Best Scottish Tales

Culloden Tales Stories from Scotland's Most Famous Battlefield. Culloden was the last battle on British soil. It marked the end of clan culture and was the harbinger of the Highland Clearances. It ensured the inevitability of the American Revolution and increased the outpouring of Scots across the globe. It is the only battle that British Army regiments are not permitted to include in their battle honours; the only battle that Bonnie Prince Charlie ever lost; and the only battle that the Duke of Cumberland ever won. Culloden is a battlefield, a graveyard and an iconic site that draws people from all parts of the world. And as they come, they bring with them their stories and their father's father's stories. These stories tell of civil war, of love, of the unexpected and even of the supernatural. They are peopled by the second-sighted, by clan chiefs and by others who have kept family secrets for centuries. The battlefield is a poignant location, resonant with past deeds and emotive memories. These Culloden tales are offered as a unique record to the power of the place. Culloden Tales: Stories from Scotland's Most Famous Battlefield.


Tales of St Kilda. St Kilda and the Wider World, Tales of an Iconic Island. St Kilda, now a World Heritage Site and once home to the most remote community in Britain, has long been seen as a place of tragedy. Sepia images of intrepid seabird hunters and the abandoned village street have been used to evoke a heroic, ultimately doomed 'struggle for existence'on the edge of the Atlantic, a struggle that ended with the evacuation of 1930. This book, the first general account for thirty years, reconsiders the islanders' story and presents a radical new interpretation. Adnrew Fleming argues that this tale of inevitability doesn't do the St Kildans justice. They have often been regarded as exotic, but as the photographs of ordinary children in the book show, they were not so very different from other Hebrideans. The archipelago was settled by a hard-working, viable community well before 2000 BC; in prehistoric and Norse times, St Kilda may in fact have played a pivotal role in the region. Well into the Victorian period St Kilda was a well-organised, economically diversified and culturally rich community, which dealt effectively with outsiders and won their sympathy. Indeed the St Kildans themselves colluded with the wider world to create the iconic island of today. Andrew Fleming retells a fascinating tale and reveals a wealth of new archaeological discoveries into the bargain. This is an essential book for all those fascinated by the realities of island life. St Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island.


Tales of the Morar Highlands. Beyond Fort William, on the road to the Isles, lies Morar, the Highlands of the Highlands and centre of the Rough Bounds, that wild, desolate, but uniquely beautiful part of Scotland that was once the homeland of the Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Lords of the Isles. Inspired by bards, writers and images of the past, Alasdair Roberts has collected and revitalised a huge number of traditional tales which transport the reader to the heart of this remote and beguiling landscape. Tales of the Morar Highlands is a book packed with extraordinary incident and remarkable characters, from mysterious loch monsters and fugitive princes to lords, priests and smugglers, as well as the ordinary people who have made this fascinating part of Scotland their home for thousands of years. Tales of the Morar Highlands.

Scottish Traditional Tales. All over the world traditional tales used to be told at the fireseide until their place came to be taken by books, newspapers, radio and television. This is an entertaining collection from Scotland, recorded and collected by researchers from the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University over the past fifty years. Taken from a variety of sources, from the Hebridean Gaelic tradition to recordings of Lowland cairds, travelling people, some are well-known tales which have equivalents in other cultures and languages, whilst others are unique to Scotland. The tales are arranged by theme: tall tales, hero tales, legends of ghosts and evil spirits, tales of fate and religion, fairies and sea-folk, children's tales, trickster tales, tales of clan feuds, robber tales This is a book that quickly established itself as a classic. Scottish Traditional Tales.


Best Scottish Tales. Tales of the Picts. For many centuries the people of Scotland have told stories of their ancestors, a mysterious tribe called the Picts. This ancient Celtic-speaking people, who fought off the might of the Roman Empire, are perhaps best known for their Symbol Stones ? images carved into standing stones left scattered across Scotland, many of which have their own stories. Here for the first time these tales are gathered together with folk memories of bloody battles, chronicles of warriors and priestesses, saints and supernatural beings. From Shetland to the Border with England, these ancient memories of Scotland?s original inhabitants have flourished since the nation?s earliest days and now are told afresh, shedding new light on our ancient past. Tales of the Picts (Luath Storyteller).