Preface to the Second Revised Edition
The years that have passed since the first publication of A Treasury of Irish Folklore have been a time of transition that has affected the traditional lore, that is, the lore handed down from generation to generation in the Irish countryside, more than it has affected any other cultural activity or entertainment -- the transition from countryside to towns, from talk by the fireside to oral and visual mass communication.

Introduction
It has happened at different times to the editor of this collection that, being with a Greek friend when another person revealed himself as of the same nativity, his friend, not always the same one, would ask, "From what place do you come?"