{"collection":"Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_neu_celt_flat_flat11_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_neu_celt_flat_flat11_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_neu_celt_flat_flat11_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/celt/flat/flat11.htm","summary":"This is a short comic tale in the tradition of 19th-century Irish folklore fiction, likely from a collection of humorous folk narratives in the vein of Thomas Crofton Croker. It follows John Mulligan, a jovial, punch-loving country gentleman and ardent believer in fairies, who is goaded by two skeptical Trinity College students into admitting he has never actually seen one. Riding home drunk and indignant, he spots what he takes to be a brilliant fairy dance beneath an ancient oak tree \u2014 \"not three inches in height, white as the driven snow\" \u2014 and triumphantly returns to confront the young rationalists. When they investigate, the \"fairies\" turn out to be a cluster of mushrooms and a large puffball, and Mulligan rides home in silent humiliation, earning the lasting nickname \"Musharoon Jack.\" The story's distinctive appeal lies in its warm comic tone: it neither fully mocks fairy belief nor endorses it, instead using the deflating punchline to gently satirize both credulous tradition and smug collegiate rationalism. It closes with a self-aware Shakespearean quotation, signaling the narrator's own playful awareness of the tale's slight, airy quality.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Fairy Legends and Traditions: Fairies Or No Fairies","tradition":"Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas","translated_text":null,"word_count":1745}