Twelve Great Black Cats and Other Eerie Scottish Tales

by Sorche Nic Leodhas, Leclaire Alger, Vera Bock (Illustrator)

Book by Leodhas, Sorche Nic, Alger, Leclaire

Genres: Folklore, Short Stories, Horror, Fairy Tales, Fiction

173 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1971

About the author

pseudonym for Leclaire Alger

Sorche Nic Leodhas (1898–1969) was born LeClaire Louise Gowans in Youngstown, Ohio. After the death of her first husband, she moved to New York and attended classes at Columbia University. Several years later, she met her second husband and became LeClaire Gowans Alger. She was a longtime librarian at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she also wrote children’s books. Shortly before she retired in 1966, she began publishing Scottish folktales and other stories under the pseudonym Sorche Nic Leodhas, Gaelic for Claire, daughter of Louis. In 1963, she received a Newbery Honor for Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland. Alger continued to write and publish books until her death 1969.

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books which I remember with nostalgia from my pre-teen years, when I finally moved away from Enid Blyton and other established writers for children. This was one of those books which triggered my lifelong interest in horror and the supernatural.

Apart from the title story, "The Auld Cailleach's Curse" and "The Man Who Missed the Tay Bridge Train" were disturbing (the former could be made into an E. C. Comics story with very little effort). "The Sea-Captain's Wife" was very sad in a depressing kind of way. I cannot remember any other stories.

The illustrations were also very interesting.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good little collection of folklore. Nic Leodhas has a good story telling voice. I wish I had been able to hear her tell these.

[andrej_reads7878 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong stories from this collection:

The Honest Ghost
The Weeping Lass at the Dancing Place
The Flitting of the Ghosts
The Auld Cailleach’s Curse
The Shepherd Who Fought the March Wind
The Sea Captain’s Wife
The Man Who Missed the Tay Bridge Train

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth · Rating 4 out of 5]

charming little haunts of tales

Be warned though, only the first tale is to do with cats

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given to me by my Scottish Gran when I was a child, at the time it was too scary - at the age of 40 have just got around to reading it!

[Zev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these made me a little nervous, or made me shiver a bit. Others had me intrigued at the mystery. The illustrations were wonderful. One of the stories that was apparently intended to be scary was for me, about grief and learning to let go. It helped me a lot. Another had me roar with laughter at a bit of dialogue I was convinced was a joke with five different layers. It was uh, probably not as profound for its time as I found it now. I'm so glad I read this book.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming set of eerie Scottish folk tales. Well retold. Be sure to look at the illustrations, for they're spookier than the stories; they reminded me of the original illustrations for the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. All in all, a wonderful collection.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to read some of the Scottish tales. However, most of them had rather dull, disappointing endings.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eerie Scottish folktales. Fun language, overly long stories.

[Kristen Mohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite was the knitting story.

[Beka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lovely "spooky" Scottish tales. (Actually none of them are very scary, but they are all quite enjoyable.) I truly love Sorch Nic Leodhas's writing and her lovely folk tales.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Nic Leodhas's collections--perfect for Halloween storytelling.