Darby O'Gill and the Good People

In her 1903 literary fairy tale "The Banshee's Comb", Anglo-Irish-American children's author Herminie Templeton Kavanagh celebrates empowered and autonomous women with her representation of the iconic banshee from Irish folk tradition. Whilst she is initially considered an entirely antagonistic presence in the life of Kavanagh's hero Darby O'Gill, she is ultimately revealed in this extract as a misunderstood figure who is kind and compassionate and has a wry sense of humour. Kavanagh evokes sympathy in her readers for the banshee whose profound responsibilities as Ireland's supernatural death messenger have left "the weight an' sorrow of ages on her pale face".