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 The book is split into two sections, covering the Irish Mythological Cycle of the Book of Invasions with the coming of the Tuatha De Danaan, whilst the second section details the later hero tales of Finn MacCumhail, the Fenian Cycle. 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."