- "The Farmer of Liddesdale"
- A farmer whose family has all died and whose ploughman has deserted him hires a traveling ploughman as a last resort. The man agrees to take one burden-withe of corn in return for the work, and though he does the work differently than everyone else, he does a good job. When the harvest is in, he brings an enormous burden-withe and takes almost all the corn. The farmer makes an appeal to higher powers, and the mysterious ploughman disappears into clouds, leaving all the corn behind.
- "The Legend of Knockgrafton"
- A man named Lusmore with a hump on his back is looked down upon by everyone, and one night he hears fairies singing the words "Monday, Tuesday" over and over again. He adds in "Wednesday" to their song, and they are so amazed by his musical genius that they fix his hump and make him new clothes. Everyone barely believes it's the same man.
- "The Legend of Knockgrafton (cont.)"
- A woman comes to ask Lusmore how he got rid of his hump, so that she can help her friend's son, named Jack Madden, get rid of his. They take the son and tell him to do the same as Lusmore. He adds "Wednesday, Thursday" to the song, but he doesn't respect the fairies' music and doesn't pay attention to the rhythm/timing, so the fairies, angered, take Lusmore's old lump and put it on Jack Madden. He dies soon afterwards.
- "Elidore"
- A boy is tired of getting beaten for his laziness in the monastery, so he goes into the woods and finds some miniature men, who take him to their own land through a secret tunnel. He stays there happily for awhile, splitting his time between his mother and the land of the little people. His mother convinces him to try stealing a yellow ball from the little people, because she thinks it must be gold. He fails to do this, and because of his attempt he is never able to return to that land again.
- "How Cormac Mac Art Went to Faery"
- King Cormac trades his family for a fairy branch that has the power to make people happy. Later, he follows the direction that the fairy youth took his family, and ends up seeing a number of strange sights which turn out to have moral lessons. He meets a couple who turn out to be the fairy king (who was also the fairy youth from earlier) and queen, and they return his family to him, along with several magical gifts.
- "The Ridere of Riddles"
- A king's second wife attempts to murder his son from his first wife with poison, but the new wife's son tells his step-brother and they run away together, taking the poison with them. In a series of events, the poison ends up killing a number of people and animals, and the brothers take their story to the Knight of Riddles in the form of a riddle, hoping to win his daughter's hand in marriage.
- "The Ridere of Riddles (cont.)"
- The princess's handmaidens go to the younger brother to convince him to tell them the answer, but he "takes their plaids" and doesn't tell them. The princess comes to the older brother, who takes her plaid and tells her. Then the king "guesses" the answer to the riddle, but the older brother shows that he knows the king cheated, so he gets to marry the princess, and the younger brother goes home and becomes king. Years later, they meet again and wrestle for awhile before recognizing each other, then the younger brother discovers he has twelve sons.
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| Image of a plaid tablecloth from piqsels |
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