I understand from Wikipedia that the stories and various narratives collected here are based off Kentish legends, and they do have the feel of old stories retold, a lot of them. Most of the retellings are done in poetry form, but there are quite a few short stories interspersed. What the author, taking on the mantle of a member of the Ingoldsby family (which supposedly supplies bit players for most of the legends) does is retell these stories fairly tongue-in-cheek. His morals, especially (he likes to end his poems with morals) are particularly snarky, and were often the most entertaining part. Still, it took me ages to wade through. There's a lot of characters in here who get a (literal) boot up the arse, and did I ever want to give one to Ingoldsby, along with a hearty "Get on with it!" There's just so much waffle - he goes off on tangents, and they're lengthy and often repetitive, and because all his poetry is rhyming it often has to be massaged very heavily to fit, which can be awkward. Honestly, I'm interested in the legends (well, some of them) but I think I'd rather read a straight prose retelling. He's not funny enough to be this long-winded.