Forgotten folk tales of the English counties;

RLE Folklore

by Ruth L. Tongue

In this book, first published in 1970, Ruth L. Tongue has collected a number of county folk tales recorded by her from childhood onwards, from old people, village children and farm round-the-fire sessions. Many of the beliefs embodied in the gipsy and witchcraft tales are still in practice today among the travelling people and locally 'gifted' healers. The tales reveal a good deal of fairy lore, some tree lore, including ghostly trees like Crooker, and the 'uncanny' Black Dog makes his appearance in more than one tale. The collection includes several of the long fireside tales which would be told on succeeding evenings on winter nights round the kitchen fire, and rhozzums from various localities.

Genres: Folklore, Nonfiction

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Ruth Lyndall Tongue is a strange figure in the field of English folklore. She is little known in modern popular culture. Within the folklore niche, however, her work is both controversial and incredibly widespread. Her stories, which are colorful and memorable, appear in many folktale anthologies. She was a born storyteller. (And she never missed an opportunity to sing her own praises. She referred to herself in one interview as “the last of the folk-lorists.”)

Katharine Mary Briggs was one of the most influential folklorists of the 20th century and president of the Folklore Society from 1969 to 1972. It was she who discovered Tongue and brought her to temporary fame. Although that fame faded, and Ruth's name was even misspelled in her obituary, the books they worked on together became essential reading for anyone interested in English folklore. They entered popular culture through fantasy novels and the artwork of artists like Brian Froud.

What's wrong with Ruth Tongue? If you've read my blog, you'll know I am always coming back to her. Basically: she's been called everything from a prodigy to a fraud. She was popular for a while in life, but after her death, academics began to turn more scrutiny on her work. In some cases her work has made things more confusing for later researchers.

Everything she published went through her process of storytelling. This is obvious from her signature style and recurrent themes. Her songs don't have the feel of old ballads. As pointed out by Bob and Jacqueline Patten and many others, even reviewers like Margaret Dean-Smith who struck a positive tone, her songs are closer to contemporary popular songs. Her stories, too, are written in modern style. There are inconsistencies and inaccuracies. Her sources are so vague as to be evasive.

Ruth collected stories from all sorts of sources, but many of them she wrote down years after hearing them. Some memories were triggered by reading books, or simply came back to her decades later. In her book The Chime Child, she described remembering a song which she had first heard in early childhood: "it had become deep buried by other songs until one glorious September day in 1964, when up on Brean Down overlooking a quiet sea creeping shorewards, the whole song threw off the dust of fifty years and became a lovely and loved thing to others." (pp. 59-60)
Much of her material had never been seen before. Her stories were strikingly unique and she was always brimming with more, which made her invaluable to Katharine Briggs.

Ruth is but one example of “folklorists” who embellished or embroidered stories. Some polished their material to make a better story. Others edited to support their own beliefs and prejudices. For Ruth, I think it was partly to tell a better story, but also because it was a way to get the attention for which she longed. It earned her friends who looked after her in her later life.

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