Stunning Illustration for The Earth Shapers

Illustrator Jonathan Hackett has made available limited prints of his illustration of The Earth Shapers. This is the first story in Ella Young’s 1910 collection Celtic Wonder-Tales.

You can order the print from Jonathan’s store.

Celtic Wonder-Tales was Ella Young’s first collection of Irish myths. Most of her stories were retellings of traditional stories. You can read the entire book on the Sacred Texts Archive. The Earth Shapers was Ella Young’s own original story.

Shortly before she left Ireland, she gave a public lecture at the National Literary Society. The Freeman's Journal, February 26, 1924, describes the evening.

The Celtic Myth of Creation was the title of a lecture given by Miss Ella Young, B.A., at the National Literary Society, Dawson Street, Dublin, last evening.

She said perhaps it might be asked how do we know that the Celts ever had a myth of creation. But as to whether the Celts had a myth of creation she thought there could be only one opinion. Every race of people had a myth of creation.

The Celtic story of how the world was made had to be picked up in fragments from the remains of their Celtic mythology. Anything that they had with regard to Celtic mythology was in fragments, and for a long time no work was done amongst those fragments. In fact, it was not at all known whether we had any fragments of mythology, and it was not until a great deal of work had been done by Dr Douglas Hyde and others that they began to really have some idea of what a magnificent edifice must once have stood where these fragments only remained.

All historians agreed that there had been five invasions of Ireland, and that the Milesian invasion was the fifth. Four invasions were undoubtedly fragments of mythology.

It was curious that every race liked to begin with stories of the beginning of the world, and every story of the end of the world was interesting. There must have been a tremendous battle at one time along the West coast and great tribes must have perished.

At the end of the world, according to the Celtic idea, the gods of Light and the gods of Darkness fight together. At the end the gods of Darkness are vanquished.

A cordial vote of thanks was passed to the lecturer. Dr Douglas Hyde presided, and there was a large attendance.