Scottish Traditional Tales

by A.J. Bruford (Editor), D.A. MacDonald (Editor)

All over the world traditional tales used to be told at the fireside until their place came to be taken by books, newspapers, radio and television. This is an entertaining collection from Scotland, recorded and collected by researchers from the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University over the past fifty years. Taken from a variety of sources, from the Hebridean Gaelic tradition to recordings of Lowland cairds (travelling people), some are well-known tales which have equivalents in other cultures and languages, whilst others are unique to Scotland. Each of the selected tales gives an insight into how Scottish culture, tradition, teachings and folk-lore were passed on through the medium of story-telling, and with almost a hundred tales is the most wide-ranging introduction available on this fascinating part of Scotland's heritage. This is a welcome reprint of a book that quickly established itself as a classic. It was previously published by Polygon.

Genres: History, Scotland, Folklore

496 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kaylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scottish Traditional Tales was a gift from my Auntie Carol, who I mentioned in my Rob Roy review. Three of my grandparents were Scottish, so although I've never lived there, I have an interest in the songs and stories. I dove into Scottish Traditional Tales without a very clear idea of what I would find. And what a wild ride it turned out to be!

Relatively few of the stories were familiar to me, and even the ones that were tended to come with unexpected twists. I recognised selkies and brownies, but it took a little longer for me to realise that Lasair Gheug was a version of Snow White where the seven dwarves have been replaced by twelve cats and a trout in a well takes the place of the magic mirror. I liked that in Ceanne Suic — a take on Rumplestiltskin — the woman who has to guess Ceann Suic's name had already been threatened with the loss of her firstborn. It made her seem a lot more level-headed than the woman who promises her first child to escape a lie that had got out of hand.

Even if the stories themselves weren't familiar to me: there were bits of them that were. The Broonie, for example, it a much more working class version of a story I'm familiar with in folksong.

It was fun to see little bits and pieces of things that I do know sprinkled in amongst the unfamiliar. This is definitely a collection I'd like to come back to. I think a lot of the stories would only improve with increasing familiarity!

[Scott Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible collection. Great stories to read with only dark turns in the odd one. Most are full of fun and easy to get through baring some in the centre which are in brawd Scots and can be confusing. But frankly it's good training for the brain. Only repetitive areas are shorter stories that have multiple retellings with small changes but again these are rare. Very comprehensive and enjoyable.

[Scott Macdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better anthologies of folk tales I have read. Worth picking up