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.

YESTERDAYS BOOKS raising funds for TODAYS CHARITIES

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