327:, an old man has a farm and three sons. He plans to give the farm to anyone that can bring the Sword of Brightness from an old king. The elder two take up on their father's offer, and so does the youngest son, whom the elder two dismiss as unintelligent. They ride together and stop just before two hotels, the first with a placard reading "to pay nothing", and the second with a placard reading "pay what you can". The elder two go to the first hotel, while the youngest spends the night in the second hotel. He helps an old man in the second hotel and has breakfast with him. The next day, the old man tells the youth to fetch some red cow's straw in the barn and an egg a white hen laid the night before since they might be useful for him. Before he leaves, the man also gives him a book that will help the youth if he ever gets stuck on his quest. He arrives at the old king's castle and reads in the book he must not place the Sword of Brightness in the silver scabbard, nor in the golden one. He takes the sword and the silver scabbard, which sounds the alarm bells to alert the king. The king appears to him and makes a deal: he will give him the sword if the boy fetches for him a golden fruit from the tree that belongs to the giants. He agrees to the deal and goes to the giants' kingdom to steal a fruit, but is found out by the giants. The creatures demand in return he retrieves them a girl they chained to a rock, since she also came for the fruits. The youth goes to the rocks, places an egg on his head, changes into a bird and flies to the rocks to release the girl. The youth takes the girl, the golden fruit and the Sword of Brighness with him and returns home. Next to the road home, he falls asleep. His elder brothers seize the opportunity to steal the girl and the sword and take the credit for the quest.
103:
302:. On his journey, he shares his food with a white hound that introduces himself as the White Hound of the Hill of Spears. With the hound's help, Owen takes part in a chain of quests for the Blue Hawk of Connaught, the Sword of Light from the King of Denmark, the Steed of Bells from the King of Spain, and the beautiful princess Starlight, daughter of the King of Greece. In order to trick the owners of the treasures, the White Hound shapeshifts into the princess, the steed, the sword and the hawk.
404:
128:, and to seek service there tending animals. If he, above all, treats the birds kindly, the giant will let him care for the blue falcon, and then he can steal it, if he does not let any of its feathers touch anything in the house. In time the giant trusted him, but the falcon started by the doorpost, and the feather touching the post made it scream and brought back the giant. The giant tells him he may have the falcon if he brings him the
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Gille warned Ian how to carry what he had brought back to the castle, to prevent his stepmother turning him into a bundle of sticks. He obeyed, and his stepmother was turned into a bundle of sticks herself. So Ian burned her, married the princess, and lived ever afterwards in friendship with Gille
143:
Gille
Mairtean turned himself into a boat and carried him to France. The boat ran himself into the cleft of a rock, and sent Ian to say he had been shipwrecked. The royal court came down to see the boat, and music came out of it. The princess said she must see the harp that played such music, and
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They returned to the king, and Gille turned himself into a beautiful woman, and had Ian give him instead of the princess. After Ian received the bay colt, Gille bit the king, knocking him unconscious, and escaped, and they returned to the Big Women. Gille turned himself into a bay colt, and after
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Gille
Mairtean turned himself into a boat and carried Ian to the island of Dhiurradh, and told him to seek service there, polishing gold and silver, which will let him, in time, steal the sword, but he must not let its sheath touch anything within the house. This succeeded until the tip of the
139:
Gille
Mairtean turned himself into a boat, and carried Ian to the castle, where he served in the stable until he had a chance to steal the colt, which swished its tail against the door, and the king told him he must bring him the daughter of the king of the Franks.
250:), "daughter of the king of the gathering of Fionn". He is helped in his tasks by a fox, which is the Sun Goddess's brother transformed. Campbell, in his commentary to the variant, noted that this Scottish tale was "the same legend" as the German tale
246:, from a man named Jon the tinker, in 1859. In this tale, Brian, the son of the King of Greece, in order to marry the hen's wife, must quest for "the most marvellous bird" in the world, the White Glaive of Light and the Sun Goddess (named
148:
Ian received the sword, threw it at all the Big Women, killing them. They returned to the giant, and Gille turned himself into a sword and, once Ian had received the blue falcon, cut off the giant's heads.
294:, prince Owen is fond of fowling, and finds the feathers of a Blue Hawk. His new step-mother, who hates him, knows that the bird belongs to the Giant of the Seven Heads and Seven Trunks, and casts a
95:
A king and a queen had a son, Ian. When Ian was almost grown to a man, his mother died, and his father remarried. One day Ian went hunting and shot at a blue falcon, knocking off a feather. His
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cursed him until he found her the falcon. He cursed her to stand with one foot on the great hall and the other on the castle, and always face the wind, until he returned, and left.
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sheath touched the doorpost, and it shrieked. The Big Women told him he may have the sword if he brings them the bay colt of the King of Erin.
144:
Ian and Gille
Mairtean carried her off. She was angry, he explained why he needed to carry her off, and she said she would rather marry him.
614:
Bruford, Alan. “Gaelic Folk-Tales and Mediæval
Romances: A Study of the Early Modern Irish ‘Romantic Tales’ and Their Oral Derivatives”. In:
520:
Bruford, Alan. “Gaelic Folk-Tales and Mediæval
Romances: A Study of the Early Modern Irish ‘Romantic Tales’ and Their Oral Derivatives”. In:
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543:. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 118.
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A Guide to
Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System
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as type ATU 550, "Bird, Horse and
Princess" (formerly, "The Search for the Golden Bird").
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He met with Gille
Mairtean the fox, who tells him that the blue falcon is kept by the
717:
706:
193:), since both stories are characterized by a hero taking part in a chain of quests.
55:. He recorded it from a quarryman in Knockderry, Roseneath, named Angus Campbell.
216:
Alan
Bruford argued that the name of the hero was a corruption of literary name
111:
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209:, that the quest for the bird with the help of an animal "occurs in
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Quests & spells: fairy tales from the European oral tradition
295:
126:
Giant of the Five Heads, and the Five Necks, and the Five Humps
692:. Wreck Cove, Cape Breton Island: Breton Books. p. 211.
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collected a tale from a teller named Wilmot Macdonald, from
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on Owen to not return home until he brings the Blue Hawk of
588:
Ker, W. P. (1894). "The Roman Van Walewein (Gawain)". In:
106:
Ian has the Blue Falcon on his sights. Illustration by
487:
The Other Country: Legends and Fairy Tales of Scotland
637:. Vol. II. Edmonston and Douglas, 1860. pp. 353-359.
450:. Vol. II. Edmonston and Douglas, 1860. pp. 328-340.
435:. Vol. II. Edmonston and Douglas, 1860. pp. 341-349.
509:
The Well at the World's End: folk tales of Scotland
176:compared the tale to the medieval Dutch romance of
578:. Eugene, OR: B. Kaminski Media Arts. p. 180.
678:. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1926. pp. 72-94.
665:. London: Hurst and Blackett. 1899. pp. 283–289.
605:. Dublin: M'Glashan and Gill. 1870. pp. 166-167.
592:5:2, 123-124. DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.1894.9720213
652:. Vol. II. Edmonston and Douglas, 1860. p. 359.
387:Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf
468:. Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 121-136.
8:
165:The tale is classified in the international
238:Campbell published another variant, titled
690:A folk tale journey through the Maritimes
352:The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener
207:The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener
511:. London: Bodley Head, 1975. pp. 23-31.
422:
286:published an Irish variant in his work
205:stated, on his notes to the Irish tale
132:, owned by the Big Women of Dhiurradh.
564:. New York: Dial Books, 1994. p. 256.
7:
649:Popular Tales of the West Highlands
634:Popular Tales of the West Highlands
490:. Hamish Hamilton, 1978. pp. 82ff.
447:Popular Tales of the West Highlands
432:Popular Tales of the West Highlands
52:Popular Tales of the West Highlands
31:How Ian Dìreach got the Blue Falcon
18:How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon
524:34 (1966): 180 (footnote nr. 10).
394:The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa
25:
620:https://doi.org/10.2307/20521320
526:https://doi.org/10.2307/20521320
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81:Prince Ian Direach and His Quest
603:The Fireside Stories of Ireland
292:The Hound of the Hill of Spears
213:('Son of John the Upright')".
77:The Adventures of Iain Direach
1:
560:Lang, Andrew; Philip, Neil.
410:Children's literature portal
359:Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye
75:The tale was republished as
755:
167:Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index
688:Creighton, Helen (1993).
574:Judy Sierra, ed. (1994).
465:Fairy Tales from Scotland
172:Scottish literary critic
39:Sgeulachd Mic Iain Dìrich
661:Groome, Francis Hindes.
321:Newcastle, New Brunswick
676:The Donegal wonder book
325:The Sword of Brightness
323:. In his story, titled
290:. In this tale, titled
562:A World of fairy tales
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739:John Francis Campbell
373:The Little Green Frog
338:The Sister of the Sun
266:republished the tale
264:Francis Hindes Groome
117:The Orange Fairy Book
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64:The Orange Fairy Book
47:John Francis Campbell
724:Scottish fairy tales
507:Montgomerie, Norah.
218:Mac an Dìthreabhaich
130:White Sword of Light
460:Wilson, Barbara Ker
288:Donegal Wonder Book
27:Scottish fairy tale
674:MacManus, Seumas.
601:Kennedy, Patrick.
380:The Golden Mermaid
179:Roman van Walewein
152:Mairtean the fox.
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108:Henry Justice Ford
729:Fictional princes
16:(Redirected from
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708:Mac Iain Direach
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734:ATU 500-559
315:Folklorist
240:An Sionnach
201:Folklorist
182: [
112:Andrew Lang
85:Prince Iain
71:Publication
59:Andrew Lang
718:Categories
616:Béaloideas
522:Béaloideas
417:References
248:Dia Greine
97:stepmother
43:fairy tale
300:Connaught
256:, by the
174:W. P. Ker
161:Tale type
590:Folklore
331:See also
306:Americas
234:Scotland
224:Variants
156:Analysis
91:Synopsis
282:Author
278:Ireland
268:The Fox
244:The Fox
120:(1906).
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311:Canada
229:Europe
197:Motifs
191:Gawain
83:, and
296:geasa
186:]
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