SOURCE: Barry, Wendy E. “The Settler of P.E.I.: The Celtic Influence in Anne.” In The Annotated Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery, edited by Wendy E. Barry, Margaret Anne Doody, and Mary E. Doody Jones, pp. 418-21. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

In the following essay, Barry explores the Celtic history of Prince Edward Island, the setting of Anne of Green Gables, and the ways this history is woven into the text.

Anne's beloved Prince Edward Island was once called “Abegweit,” or “land cradled on the waves,” by the Micmac people who lived there. They told stories of how after creating the universe and the Micmac people the Great Spirit had a large amount of dark red clay left over. The Great Spirit then fashioned that clay into a crescent shape that became the most beautiful jewel in the universe. Then, as in most of...