The Laughter of Peterkin: A retelling of old tales of the Celtic Wonderworld

Book excerpt: "The Laughter of Peterkin" by William Sharp is a storybook about the Celtic Wonderworld. The old tales reveal interesting facts about Celtic myths and legends. Excerpt: "At the rising of the moon, Peterkin awoke, and laughed. He was in his little white bed near the open window, so that when a moonbeam wavered from amid the branches of the great poplar, falling suddenly upon his tangled curls and yellowing them with a ripple of pale gold, it was as though a living thing stole in out of the June night. He had not awaked at first. The moonbeam seemed caught in a tangle: then it glanced along a crescent tress on the pillow: sprang back like a startled bird: flickered hither and thither above the little sleeping face: and at last played idly on the closed eyelids with their long dark eyelashes. It was then that Peterkin awoke."