Book Review: Scottish Myths and Legends by Rosemary Gray

Scottish Myths and Legends selected by Rosemary Gray

Scotland has had a long tradition of telling tales of fairies and the fantastic. This book gathers dozens of stories centered in Scotland. They are all entertaining, some more so than others. Only one or two are written with a strong Scottish accent, giving the reader a taste of that style without making the whole book that style. I enjoyed it a lot, especially the diversity of the tales.

The book starts with myths that explain the weather, the seasons, and the geography. Beira is the Queen of Winter whose grip on the weather is only broken in the spring, when she leaves to a sort of Fountain of Youth to become young again. She has many children who helped make the mountains and lochs of Scotland and have many adventures.

The book has an assortment of stories about fairies, merfolk, brownies, witches, and other mystical beings. Mermaids are quite different from what Americans are used to--the Scottish variety can shed an outer skin to visit the surface world and it is a great woe to whatever merperson who loses their skin because they cannot return to the land under the sea. Brownies are like fairies but are always helpful. They don't want praise for doing good deeds and will leave if they are given gifts or other tokens of gratitude. Ghosts and giants also populate the stories.

Mixed in are some familiar tales of young boys going on quests (eg., do three tasks to get the girl), royalty mixing with commoners, and a few nautical adventures. Fantastical elements may or may not be part of the story. These are a lot of fun too.

The stories have a great mixture of history, humor, and horror.

Recommended.