A Touch of the Irish

Just finished this delightful book.This short book gives a good description of Irish culture.In rating this book I gave it 3 stars so how come 5;I'll explain later.The book covers all aspects of the Irish,such as :politics,court,war,faith and clergy,love and marriage,food and drink,death ,repartee,country life,traditional remedies,charms,superstitions,blessings and curses and songs.That is pretty well the whole shebang;and believe it or not, it's done in the lighthearted manner that only an Irishman born in County Mayo and living in Dublin could do it. Now, you might wonder how one could deal with death in a lighthearted manner;let me give an example: "When the famous Irish clown Johnny Patterson was on his deathbed,the doctor tried to appear optomistic by leaving quickly with a cheerful'I'll see you in the morning,Johnny'. 'Sure you will,doc,'said the clown.'But will I see you?' And how's this for repartee? When Brendan Behan was at the height of his fame,a man went up to him in a Dublin bar and asked him for the loan of 5 pounds.When Brendan refused,the man became haughty.'I can remember the time when you had nothing.' 'That may be',said Behan,'but you don't remember it half as well as I do.' Or how about this one: "No man is rich enough to buy back his past" When it comes to curses ,how's this? "May You be hanged" is a curse for which there are several euphemistic Irish versions.One alluding to the victim's kicking heels,is "May you die dancing".Another,inspired by the inevitable crowd of spectators and the coffin waiting below the scaffold, is "May you live to see your own funeral". While the Irish are good with curses,they are even better with blessings: "Good health and long life to you, The woman of your choice to you, Land without rent to you, And may you die in Ireland." That's just a taste of the book;there's 191 pages just as good. Now, back to the stars.I also gave the book 2 stars for the beautiful illustrations by Robert Gibbings that are scattered throughout.There's not just a dozen or so,which in itself would be great, but unbelievably ,no less than 131 of them. Overall a wonderful book, and definitely... A TOUCH OF THE IRISH !! thr