Enchanted children’s stories

A new children's book which contains a chapter on every county in Ireland has launched this week.

Written by Kieran Fanning, the 32-chapter book delves into the fairytales and folklore at the core of Irish storytelling, with a Glangevlin cow at the heart of Cavan's story.

The chapter is inspired by the story 'The Cow and the Widow of Breffny' by Augusta Leonora Hunt which was originally published in 1912. Within his new story collection named 'Enchanted Ireland' primary school teacher Kieran has penned his own version. Cavan's chapter is entitled, 'The Cow of Plenty', and the story goes as follows.

Fado fado, there was an elderly widow who lived in Glangevlin along with her cow. The widow too wasn't well off, but survived off her animals and what little she had. Alas, the villain in the forms of a wealthy chieftain comes along and demands that all the villagers give their cow to be slaughtered, as foundation soil mixed with cow's blood created an "impenetrable" fort. The order went out, and the cows were brought for slaughter.

"So that their blood could be poured into the foundations, you know," explains Kieran, who is now fully immersed in telling the story as if it were yesterday.

The widow got one last bucket of milk before the chieftain's men came and stole her cow. When a thirsty traveller comes along shortly after, she gives him her last drop of milk.

As Kieran's story goes, the traveller had called to every home on route to the widow, however nobody could spare him some milk. To thank the widow for her kindness, she was rewarded with a cow that will give plenty of milk but never more than necessary.

He also put a curse on the chieftain, who met his end when a rock fell on him while building his fort. The following morning, a mythical cow with green spots named named the Glas Gaibhleann came and gave her the creamiest milk she had ever tasted. She milked the cow until the end of her days, and sure enough the milk never ran dry.

The neighbours too had been availing of the cow's resources, and when the widow passed, their greed got the better of them. One neighbour put a sieve under the cow, thinking she had outsmarted the animal into constantly providing milk. The next morning, the cow had disappeared through the hills of the village now known as Glangevlin. The gap, the book informs, later became known as the Gap of Glan.

"Seemingly it's where the place gets its name from," Kieran explains.

This is just one story in a collection of engaging and magical reads in Kieran's book, which is beautifully illustrated by Julia Iredale.

"It's magical stories and fairytales from every county in Ireland. It's a lot of the old traditional stories that you might know.. but there are also lots of new ones," Kieran assures.

The father of two says the book is aimed at children who are aged ten plus, due to some "dark enough stories" in some chapters. Kieran is originally from Wicklow and is now living in Navan, where he teaches third class pupils in Scoil Cholmcille. He tries to instil a love of stories and creativity in his pupils.

"Books would be a big part of what I do, telling stories. One of the big projects that I've been doing for the past 20 years is that each of the children I teach writes their own book," says Kieran, who enjoys telling his own stories to his classes.

The book 'Enchanted Ireland' launched on Thursday, October 9 and is available to purchase in all bookshops.