Dave White's Field

Tír na nÓg in Irish folklore is known as `The land of the forever young'. I intend to put together a number stories to make up the Tír na nÓg series. These short stories are intended for those who inhabit that land -- at least in spirit. So far there are three stories.

The Doodlebug ***

The third of the Tír na nÓg Stories The Doodlebug ***(286Kb pdf is on site in its second(final?) draft version, with illustrations. Drawings by Jake. This version is a much bigger file and therefore takes longer to bring on stream or download. I have retained a smaller version without illustrations
The Doodlebug***(72Kb pdf) for quicker access. Comments and suggestions still welcome.

`The Doodlebug' is a story about childhood and the `little blitz' in London during World War II.

...like commandos taking care not to be spotted, crept stealthily into the rubble bomb sites --- our `adventure' playgrounds after the war. It was just too tempting to enter what had once been places where kids like us had lived...

doodlebug by jake >>

The story grips me and takes me back into my earliest memory. Running down our stairs in the dark to get to Mrs Stevens' basement, holding on tightly to the wooden bannisters to prevent myself from falling. My mother ahead, carrying my twin baby sisters of a few months, calling to me to catch hold of her skirt as we dash into the garden or out into the street.

The Devil is in the Detail ***

The second of the Tír na nÓg Stories The Devil is in the Detail *** is on site in its first draft version. No graphics or photos yet. Comments and suggestions welcome

Auntie Mary: ``The rainbow is a sign of God's promise to Noah that he will not flood the earth again.'' She paused to make sure we were taking it in before continuing,
``As for the second rainbow above, that's the Devil's rainbow; you can always tell: it's weak and the colours are upside down --- a poor imitation of God's rainbow."

Uncle Jim: ``To decide how far away the storm is: count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder and for every five seconds elapsed, the storm is a mile away. If you do that a couple of times you'll have a good idea of what the storm is doing.''

The Banshee

The first of the Tír na nÓg Stories The Banshee is on site in its final version.

This story was originally sketched in my first book A Real Story --- Not a Hollywood film. The Banshee has been developed as a story in its own right, and will now be included in the Tír na nÓg Stories.

It is essentially a story about Irish stories and how they are told. At least, how they were told by Auntie Mary in Paddington in the 1950s. The story is set in Johnstown in Waterford City Ireland, where my grandparents lived.

A Special Messenger, The Banshee.

But there's something else about Auntie Mary. Her eyes. Each is a different mix of colour, not so's you'd notice, people say, but you do. We do, because we can't help staring, even though we are told that it's rude to stare. Whether one of those startlingly odd eyes affects the appearance of the other, I don't know, but they do seem to have a curious ability to change colour.

changing colour

Out in the air with the sky, they are blue; in the fields, as green as the grass; by the trees, they shade into a tawny-brown; and in the reflection of the flames in the grate, framed by the glow of her red hair, before our very eyes, they seem to catch fire.

But it's not staring at them that I find scary ...

This story and those that follow are available in two formats:

• A web version(html) which allows for a more flexible structure and special effects: see, for example, the above extract from The Banshee. Window of the Soul
  
  I am experimenting with layout in order to make reading stories easier on the eye and more enjoyable. In time, I hope to make more use of this flexibility,. e.g. to add sound, animation, video ... The link format for this flexible version is just the name of the story. The Banshee
• A book-like version(pdf) which is more suitable and easy to download for printing, storing and reading as hard copy. This version has a link format which is the name of the story followed by the size of the file and pdf. The Banshee(369k,pdf)