POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS: 30 tales plus 50 riddles from the Highlands of Scotland

J. F. Campbell

Jan 2009 · POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS Vol 2 · Abela Publishing Ltd

About this ebook

This second volume of Tales of the West Highlands contains thirty ursgeuln, or tales, fifty riddles plus a few extra stories. As always, these are tales and stories in which something 'Fairy' or magical occurs, something extraordinary --fairies, giants, dwarfs, princes, princesses, kings and queens, speaking animals and the remarkable stupidity of some of the characters. But these aren't just a collection of amusing and entertaining stories. Just 20 years after the Elementary Education Act of 1870 these are the tales that were still being used in those far- flung reaches of the Highlands to teach the young the lessons of life. Also included are Seanachas--those old Highland stories which in their telling resemble no others, whose origins are lost in the mists of the Highlands, if not the midst of time. 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 or in homes, where families would gather around a crackling and spitting hearth and granddad or grandma or uncle or auntie would delight and captivate the gathering with stories passed on to them from their parents and grandparents from time immemorial. A proportion of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated towards the education of the underprivileged in Scotland.

About the author

JOHN FRANCIS CAMPBELL (29 December 1821 – Cannes, 17 February 1885), also known as “Young John of Islay” was a renowned Scottish author and scholar who specialised in Celtic studies. Campbell was known as an authority on Celtic folklore and of the Gaelic peoples in particular. His most well-known published works are the bilingual Popular Tales of the West Highlands (4 vols., 1860–62) and The Celtic Dragon Myth, published posthumously in 1911.

 

He was a descendent of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield. Educated at Eton and Edinburgh, he became Secretary to the Lighthouse Commission. Campbell also invented the sunshine recorder that bears his name as the Campbell–Stokes recorder. He travelled extensively throughout the Scottish Highlands and Islands with his scribes, scrupulously recording West Highland tales, Fenian ballads, songs, charms and anecdotes.

 

He was proficient in Gaelic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Lapp, Italian, Spanish and German. In 1874 he embarked on a year-long world tour that took him to America, Japan, China, Java, Ceylon and India. He is buried under a replica of Islay’s treasured Kildalton Cross in a cemetery in Cannes.