Any storyteller who tells folktales looks for ways to show how such tales speak powerfully to new listeners. Sometimes they speak powerfully when several of them come together and, in coming together, show something that any one of them alone might not have shown.
Author’s Note
In The Wonders of Donal O’Donnell, Gary D. Schmidt weaves together several folk tales into one new story about a grieving couple who have lost their only son.
The heart of Donal O’Donnell, like his farmhouse door, has been bolted shut since the day his son died. So when he returns from tending his puck goats in the freezing sleet of a winter storm to find three huddled peddlers sitting at his hearth, he is furious with his wife, Sorcha.
Book Dust Jacket
Donal and his wife Sorcha had a beautiful son who gave life and joy to everything in their lives. Most specifically, the stories they told and music they shared were richer and more lively while their boyo was alive. But once he died, the grieving parents closed up their hearts and their cottage door. Each morning as Donal leaves the cottage to tend to his goats, he bids Sorcha to bolt the door and let no one in.
One night, however, a winter storm has driven three peddlers to Sorcha’s door. When her husband returns home, he is surprised and angry. His wife reminds him of the terrible weather, and he softens a bit. Each peddler thanks Donal for his hospitality by telling him a tale.
By some strange twist of fate, each peddler is also named Donal: O’Sheary, O’Neary, and O’Leary. And, the four Donal’s share more than just a first name. Each shares a story of a boyo gone missing and later found. For Donal and Sorcha, their boyo could not be found again in this life, but through the peddler’s fairy stories, their hope in life is restored and their grief is poured out.
“Sure, Donal O’Donnell and Sorcha know that the peddler’s stories are too wonderful to be true, and yet, hearing tales about a boyo who is gone and then returned, brings to mind their own boyo. Now they see that barring and bolting the door against stories of him – even if it hurts to remember – means only that they forget him, and perhaps each other, but not their sorrow. And so the peddlers gain a night’s lodging, and Donal O’Donnell and Sorcha find their boyo again in the stories they tell about him in the silver moonlight outside their open door.”
Author’s Note
Gary D. Schmidt is a master storyteller. He is especially gifted with telling stories about grief. This picture book has gorgeous illustration and an interesting story. Sadly this book is out of print, but you can find it at used book sites, and it is free to read on Internet Archive, here.