dublin Penny Journal
• A Legend of Knockmany, by William Carleton (and the original article)
• Joe Moore’s Story of Finn Macooilly and the Buggane, Manx Fairytales by Sophia Morrison
• Versions from the School’s Folklore Collection at Duchas.ie: 1, 2, 3, 4

The very rude Scottish poem featuring the giant-sized descendants of Fionn

Other Tales Mentioned

• The fall of the Viking chieftain Turgesius
• Maoil a Chliobain
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• Jack the Giant-killer
• Stingy Jack

All by Slainte from The Free Music Archive

• Theme Song – “The Butterfly”
• The Lark in the Morning / The Atholl Highlanders
• The Banshee / The Gravel Walks / The Old Copperplate

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The Banshee is one of Ireland’s most famous folkloric figures. A supernatural woman with a cry that foretells of death and devastation to those who hear it, stories about banshees have been terrifying listeners for hundreds of years. But has she always been this way?

Read the Podcast Script

Sources and Further Reading

• A Folklore Survey of County Clare by Thomas Johnson Westropp
• The Triumphs of Turlough translated by Standish Hayes O'Grady
• The Hostel of Da Choca translated by Whitley Stokes
• Annals of Loch Cé
• The Memoirs of Lady Ann Fanshawe
• Personal Sketches of His Own Times by Sir Jonah Barrington
• Keening Tradition
• "The Irish Funeral Cry" in The Dublin Penny Journal
• O'Brien's Irish-English Dictionary

Music

• The Butterfly – Sláinte
• Return Home - Moorland Songs
• The White Birch - Moorland Songs
• Mountain Solitude - Moorland Songs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.