The Faerie Isle

The Faerie Isle

Written by Síne Quinn, and published by Walker Children’s Books; ‘The Faerie Isle’ is a compendium, or, for want of a better word, a bestiary –  detailing 16 highly unusual individuals from Irish folklore. Known collectively as ‘The Good People’ (or as Gaeilge, as ‘Na Daoine Sídhe’), the book tells not just of well known faeries such as the mermaid, leprechaun and banshee, but also lesser known individuals such as the Pooka; the Dullahan and the Sheerie. Each faerie is accompanied by its own original story, written by Síne, and based upon her research from the National Folklore Collection in University College Dublin.

Illustrating “The Faerie Isle” was a profoundly special project for me to work on. My father was born beside Lough Allen in County Leitrim in the shadow of the mountain Sliabh an Iarainn, where legend has it the faeries first arrived in Ireland. I grew up with stories of ‘The Good People’ – such as the Pooka, the banshee, leprechauns, changelings and lake dwelling mermaids; first hearing them on cassette tapes in the car whilst travelling to family holidays in Galway. Síne’s warm, elegant prose was a wonderful opportunity  to recreate and commit to paper images that have been in my imagination since childhood.

There was a considerable amount of research done before I started sketching out the images to Síne’s text – for this, ‘The Good People’ – or ‘Na Daoine Sídhe’. When I started working on the book in August 2023 I did a road trip to Mayo and Leitrim, listening to folklore podcasts in the car on the way in between visiting various locations and landscapes. These included Manchan Magan’s ‘Irish Almanac’, ‘Bluirini Bealoideas’ from the National Folklore Collection at UCD, and ‘Tell Me a Story’ by seanchaí Eddie Lenihan. One starting point was Michael Scott’s short story ‘The Faerie Host’, from his first volume of ‘Irish Folk and Fairy Tales’, and also re-read ‘The Burning of Bridget Cleary’ by Angela Bourke, which I had remembered had the following quote which I thought gave a really good starting point for understanding faerie traditions and beliefs in Ireland:
‘Fairies belong to the margins and so can serve as a reference points and metaphors for all that is marginal in human life. Their underground existence allows them to stand for the unconscious; for the secret, for the unspeakable, and their constant eavesdropping explains the need sometimes to speak in riddles, or to avoid discussion of certain topics. Unconstrained by work and poverty, or by the demands of landlords, police or clergy, the fairies of Irish legend inhabit a world that is sensuously colourful, musical and carefree and as writers from Yeats to Irish language poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill have observed, legends about them, richly reflect the imaginative, emotional, and erotic dimensions of human life.’

‘Fairies are normally invisible, but they are there. They live in the air, under the earth, and in water, and they may be just a little smaller than humans, or so tiny that a grazing cow blows hundreds of them away with every breath….. (they) are not human, but they resemble humans and live lives parallel to theirs, with some significant differences: they keep cows, and sell them at fairs; they enjoy whiskey and music; they like gold, milk and tobacco, but hate iron, fire, salt and the Christian religion, and any combination of these mainstays of Irish rural culture serves to guard against them…’

from ‘The Burning of Bridget Cleary’, by Angela Bourke

Most people think that faeries are small, tiny little creatures, but some of them are large rambunctious and terrifying forces of nature – such as the Dullahan; the Headless Horseman of ancient Irish legend. Luckily, if you are out walking the roads on a dark and stormy night, and if you have led a (mostly) well- behaved, kind and mannerly life; you’re probably safe enough from this particular dark faery. However – be warned – if its Halloween night, the Dullahan is probably galloping and snorting flames around the quieter and more poorly lit back roads near where you live – so it is probably in your interests to not throw eggs or let off illegal fireworks  – otherwise he will be after you in a shot….

The mermaid or merrow illustration in ‘The Faerie Isle’ was one of the first images that I created for Síne’s text. I had two clear ideas when starting the first sketches; firstly, I didn’t want to fall into the trap of using well known visual clichés; mermaids are very well known and have been depicted in thousands of forms in different cultures over the years; and to keep it somewhat fresh, I wanted to have some reference and some relevance to the modern world, hence the fishing trawler.
References I drew upon included the merpeople from ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’; the Levi Strauss ‘Mermaid’ advertisment;  and Liam O’Flaherty’s short story ‘The Conger Eel’. Ron Howard’s mermaid movie, ‘Splash’ (1984) was another big influence; both for Daryl Hannah’s red and orange fishtail and the film’s positioning of the magical and otherworldly in a determinedly rough and ready 20th century. If you haven’t seen it – look it up; apart from being uproariously funny; it has some genuinely moving and poetic moments; particularly the opening scene.