Book Review: Scottish Folk Tales

Scottish Folk Tales published by Lomond Books

This collection has dozens of tales from unidentified authors (no editor is identified either!). Most of the stories involve supernatural creatures like fairies, brownies, merfolk, witches, and ghosts. Anthropomorphic animal tales, like "The Fox and the Wolf," are included along with the occasional poem. Some of the stories are written with a thick Scottish accent, making it a bit difficult for an American reader like me to comprehend what's being said. Saying lines out loud helped a bit but not always. I did have to look up some vocabulary for unfamiliar words like bairns (children). 

The tales have a lot of typical folk-tale content. The protagonists generally get the better of the supernatural creatures, unless they are the sort of folk who are bad and deserve to be carted off to the fairy realm for seven years or more. The tales are mostly charming and humorous with a lot of the typical moralizing. My favorites were "The Brownie O' Ferne-Den," "Assipattle and the Mester Stoorworm," "Nuckelavee," and "The Tale of the Shifty Lad, the Widow's Son."

Mildly recommended.