This collection of short stories by Patrick Pearse is in two parts.
Part One is in the Irish language, in the Old Irish (Gaelic) script, as it was first published in 1907.
Part Two Is a translation into English, written in the Modern English script.
Pearse was a prolific writer, producing numerous short stories, poetry, plays, and political essays,
both in Irish and English. He wrote, "Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam," (A country without a language is a country
without a soul.) He believed the revival of the Irish language was a key to restoring Ireland's
national pride and identity and would eventually lead to its Independence.
His literary style was simple, sometimes childlike, often romanticising life in rural Ireland, whilst being
,oblivious to the dire poverty that surrounded him in the country at the time.
His writing pioneered a new style of Irish literature, making it more appealing
and relevant to the young in a rapidly changing Irish society.
He was ahead of his time in his dreams and aspirations for a future, free Ireland. He opposed corporal
punishment, particularly in the classroom. He believed that bilingualism was the only way
the Irish language could survive in a predominently English speaking global marketplace.
He was deeply religious, with deep Christian values and strong moral principles. This, however,
did not prevent him from confronting the Catholic Church over its total control of the educational system.
He advocated a greater appreciation of nature and the need to treat wildlife and farm animals
humanely and with kindness.
Pearse was one of Ireland's most influential figures in the independence movement.
He did not consider his surrender to the English during the Easter Risingn 1916 as a defeat,
rather, He saw both the surrender and his inevitable execution and politcal martyrdom as a first step towards a new Ireland,
an Ireland, "Not free merely, but Gaelic as well, not Gaelic merely, but free as well."
( Pearse's graveside oration at the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa, 1915)