The Laughter of Peterkin: A retelling of old tales of the Celtic Wonderworld

In Short

Frame-narrated through the imaginative young boy Peterkin, who listens to the storyteller Ian Mor and the beloved Elicit-teller Eilidh, this collection retells the famous "Three Sorrows of Story-Telling" from Celtic mythology. Across three major epics, four royal siblings are cursed into swans by a jealous stepmother, three brothers pay an impossible blood-price across distant lands, and a doomed maiden flees a tyrannical king alongside her tragic lover. The work endures because it preserves the melancholy beauty, heroic grace, and lyrical oral traditions of the Gaelic people.

The Story

The book opens with Peterkin, a boy whose active imagination turns moonbeams into golden threads and poplar trees into multi-armed shapes with seven starlit eyes. As he grows up surrounded by the storytellers, shepherds, and fishermen of Loch Fyne and Strachurmore, his mind becomes filled with Celtic folklore. His favorite tales are the legendary "Three Sorrows of Story-Telling," which Ian Mor and Eilidh recount to him as they sit around the glowing peat fire.

The first tale, "The Four White Swans," relates the tragedy of the children of King Lir: Fionula and her three brothers, Aed, Fiachra, and Conn. Jealous of Lir's deep affection for his offspring, their stepmother Aeifa uses a dark druidical wand to transform the four children into snow-white swans as they bathe in a lake. Condemned to drift across icy seas for hundreds of years, Fionula shelters her young brothers beneath her light wings through freezing gales. Even after their people, the Tuatha-De-Danann, fade away and their father dies, the swans endure their fate with mournful song until the long ages of their exile draw to a close.

The second narrative, "The Fate of the Sons of Turenn," is set in an earlier age when Balor of the Evil Eye and the black-bearded Fomorian pirates exact heavy tribute from King Nuadh of the Silver Hand. Amidst impending war, three comely brothers—Brian, Ur, and Urba—encounter their rival Kian, who magically transforms himself into a pig to evade them. Brian turns his brothers into gaunt hounds, tracks Kian down, and slays him. To pay the blood-eric demanded by Kian's powerful son, Lu of the Long Hand, the three brothers must travel across perilous foreign oceans to acquire legendary artifacts, including a magic Healing Skin. Though they heroically fulfill every impossible requirement, they return to the shores of Erin mortally wounded. Lu cruelly refuses to lend them the Healing Skin, leaving the brothers to perish together in their father's arms.

The final tale, "Darthool and the Sons of Usna," centers on the tragic destiny foretold by Cathba the Druid. King Concobar MacNessa spares the infant Darthool despite a prophecy that her great beauty will bring ruin to the kingdom. He isolates her in a hidden forest lios, intending to marry her when she comes of age. However, Darthool falls in love with the hero Nathos, son of Usna. With his brothers Ailne and Ardan, Nathos rescues Darthool, and the lovers flee across the sea to Alba. King Concobar feigns forgiveness and invites the brothers back to Emain Macha under a false promise of peace. Ignoring Darthool's prophetic warnings of three quenched torches, the sons of Usna return, only to be betrayed and slain in the house of the Red Branch.

How It Unfolds

A child awakes to legend Peterkin watches the moonlit branches of a poplar tree outside his window before settling in to hear the ancient lore of the Gael. His mentors, Ian Mor and Eilidh, share traditional romances that link the boy’s joyful childhood to the ancient heroics of his ancestors.

The transformation of Lir's children Aeifa strikes the four children of Lir with a druidical magic wand, turning them into four snow-white swans upon the lake. The children swim together in grief, doomed to endure centuries of bitter sea spray, freezing ice-winds, and isolation.

A murder in the herd Brian and his brothers, Ur and Urba, pursue their enemy Kian, who hides among a swine herd in the form of a pig. Using his own wand, Brian transforms his brothers into swift hounds to flush Kian out before killing him.

The exacting of the great eric Before King Nuadh and the gathered nobles at Tara, Lu Ildanna accuses the sons of Turenn of his father's murder and demands an unheard-of blood-price. The brothers accept the quest, embarking on a long, deadly voyage across distant seas to retrieve magical treasures.

A maiden hidden in the forest King Concobar spares the infant Darthool despite Cathba's ominous prophecy and rears her in a secluded rath away from all men. Upon growing into a woman whose beauty glows like a flame, she meets Nathos and escapes her prison to flee to Alba.

Betrayal at Emain Macha Concobar tricks the sons of Usna into returning to Erin by offering a false amnesty under the pledge of noble guardians. Despite Darthool’s dark visions of death, the heroes return, only to be ambushed and killed within the house of the Red Branch.

The People

• Peterkin: A free-spirited, imaginative boy who loves climbing windmills and hearing old legends. He embodies the wonder-child whose mind is shaped by the folk memory and beauty of the Celtic landscape.
• Fionula: The eldest child and only daughter of Lir. Transformed into a swan alongside her brothers, she acts as their compassionate protector, shielding them beneath her wings against freezing sea storms and comforting them through centuries of exile.
• Brian: The eldest and strongest son of Turenn. Driven by pride and family duty, he tracks down Kian, leads his brothers through dangerous quests to satisfy Lu's severe eric, and ultimately pleads for his brothers' lives as he dies of open wounds.
• Lu Ildanna (Lu of the Long Hand): The son of the murdered Kian. He is cold, calculating, and relentless in demanding justice, forcing the sons of Turenn through exhausting trials and refusing them mercy even when they lie broken at his feet.
• Darthool: A woman born under a prophesied curse of ruin, raised in total isolation by King Concobar. Courageous, intuitive, and deeply devoted to Nathos, she possesses tragic foresight and senses the trap set for her husband and his brothers long before they walk into it.
• Nathos: A heroic warrior of the Red Branch and son of Usna. He is brave, handsome, and fiercely loyal, but his steadfast trust in his king's honor makes him blind to Concobar's treacherous plot.
• Concobar MacNessa: The High King of Uladh. Prone to possessiveness and cunning vengeance, he keeps Darthool hidden for himself and hides a vengeful grudge behind a mask of royal hospitality.

In Its Own Voice

When Aeifa strikes the children of Lir with her druidical wand, she seals their fate in birds' plumage while they float upon the lake:

“Lost far and wide on Darvra’s gloomy water, With other lonely birds tost far and wide.”

Centuries later, Fionula sings of the cold hardship the siblings must endure as homeless exiles upon the sea waves:

“The sea-weed now our food, our wine The salt, keen, bitter, barren brine.”

When Darthool arrives in the house of the Red Branch, a sudden inner sight reveals the dark fate awaiting the heroes:

“I see three torches quenched this night.”

What It's Really About

At its core, the book explores the inevitability of fate and the heavy price paid for human pride, jealousy, and revenge. The narrative constantly contrasts the bright, fleeting beauty of love and youthful heroism with the cold, enduring weight of doom. Aeifa’s envy strips children of their human lives; Brian’s hasty violence binds his brothers to a fatal quest; Concobar’s possessive jealousy tears a brotherhood apart and brings down an entire kingdom. Yet under these tragedies lies a persistent love for homeland—the green hills of Banba—and the comfort found in art and song, which transform ancient suffering into timeless poetry.

Why Read It Today

This retelling is ideal for readers who cherish traditional folklore, epic tragedy, and high romantic fantasy. William Sharp (writing under his well-known pseudonym Fiona Macleod) captures the atmospheric, melancholic beauty of Gaelic oral storytelling, filling every page with sweeping sea spray, dark oak woods, and glowing peat fires. The prose moves with a rhythmic, almost musical quality that mirrors the ancient bards.

Readers should note that the narrative embraces a 19th-century romanticized style, using archaic phrasing, formal dialogue, and frequent poetic laments that slow down the pace. The inclusion of Scoto-Gaelic names, complex family ties, and traditional Irish and Scottish variants requires a bit of patience. However, those who settle into its cadence will find a deeply moving collection that honors the power of legend and leaves a haunting, beautiful echo long after the final page is turned.