SCOTTISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES - 85 Scottish Children's Stories E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

This book, compiled by Sir George Douglas, contains not just fairytales but also tales of kelpies, brownies, stories of animals - foxes, crows, frogs and stories of mermen and comic tales as well.
Contained herein are eighty-five stories like:
The Story of the White Pet,
The Fisherman and the Mermen,
The Seal-Catcher’s Adventure,
The Frog and the Crow,
Habitrot, The Wee Bunnock
and many, many more.

In the days long before the advent of radio and television, the arrival of a story-teller in a village was an important event. As soon as it became known, there would be a rush to the house where he was lodged, and every available seat--on bench, table, bed, beam, or the floor would quickly be appropriated. And then, for hours, together--just like some first-rate actor on a stage--the story-teller would hold his audience spell-bound with the tales contained herein.

John Campbell of Isla, who gathered the Popular Tales of the West Highlands series in the 1870’s, records that in his day the practice of story-telling still lingered in the remote Western Islands of Barra at that time. Maybe, just maybe, there are a few alive today who remember this custom being continued at Poolewe in Ross-shire where the young people used to assemble at night to hear the old ones recite the tales which they, in turn, had learned from their fore-fathers.

This book is a treasure chest of classic Scottish Folklore, and will make fascinating reading for those interested in folklore in general. So, take some time out and travel back to a period before television and radio, a time when tales were passed on orally--at the drying kilns, at the communal well and in homes and cottages of Scotland.

10% of the profit from the sale of this book is donated to charities by the publisher.
YESTERDAYS BOOKS raising funds for TODAYS CHARITIES
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KEYWORDS/TAGS: Folklore, fairy tales, myths, legends, Scottish, Scotland, folk tales, children’s stories, bedtime, poolewe, ross-shire, scots, Nursery, White Pet, Milk-White Doo, Croodin Doo, Cattie, Kiln-Ring, Spinning, Marriage, Robin Redbreast, Wren, Tempted Lady, Fause Knight, Wee Boy, Strange Visitor, Rashin-Coatie, Animals, Fox Outwitted, Fleas, Bag-Pipes, Stratagem, Cock, Wolf, Lost Tail, Frog, Crow, Grouse Cock, Wife, Eagle, Presumption, Two Foxes, Bee, Mouse, Alexander Jones, Fairies Of Scotland, Miller's Wife, Sir Godfrey Macculloch, Laird, Habitrot, Tulman, Isle Of Pabaidh, Sanntraigh, Water Fairies, Transportation, Poor Man, Peatlaw, Leith, Crooked Finger, Ploughmen, The Smith. Lothian, Fairy Land, Bible-Reader, Thom, Willie, Gloaming Bucht, Song,  Faithful Purse-Bearer, Brownie, Bogle, Kelpy, Mermen,Demons, Bodsbeck, Thievish Maids, Doomed Rider, Graham Of Morphie, Fisherman, Mermaid Wife, Seal-Catcher, Adventure, Knockdolion, Laird, Lorntie, Nuckelavee, Two Shepherds, Fatlips, witchcraft, Comic Tales, Wee Bunnock, Shifty Lad, Widow's Son, Lothian Tom, Ploughman's Glory, Witty Exploits, George Buchanan, King's Fool, Literary Tales, Haunted Ships, Elphin Irving, Cupbearer, Fairy Oak, Corriewater, Cousin Mattie, Rat Hall

Leseprobe

Scottish Fairy & Folk Tales

Selected and Edited

with an Introduction by

Sir George Douglas

Originally Pubished By

A. L. Burt Company, New York

[1901 – or thereabouts]

Resurrected by

Abela Publishing, London

[2018]

Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales

Typographical arrangement of this edition

© Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London

United Kingdom

2018

ISBN-13: 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X

email [email protected]

www.AbelaPublishing.com/Scottish.html

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the teachers and storytellers

who keep folklore and history alive

through the telling and re-telling of these tales

Acknowledgements

The Publisher acknowledges the work that

Sir George Douglas

did in compiling this exquisite collection of

Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales

in a time well before

any electronic media was in use.

Contents

Introduction

The Three Green Men Of Glen Nevis

Nursery Stories

The Story Of The White Pet

The Milk-White Doo

The Croodin Doo

The Cattie Sits In The Kiln-Ring Spinning

Marriage Of Robin Redbreast

And The Wren

The Tempted Lady

The Fause Knight And The Wee Boy

The Strange Visitor

Rashin-Coatie

Stories Of Animals

The Fox Outwitted

The Fox Troubled With Fleas

The Fox And The Bag-Pipes

The Fox's Stratagem

The Fox And The Wrens

The Fox And The Cock

How The Wolf Lost His Tail

Frog And Crow

The Grouse Cock And His Wife

The Eagle And The Wren

The Wren's Presumption

The Two Foxes

The Bee And The Mouse

The Two Mice

Alexander Jones

Fairy Tales

The Fairies Of Scotland

The Fairy And The Miller's Wife

Sir Godfrey Macculloch

The Laird O' Co'

Habitrot

The Tulman

The Isle Of Pabaidh

Sanntraigh

Water Fairies

Fairy Transportation

The Poor Man Of Peatlaw

The Fairy Boy Of Leith

Mind The Crooked Finger

The Two Young Ploughmen

The Smith And The Fairies

The Lothian Farmer's Wife

Redemption From Fairy Land

The Fairy And The Bible-Reader

Thom And Willie

The Gloaming Bucht

The Fairy's Song

The Faithful Purse-Bearer

The Brownie, The Bogle, The Kelpy, Mermen And Demons

The Scottish Brownie

The Brownie Of Bodsbeck

The Brownie And The Thievish Maids

The Bogle

The Doomed Rider

Graham Of Morphie

The Fisherman And The Merman

The Mermaid Wife

The Seal-Catcher's Adventure

The Mermaid Of Knockdolion

The Young Laird Of Lorntie

Nuckelavee

The Two Shepherds

Fatlips

The Silly Mutton

Witchcraft

Macgillichallum Of Razay

The Witch Of Laggan

The Blacksmith's Wife Of Yarrowfoot

The Miller Of Holdean

Ronaldson Of Bowden

The Farmer's Wife Of Deloraine

Laird Harry Gilles

The Missing Web

The Witches Of Delnabo

The Brazen Brogues

Comic Tales

The Wee Bunnock

The Tale Of The Shifty Lad, The Widow's Son

Lothian Tom

The Ploughman's Glory; Or, Tom's Song

The Witty Exploits Of Mr. George Buchanan, The King's Fool

Literary Tales

The Haunted Ships

Elphin Irving - The Fairies' Cupbearer

The Fairy Oak Of Corriewater.

Cousin Mattie

Rat Hall

Introduction

IT is only within comparatively recent years that the homely stories in the mouths of the country-people have been constituted a branch of learning, and have had applied to them, as such, the methods and the terminology of science. No doubt a very noteworthy gain to knowledge has resulted from this treatment,--a curious department of research has been opened up, and light has been cast upon various outside things of greater importance than the subject of study itself. But, side by side with this gain to knowledge, is there not, involved in the method of treatment indicated, a loss to the stories themselves? Classified, tabulated, scientifically named, they are no longer the wild free product of Nature that we knew and loved:--they are become, so to speak, a collection of butterflies in a case, an album of pressed wild flowers. No doubt they are still very interesting, and highly instructive; but their poetry, their brightness, the fragrance which clung about them in their native air, their native soil, is in large measure gone! Well then,--with all due recognition of the value of the labours of the scientific folk-lorist, the comparative mythologist, whose work I would not for one moment be understood to undervalue,--is there not room, even at the present day, to study these stories from another point of view, and that the simplest and most obvious one--the point of view, I mean, of the story-teller pure and simple? One would hope that the time had not yet come when the old tales, considered on their own merits, have entirely ceased to charm; and it is an undeniable fact that there are still persons among us who would regard it as a real and personal loss could they be made to believe that the ideal hero of their childhood, as he falls heroically, in a bloody battle, wounded to the death, is in reality a myth, or an allegory to embody the setting of the sun; and who would even feel themselves aggrieved could they be brought to realise that the bugbear of their baby years--their own particular bugbear--is common also to the aborigines of Polynesia. So great is the power of early association. Well then, my proposal is to consider the Tales of the Scottish Peasantry simply from the literary, critical, or story-teller's point of view,--from the point of view, that is, of persons who actually tell them, to whom they are actually told.

I suppose that most nations, whilst their life has remained primitive, have practised the art of storytelling; and certainly the Scotch were no exceptions to the rule. Campbell of Isla, who wrote about thirty years ago, records that in his day the practice of story-telling still lingered in the remote Western Islands of Barra; where, in the long winter nights, the people would gather in crowds to listen to those whom they considered good exponents of the art. At an earlier date,--but still, at that time, within living memory,--the custom survived at Poolewe in Ross-shire where the young people were used to assemble at night to hear the old ones recite the tales which they had learned from their fore-fathers. Here, and at earlier dates in other parts of the country also, the demand for stories would further be supplied by travelling pedlars, or by gaberlunzie men, or pauper wandering musicians and entertainers, or by the itinerant shoemaker or tailor--"Whip-the-Cat" as he was nicknamed,--both of which last were accustomed to travel through thinly-populated country districts, in the pursuit of their calling, and to put up for the night at farm-houses,--where, whilst plying their needles, they would entertain the company with stories.