The Tables of the Law and The Adoration of the Magi: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Tables of the Law and The Adoration of the Magi, credited to William Butler Yeats, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Tables of the Law and The Adoration of the Magi by William Butler Yeats. Read in English by Thomas A. Copeland. The first two tales involve the persona's relationship with a certain Aherne, who has come into possession of a beautiful book by Joachim of Flora, a book deemed so heretical that Pope Alexander IV had all known copies burnt. This one overlooked copy, Aherne now cherishes, apparently influenced by a sect directed by a Michael Robartes. (Both Robartes and Aherne appear in other works of Yeats.) A decade after this introduction, Michael Robartes having suffered some "terrible destiny," part 2 opens with the persona catching sight of a much changed Aherne, convinced that he cannot be saved. After a vision constituting a religious experience, the persona flees and never returns to seek out his friend again. The third part of the tale, called "The Adoration of the Magi," introduces three old brothers who come to the persona's door shortly after the previous events and tell him of their own experiences involving Michael Robartes. A spirit calling himself by that name appeared to them in a fishing boat and told them something inspiring that they believed but do not divulge to the narrator. Then years later a voice reported to the eldest brother that Robartes had died, and shortly thereafter the middle brother had a dream in which he was told that he and his brothers should seek a dying woman in Paris who would teach them "the secret names of the gods." When they obeyed, the middle brother had a waking dream in which he saw the stable of Christ's birth. This story changes the persona's life by leading him away from the influence of that terrible book of which he heard from the unfortunate Aherne. (Summary by T. A. Copeland)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Tables of the Law and The Adoration of the Magi
• Author credits: William Butler Yeats
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 1
• Listed recording duration: 42:35

Catalogue topics

• mysticism
• Ireland
• spiritualism
• occult

Track guide

1. The Tables of the Law; & The Adoration of the Magi — 42:35

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.