Duncan Williamson

Duncan Williamson was the son, grandson and great grandson of nomadic tinsmiths, basket makers, pipers and storytellers. In this book, he describes his life as a traveller with verve, candour and intimacy, recounting a childhood spent on the shores of Loch Fyne, work on the small hill farms in the summer, walking with barrows and prams and later with horse and cart, the length and breadth of Scotland. He recalls camping with hundreds of traveller families from the 1940s to the 1960s, his marriage to his cousin, Jeanie Townsley, and all the various traditional skills and arts which must be perfected for a man to maintain his family adequately."The Horsieman" is the story of traditions long vanished - of traveller trades, of building tents, of routes travelled and traditional camping sites, of stories, songs, music and cures which have been the heritage and tradition of travelling people in Scotland through the ages. Set mainly in Argyll, Tayside and all stations in between, Duncan Williamson's story is told with great warmth and humour and in the inimitable style of one Scotland's master storytellers.

Memories of a Traveller, 1928-58

The Horsieman

Gathers traditional folktales about fairies, the Nativity, the rich and the poor, Santa Claus, and kings and queens

Traveller Tales

Tell Me a Story for Christmas

Chad McCail

A collection of Scottish folk tales featuring silkies, the seal people who can take human shape.

Scottish Folk Tales

Tales of the Seal People

A collection of 14 selkie (half-seal half-human creatures) tales from the Orkney and Shetland islands off the northern tip of Scotland which embrace the fantasy, romance and unusual perspective of the Scottish travellers.

Duncan Williamson was the son, grandson and great grandson of nomadic tinsmiths, basket makers, pipers and storytellers. In this book, he describes his life as a traveller with verve, candour and intimacy, recounting a childhood spent on the shores of Loch Fyne, work on the small hill farms in the summer, walking with barrows and prams and later with horse and cart, the length and breadth of Scotland. He recalls camping with hundreds of traveller families from the 1940s to the 1960s, his marriage to his cousin, Jeanie Townsley, and all the various traditional skills and arts which must be perfected for a man to maintain his family adequately. The Horsieman is the story of traditions long vanished - of traveller trades, of building tents, of routes travelled and traditional camping sites, of stories, songs, music and cures which have been the heritage and tradition of travelling people in Scotland through the ages. Set mainly in Argyll, Tayside and all stations in between, Duncan Williamson's story is told with great warmth and humour and in the inimitable style of one Scotland's master storytellers.

Memories of a Traveller 1928-58

A collection of Scottish Traveller folk tales about the Devil from "Scotland's greatest modern-day storyteller" ( The Guardian (UK)). Devil stories are always fascinating, entertaining, and disturbing. These twenty tales, re-told by one of Scotland's master storytellers, are a fascinating insight into Traveller beliefs about evil, temptation, and suffering in which the Devil exists not to punish, but to outwit you in a contest of intelligence and knowledge. This collection is an expanded edition of Duncan Williamson's bestselling May the Devil Walk Behind Ye!, originally published by Canongate. Praise for Jack and the Devil's Purse "An important part of our heritage to be treasured and shared." — Scottish Home and Country (UK) "Duncan is a first-class storyteller." — Northern Times (UK) "Superbly handled, as you would expect from this acknowledged master of storytelling." — The Scots Magazine (UK)

Scottish Traveller Tales

Jack and the Devil's Purse

Linda Williamson

Folktales of the Scottish Travelling People

A Thorn in the King's Foot

The telling of tales and the oral tradition in Scotland has a long and honourable history, both in the annals of the folk and in the more formal pages of literary publication. Writers as different as Hogg, Scott, Stevenson, Cunninghame Graham, Buchan, Grassic Gibbon and Alasdair Gray have all drawn on the form or the voice or the features of the folk tale. Duncan Williamson, arguably the greatest traditional tale teller in modern times, is a master of this spellbinding art, and here in a single volume Linda Williamson has gathered together some of the most memorable tales in his repertoire. Transcribed from recorded sessions for the sound archives of the School of Scottish Studies, these twenty-six stories give us privileged access to the travellers' fireside with stories of talking animals; of the broonie, selkies and fairies; of cunning Jack's adventures; of kings and giants in long tales for the winter nights.

The King and the Lamp

Stories are something you carry with you, something to last your entire life, to be passed on to your children, and their children for evermore.' Duncan Williamson came from a family of Travelling People, who told stories around the campfire for entertainment and for teaching. As a child, Duncan learnt the ways of the world through stories: 'My father's knowledge told us how to live in this world as natural human beings -- not to be greedy, not to be foolish, not to be daft or selfish -- by stories.' In this collection, he passes on some of these wonderful children's folk and fairy tales. For over sixty years Duncan travelled around Scotland -- on foot, then in a horse and cart, and later an old van -- collecting tales, which not only come from the Travelling People but from the crofters, farmers and shepherds he met along the way. This collection includes tales about cunning foxes and storytelling cats, hunchbacked ogres and beautiful unicorns, helpful broonies and mysterious fairies, rich kings and fearsome warriors, as well as those about ordinary folk trying to make their way in the world. The stories have been written down as faithfully as possible to Duncan's unique storytelling voice, full of colour, humour and life.

Scottish Folk Tales for Children

The Coming of the Unicorn

Duncan Williamson, one of Scotland's Travelling People, has been celebrated as the bearer of Scotland's greatest national treasure: the richest trove of story and song in Europe. In this collection, he passes on some of these wonderful children's folk and fairy tales, collected from sixty years of travelling around Scotland. This collection includes stories about silver horses and golden birds, cunning lions and trilling nightingales, brave princesses and magic scarecrows, the four seasons and old Father Time. At the heart of each story is a lesson about life and what it means to be a good person. The stories have been written down as faithfully as possible to Duncan's unique storytelling voice, full of colour, humour and life.

Duncan Williamson

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