Folk Tales of Scotland — Part 1 (The Tale of the Hoodie · The Story of the White Pet · Bailie Lunnain · The Inheritance · The Master and His Man)
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Part one — the premiere of a new shelf. Five folk tales of the West Highlands of Scotland from J. F. Campbell's Popular Tales of the West Highlands (Edinburgh, 1860–62), heard in Campbell's English exactly as he printed it — his own translation of tales taken down from Gaelic tellers in 1859–61. In The Tale of the Hoodie, a farmer's youngest daughter weds a hoodie crow who is a man by day; when a forgotten comb breaks the spell she follows him over hill and hollow, learns smithying to shoe her own hands and feet, and crosses the hill of poison to win him back with a ring and a feather in the broth. In The Story of the White Pet, a sheep marked for the Christmas killing runs away with a bull, a dog, a cat, a cock and a goose; the six rout a band of thieves with one great shout and keep the counted money in peace. In Bailie Lunnain, a young Gael dreams three times of the Bailie of London's daughter, and on the road to claim her out-talks a Saxon gentleman in riddles — a net sown in a street, a mother, a house and a bridge carried on the journey — until the Bailie himself gives the bride by the hand. In The Inheritance, three brothers find their dead father's gold drawer empty, and an old friend's tale within the tale draws out the thief. And in The Master and His Man, a servant hired for what seed he can catch in his mouth at the thrashing compounds three grains over seven years until he crops every acre his master has. The episode opens and closes with its theme, Imperial Violin Masquerade, heard also briefly between the stories.
Chapters
0:38 The Tale of the Hoodie
7:25 The Story of the White Pet
13:43 Bailie Lunnain
25:58 The Inheritance
31:54 The Master and His Man
More of Campbell's tales are not read in this part. Held for the owner's ruling by name: The Chest · Murchag a's Mionachag. Excluded by name: The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh · The Battle of the Birds · The Brown Bear of the Green Glen · The Poor Brother and the Rich · the Fables as a set (two salvaged to the bench) · The Smith and the Fairies · The Tale of the Queen Who Sought a Drink From a Certain Well · The Three Widows · The Widow and Her Daughters · How the Fox Took a Turn Out of the Goat · The Hen · The Keg of Butter · The Fox and the Little Bonnach · The Bulls · How the Een Was Set Up. Standing on the bench for later parts of this shelf: The Three Wise Men · The Reason Why the Dallag is Called the King's Fish · The Three Questions, and the short beast tales. No claim of completeness for Campbell's four volumes is made.
From Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Orally Collected, with a Translation, by J. F. Campbell (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, Vol. I 1860 · Vol. II 1860 · Vol. III 1862), public domain — in book order, in Campbell's English as printed. Narrated by Orson. Theme: Imperial Violin Masquerade.
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