On today's Apple Seed Extra, a story called "Rathlin Fairy Tale" told by Liz Weir, the Irish storyteller who brings to life the myth of the hawthorn Tree—better known in Ireland as fairy thorns. When the boy of a young mother is stolen by the fairies of a hawthorn tree, he’s saved by a peculiar and perhaps lucky connection to the real world.

 

In Irish folklore, cutting down a hawthorn tree is considered bad luck, since you will disturb the little folk. Interestingly, British folklore, which contradicts Irish folklore about as much as Britain contradicts the Irish government, uses hawthorn tree branches as a protection from fairies.