The Stories

Which of the stories are true and which are untrue?

New Grange

The place is real, the time is real, the way the structure is laid out and performs (sun filling the stone bowl, etc.) is real. The story of its creation was invented by Frank Delaney.

The King of Ulster

A total invention by Delaney- based entirely on Platonic structures.

Saint Patrick

The figure is real, the conversion is real, rocks - supposedly bitten and dropped - are, astonishingly, real. The banishment of Lucifer to England is a tad invented.

Saint Brendan

Completely documented with forensic evidence.

Finn MacCool

A traditional Irish legend.

Annan and Senan

The process of creating illuminated manuscripts (pages of sheepskin, pigments of animal, vegetable and mineral, with pens and brushes of squirrel, badger, sable and feathers) is faithful to the task, and the form of the manuscripts is true - fanciful elements graced the beautiful, graphic pages - but Annan and Senan and their contest is a complete creation of Frank Delaney.

Leary's Poetry

Leary and his invention of 'The Poem' is a creation of Frank Delaney.

King Brian Boru

The story of the King of Munster is well documented and often recalled in Ireland as part of their history.

Strongbow

Strongbow and Aoife's marriage is said to have taken place just as reported and a painting of this union hangs in Dublin's National Gallery where you can see it today.

The Harp

A tale as traditional as the harp itself - but many Americans will be surprised to learn that there is an 'original' Coney Island off the shores of Ireland.

The Last Chieftain

The Battle of the Yellow Ford - perhaps the recorded beginning of guerilla warfare, is true. The facts of Hugh O'Neill's life are, for the most part, also true and the Flight of the Earls in 1607 - to Spain and to Italy and to France, is certainly true. As the story tells us - the French vineyards: Phelan, Lynch, Kirwan and Haut-Brion (O'Brien), do still bear their names.

Cromwell at Clonmel

The Cromwell defeat is real but Mrs. Cantwell's great, great, great, great, great grandmother was conjured up by Frank Delaney.

Penal Laws by Ronan O'Mara

These may not have been respected as history, if they'd been written just this way by Ronan - but the fact of the laws is completely true and surprisingly little known.

The Only Man Who Could Handle Handel

George Frederick Handel did, in fact, compose and debut The Messiah in Dublin. Mrs. Cibber sang and the Reverend Mr. Delany shouted with joy at her performance, "Madame, for this thy sins are forgiven thee." And so it was recorded in the accounts of the time. Jimmy Hanly, however, has been recorded only by Frank Delaney.

The Battle of the Boyne

Just as history tells us.

The Ghost Carriage

A popular and old traditional story.

Dean Swift's visit to Thomastown Castle

There is good record of Jonathan Swift's visit to Thomastown Castle and it is faithfully reproduced here. Thomastown Castle is no longer standing, but its ruins were the childhood playfields of Frank Delaney: they remain vital in his memory and the castle is alive and well in his imagination.

The Three Furlongs from Home

They live only in the mind and heart of Frank Delaney - and though some would say, more's the pity, others are relieved.

Daniel O'Connell

He did, indeed live a well-documented life of 'magnificent achievement'. The story of recognizing his 'son' is apocryphal, the story of his duel and the black glove that followed, is history.

The Potato Famine

Dr. Crawford and Lawrence are invented but the famine details sadly, are not.

Parnell and Kitty O'Shea

History in the 'matter of fact' tradition.

Yeats and the Leprechaun

William Butler Yeats was, indeed, a poet and a statesman. While he was a very important part of modern Ireland, he had a huge interest in the metaphysical world. And so, while he might very well have hunted down leprechauns and fairies, this story is not true. His lawyers, however, were indeed called Argue and Phibbs. One couldn't, after all, make this up.

The Easter Rising/
The General Post Office

It must have certainly felt much like this on the inside of the uprising that fateful and recorded day. But the post office of the Storyteller is peopled with Twentieth Century versions of the individuals from his stories - and we learn a little about the creative mind - how it holds on to facts and visuals, behavior and character and mixes them up to tell us a story that is far more than fact in that it 'feels true'. The best storytellers bring us stories we can believe in.

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