Scottish Folk Tales

by Various

Scotland is a nation rich with traditional customs, superstitions and folklore. Its dramatic and stunning landscape has inspired many stories based on its history, magic and romance.

These tales tell of a world where human weaknesses and strengths, evil doings and charitable acts are repaid in kind by faeries, monsters, giants, beguiling witches and fantastic beasts.

This collection of folk stories, both famous and less well known, has been gathered from a wide variety of sources throughout Scotland.

Handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, and once told from the crofter's cottages to castles, these intriguing and memorable folk tales and legends will absorb and entertain readers of all ages.

Genres: Mythology, Fiction, Scotland, Short Stories, Folklore

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a companion publication to Scottish Myths and Legends also published by Lomond for the Scottish tourist market and which we reviewed at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

In this case Lomond appears to have jammed together at least two and probably more texts that are out of copyright to create a mish-mash that has its virtues in the first half but far fewer in the second.

The stories in the first half have attractive illustrations, are well told and most really fall into the category of fairy tales. The tales in the second half have no illustrations, are told in a thumpingly dull archaic style and are mostly legends of doubtful provenance, possibly fictions in some cases.

There is not much more to say. Some of the stories are entrancing. Others deadly dull. There are even partial repetitions but, at this price, it is fine for the library. But don't expect provenance, notes or anything to guide us as to authenticity or meaning.

There is only one last thing to note. Some of the final tales (there are around 70, so you get your money's worth) are rather disturbing insights into the insane turn inwards of Scottish superstition, under the influence of Protestant Christianity, towards the witch hunt.

There has always been something unpleasant about Scottish communitarian Protestantism and the contrast between the first half of folk and fairy tales that see a faery world as troublesome but part of the whole and the sheer nastiness and fear of the later era is instructive.

These are two different sensibilities pushed together willy-nilly by the publishers for quick and reliable profit. You may find it strange to go from the light of the first stories to the dark of the final stories without warning. If you want to stay happy and entertained, stop at page 247.

[Victoria Foote-Blackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

For anyone interested in folktales and local cultures in Scotland this 384-page tome is one very rich repository in which to start. But reader beware.

This vast compendium of Scottish fairy tales and folktales and local lore is in some regards a "hot mess." Nobody at the publishing house saw fit to edit or curate the stories except in the most cursory way. This was an exceedingly cheap production, to keep the price a very reasonable 3.99 pounds at the Edinburgh airport. So in some regards you get what you pay for.

Criticism as follows: There is a table of contents, but there is no introduction, not even about the stories' origins in time or where they hail from in Scotland. There has been no attempt at identifying any of the writers of the stories as they have been printed. Most frustrating of all is that there is no lexicon of any Scottish words. And there are many! Most terms are not essential but to truly enjoy this collection you might want to keep an online Scottish English dictionary on hand, especially for the geomorphological terms for the vast varieties of way to describe a hill, a river, a house, a field, etc., all of which tend to appear again and again.

There is also no rhyme or reason to the order in which the 68 stories appear. The first three fifths of the volume are mostly devoted to fairly elaborate and mostly very gratifying tales, each ranging from 4 to 10 pages or more. The last two fifths, starting roughly with the story called "The Fox Outwitted,"(page 245) suddenly and unexpectedly are full of tiny 'stories'--not even all stories really but many brief one-page accounts that explain the nature of fairies and the 'wee 'folk, or give explanations for some of the lore and legends attached to various place names and topographical features in certain Scottish localities, fictional, ancient or even still on the map. Then suddenly, near the end at page 322, the last five stories--starting with the (marvelous!) trickster story "The Tale of the Shifty Lad"--are once again elaborate, a couple of them among the best in the whole book.

Another slapdash and cynical aspect to the way this collection was published is obvious in that the first 225 pages contain a sprinkling of black and white illustrations from older books (probably Lomond Publications didn't have to obtain publishing rights as they appear to be mostly 19th century engravings). From page 226 on to the end there are no more illustrations. With a tiny effort they might have sprinkled the few illustrations they were going to use at least throughout the book.

Yet, in some ways, this 'absentee landlord' approach to publishing--increasingly typical these days--has produced some unexpected benefits for the reader. Since clearly nobody edited the stories, the reader gets to read them unexpurgated and un-modernized, and this affords a large element of the charm of these tales. The voice feels genuinely Scottish, as seem the syntax, the idiomatic expressions, etc... The somewhat archaic tradition of the anonymous author addressing the reader is also left intact and draws one immediately into the story. At their best these stories are spellbinding, and one can easily imagine sitting next to a peat fire, listening to a true story-teller, while waiting for the bannocks to cook.

For the reader who has little time to waste but wants a taste of Scottish fairy tales, some of the most elaborate or fascinating tales included are--in order of appearance: "The Seal-Catcher and the Merman," "The Black Bull of Noroway," "The Dwarfie Stone," "The Draiglin' Hogney," "The Brownie O' Ferne-Den," Shifty Lad, as mentioned above, and "Lothian Tom."

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this book is taken from the now out of copyright 'The Scottish Fairy Book' by Elizabeth Grierson - but without any information about the tales.

For anyone interested, here is the link to the Project Gutenberg version of Grierson's original book.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37532/...

Overall: an interesting collection of stories, just a shame that there has been no effort to provide any information about the tales whatsoever.

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought on the Isle of Skye on our first trip to Scotland and finished on our third in Lochgoilhead. Would have been a much lower rating if read at home as some of the stories aren't of great quality, but when in the Scottish countryside it added some magic thinking of the fairies and other creatures that might be hiding out of sight.

[Aitor Morgado · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's be clear, this is a book you can typically buy as a tourist in Scotland, which I did while visiting Loch Ness. Reading mythology should be a way to know more about a culture and its history, and this is the biggest mistake here. Without any explanation or reference about the stories, the book becomes just a compendium of tales.

Even if you enjoy the stories, they lack of a deep understanding of where they come from and why they are written that way. I get it, this is a cheap book aimed to tourists, but it should have some pages about Scotland and its mythology as I wanted to learn more about the country. It doesn't even have a lexicon with the Scottish terms that constantly appear throughout the book and sometimes it can be hard to completely understand the story.

Overall, some tales are enjoyable and some others are weird or just boring. I don't think I can recommend this book enough.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read about Scottish and Celtic tales, and this seemed the perfect book, but I severely regret it. It started off strong with good tales like Thomas the Rhymer and Whippety-Stourie, but declined in quality later in the book when there were consistently 1, 2, or 3 paged stories, where you hardly understand the story, if there was one at all. If you want to get a book about Scottish or Celtic folklore, find one that is better than this one. If you have gotten this, worthwhile stories include:

Thomas the Rhymer
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Whippety-Stourie
The Red-Etin
The Seal Catcher and the Merman
The Page-Boy and the Silver Goblet
The Black Bull of Narroway
The Elfin Knight
The Dwarfie Stone
Canonbie Dick and Thomas of Ercildoune
The Witch of Fife
Assipattle and the Mester Stoorworm
The Fox and the Wolf
The Worm of Linton
The Legend of Linton Church
Thom and Willie
The Witch of Laggan
The Blacksmith’s Wife of Yarrowfoot
Adam Bell

[Ronnie Pastecki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven mixture of scottish folk tales; some leave you smiling and some are a struggle to finish. Picked up this book at Roslyn Chapel. It is an inexpensive book aimed for the tourist trade but an enjoyable way to remember your journey to Scotland.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd echo most of the other reviews here. This book wasn't well organized or edited, and there were no sorts of historical notes on the origins of any of the folk tales. However, my brother bought this for me for Christmas which made it a sentimental read!

[Meg Withers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of Scottish folk tales, which are lovely to read! The book just could have ended about 100 pages sooner. It gets a bit repetitive at the end. But up to that point, it's a great read.

[Alias T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite difficult to understand at parts for those who do not have English as their mother tongue.
Some stories are better than others and some are quite dark but can´t blame it, I guess it´s just the folklore.

[Deedee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book full of Folk Tales! Some are great! Some have a good end while some are kind of pointless... Others are just plain boring!
Overall a fun easy going read!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better put together collection of tales than the scottish myths and legends companion book

[Victoria Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good but need to reread it for some of the language

[Virginie Gagné · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but I would have liked to get more context for each legend.

[Charlotte Badger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was much better than the second half. For a cheap book from a gift shop in Scotland it was a nice memento from the holiday, but not a book I'd recommend others read.

[Stijn]

Big fan of folk stories, the trick is to modernize it in such a way that it is readable yet does not alter the atmosphere/story. Don't feel that with this bundle.

[Jan Jørgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja bogen lever lige det den love god og velskrevet og valuta for pengene. klart den bedste samling jeg har set

[Stefani Akins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it impossible to review fairytales, but let it be said that I enjoyed reading these.