Irish Tales. The Stories: Irish traveller tales are some of the oldest remnants of traditional oral culture. These stories have been recorded and adapted from original travelers the author met on the roads of rural Ireland. In addition to these tales, this book offers a poetic smorgasbord of Irish culture. The Background: With the disappearance of many itinerant crafts today is born a new integration honoring the old craft of story telling. These days, we can appreciate time-honored traditions that invite readers to enter a transcendent dreamtime. Such an invitation is always present for those who risk a continuous pilgrimage. That is the fearless way of the traveling people who constantly evoke an old way of life that has been displaced by emigration and industrial development. These fictional stories and poems mirror archetypal realities as well as anthropological portraits.