The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
AULD LORE AND LAND
Nadia Vidinova talks to author, librarian and historian Dr Erin Farley about her collection of old folk tales gleaned from old stories of Angus and Dundee
In Glenisla, a “cursed” family loses their sons one by one. On the outskirts of Brechin a young servant girl outwits the last wolf in Angus. Over in Broughty Ferry, the “shore sailor” tells tall tales of fictitious sea adventures that eventually get him killed. These are just some of the stories from the folklore tradition of Angus and Dundee – myths, legends and half-true stories shaped by landscape, people and history. Following the rise in popularity of live storytelling events, Dr Erin Farley, a Dundeebased storyteller and local historian, wrote a book compiling the best folk stories from the region. Many readers may recognise some of the legends in Angus Folk Tales, local stories that have been told in various forms over the generations, among workers in bothies and kitchens, on the fields and in jute mills, right through to the present day in books, websites and storytelling events.
“A powerful sense of history, place and fate runs through the stories here, but the dramatic and supernatural are at home in the everyday, and they come with a wry sense of humour,” explains Dr Farley, who holds a position as a library and information officer at the Local History Centre in Dundee Central Library.
“This is a world where ministers spar with the devil like a quarrelsome neighbour, ghosts still think about getting the neeps pulled, and the way you make porridge might be the only thing standing between you and your freedom.
“The rhythms of work and the land – and the often uneasy relationship with the ‘big families’ who own it – are a constant backdrop to these tales.”
Dr Farley has a long-held fascination with traditional stories, songs and poetry. Born in Edinburgh to parents from Angus and Dundee, as a child she was taken to visit her mum and dad’s home towns, where she heard the local legends and visited the former jute mills to look for ghosts.
Dr Farley studied Scottish Ethnology at Edinburgh University and went on to do a PHD researching folklore, oral histories, traditional ways of life and culture in Scotland, in partnership with Dundee Libraries.
She is also on the committee of Abertay
Historical Society and, in her free time, she tells stories at live storytelling events.
“I’ve always been on the lookout for traditional stories from Angus and Dundee because those are places that I have a connection to and an interest in,” she says.
“I noticed History Press, which is the publisher this book is out with. They’ve been doing a series of folk takes from all around Britain. I kept waiting for Angus to come out, and it didn’t. All the other places in Scotland seemed to be getting their books. Eventually I thought, right, I’ve got a book’s worth of stories here, so I pitched it to the Scottish Storytelling Centre. They helped make it into a reality. This is my first book – I’m a bit terrified!
“Some of the stories are based on real events but some of them are fictional. They’re all stories that have been told in the oral tradition, so I’ve narrated them in the way that I would if I was telling them. I’ve tried to find my own angle and my own way to bring themes out of the story. When choosing which stories went in, the main thing I’ve done is made sure every story I’ve included has a connection to a real place in Angus.”
For Dr Farley, the most interesting stories are those that have an element of myth and legend. A particular topic of interest for her is the concept of the devil, who is portrayed as a mischief maker. Sometimes the myths are interwoven with reality. In some stories the devil interacts with a historical figure.
“Pretty much nothing in that book can be taken at face value as history, though!” She laughs. “Sometimes those are the best stories.
“I didn’t have a particular readership in mind when I wrote this, but I imagine it will appeal to many people who live in Dundee and Angus. They’ll probably read it and think ‘that’s not how I remember this story’! But if it generates discussion and inspires people to talk about the stories they know, as well as to learn something new from the book, then I’d consider that a great success.”
Storytelling is as old as humanity itself – sharing anecdotes and using our imagination to create narratives it is what sets us apart from other species. In an age of digital technology, with a world greatly changed since the days of agricultural societies, it may seem these old stories are redundant. But in fact, the opposite is happening. Live storytelling events are popping up all over the UK, including many in Scotland. The Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Tradfest, Orkney Storytelling Festival and many one-off events around the country attract talent and audiences from all over the world.
“It’s quite an exciting time to be a traditional storyteller,” says Dr Farley.“there’s a sense of people having so much technology in their lives that sometimes having something that is totally person to person, with a traditional element, is quite a refreshing change. Traditional storytelling never really went away.
“People have always been telling stories to each other – in the pub, to family members, at home and so on. These stories still live in communities, they never totally went away even when we weren’t really paying much attention to them.”
A POWERFUL SENSE OF HISTORY, PLACE AND FATE RUNS THROUGH THE STORIES