These folk tales, handed down unchanged from century to century, are the very voice and spirit of the Irish people. Into these legends are woven the imagination and mystical pathos of the Celtic mind, and for that reason they are as true a revelation of Irish character as the authenticated facts of Irish history. Regardless of belief or scepticism, these tales are the literature of a country which has always bred story-tellers of the greatest simplicity and compassion. Who could be better qualified to collect and arrange this garland of fairy and folk tales than William Butler Yeats?