WRITERS behind a new collection of Scottish folk tales hope their stories can act as a “powerful” means of connecting people in an era of social media misinformation.
The Anthology Of Scottish Folk Tales: Volume Two was published on Thursday by The History Press.
The anthology brings together folk tales from across the country, with contemporary authors contributing stories from their own region to provide a broader look at how these stories influence their community.
Erin Farley, who works as a local history officer for libraries across Dundee, contributed two stories from Dundee and Angus.
One of the stories, Finella, is a historical legend about a Pictish woman which Farley dubbed a “dramatic story of revenge”.
The second story, Jockie Barefit, is a “sad and haunting story” that Farley heard from her mother’s side of the family. She said it holds “a very special place in [her] heart”.
“It’s a lovely opportunity to be part of something which shows the range of storytelling traditions and styles that are present around Scotland.
“Because I really care about the stories of Dundee and Angus, it’s lovely to be able to put them on the storytelling map.”
Farley said that people are still attracted to traditional folk tales as they act as a “democratic” way of sharing information.
She said: “Books are a wonderful way of sharing stories so that people can learn them.
“It’s such a democratic way of passing on ideas and information and there’s something that feels very powerful about that.
“In the current political climate, having a truly shared way of passing on information from the people to the people is something that folk are embracing now.
“Social media feels like it’s absolutely falling apart at the moment, there’s so much misinformation and algorithms shaping what we see about the world.”
Farley added that sharing stories like folk tales helps to “give us that power to take our experience of the world into our own hands”.
“These stories come with the land. If you live in a place, and you care about it, it’s folklore, it’s yours to tell,” she told the Sunday National.
‘Folk tales give you a sense of identity’
ANOTHER contributor, Tim Porteus, said that folk tales give people “a sense of place and identity” and help people to share their humanity.
The full-time storyteller contributed two stories from the East Lothian region which have a particular focus on natural landscapes.
Gyre Carling is about a “grotesque” creature that eats humans, and was said to be one of King James V’s favourite stories.
Another tale explores the adventures of a man who stumbles across a legendary stone where faeries have gathered to take part in a tournament.
“You get a wee story like that, you just want to go there,” he told The National.
Porteus said the “power” of the stories was in the fact people can go and visit the landmarks they are said to represent.
“In a more modern context, think about how people migrate and go on almost pilgrimages to places they’ve seen in a movie. Stories have the same effect.
“We are so divorced from our landscape now. Not so long ago, we were so close to the soil, we grew our own food, we would walk everywhere, we would know the landscape intimately and have a sense of place that we’ve completely lost.
“Now, it’s almost as if the landscape isn’t in our consciousness anymore. These stories bring back that connection to land and landscape."
Porteus added: “By sharing stories, we share our humanity. In this age of war and conflict and dehumanisation, stories are part of the solution.”
The Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales: Volume Two was published on March 6.
