These are stories based on the lives of the Irish during the famine and previously. Although the times were hard (often for the Ascendency, as well), there were rewarding episodes, too. These are what I have written about: the feel-good elements that can come out of a bleak situation. Perhaps similar episodes did occur. IN any case, this is a tribute to a race of survivors, who knew how to grasp opportunity with both hands and who frequently managed to have the last laugh, in spite of the odds against them.