Includes bibliographical references.

Only an hour away: The sea -- The enchanted cap -- All day I hear the noise of waters / James Joyce -- Herring is king / Alfred P. Graves -- Saint Patrick and the salmon -- Fate of the children of Lir -- Irish lullaby / Alfred Graves -- Not just potatoes: The food -- Wheatlet, son of Milklet -- Bewitched butter -- Onions and herrings / Jonathan Swift -- The potato -- Irish stew -- Irish soda bread -- Marshmallow crackers -- Alive alive-O: The music -- Musician's invitation -- Larks / Katherine Tynan -- Strings in the earth and air / James Joyce -- Traveling men of Ballycoo / Eve Bunting -- Cockles and mussels (Molly Malone) -- Fairies' dancing place -- Emerald isle, The pride: Saint Bridget spreads her cloak -- Limerick lasses / Alfred Graves -- Finn McCool and the Scottish giant -- Land of eternal youth -- Ireland / Dora Sigerson -- Irish battle cries -- Irish blessing -- All things bright and beautiful / Cecil Alexander -- In love with words: The scholars -- Irish student and his cat -- Ode to writers / Arthur O'Shaughnessy -- Where my books go / Yeats -- Man who had no story -- Fields and farms: The land -- Wind that shakes the barley / Katherine Tynan -- Donald O'Neary and his neighbors -- Lake isle of Innisfree / Yeats -- My land / Thomas Davis -- Enchantment: The fairies -- Fairies in New Ross -- Fairies / William Allingham -- Fair, brown and trembling -- Stolen child / Yeats -- To cure a child under a fairy spell -- Star-child / Oscar Wilde -- Who makes the fairies' shoes?: The leprechauns -- Patrick O'Donnell and the leprechaun -- Leprechaun / William Allington -- Leprechaun / Robert Joyce -- People never stop talking: The blarney -- What it is, how to do it, and the blarney stone -- Limericks -- Brian O'Linn -- Folk riddles -- Riddle / Jonathan Swift -- Irish oaths and curses -- Curse / John Synge -- Ancient Irish folk cures -- Philosophies of the very young / Wilde.