In the Unfortunate Fursey: Fursey, a lay brother in the Irish monastery of Clonmacnoise, lives a simple life, the only sort of life his simple intelligence can imagine. However, when the Prince of Darkness, and a horde of his demons descend on Clonmacnoise, he finds Fursey to be an amicable enough sort. To cleanse the monastery, the Abbot sends Fursey out into the wide world. Pursued by the local Bishop and (that enemy of all things demonic) Father Furiosus, Fursey finds himself married to a witch, turned into a wizard, and surrounded by vampires, poltergeists, demons and elementals - all against his will. Truly, life is hard for the unfortunate Fursey.

In the Return of Fursey: Fursey, living in exile in England, finds the long arm of the Irish church reaching out for him. There's nothing for it, with the forces of good out to burn him to a cinder, he must return to Ireland, become evil and learn to be a proper wizard. However, as fate would have it, life still holds nothing easy for Fursey. With Lucifer providing little help, Fursey does not find it easy to become truly evil or a good wizard. What is to become of Fursey?

I must admit that I read about this wonderful little book in a treatise on Irish literature. Written in the mid-forties by a master Irish storyteller, these stories are wonderfully entertaining. As a matter of fact, the storylines seem so up-to-date, that I found it hard to believe that they are as old as they really are.

Though the stories are not what one would call Christian fiction, they are not overly mocking of Christianity either. Instead, all of life, and all of those in it, are caricatured in a witty manner, producing a comedy of life. I greatly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.