British folktales

by Katharine Mary Briggs

Paper Book, 1977

Status

Available

Call number

398.2/0941

Genres

Fiction

Collection

Don

Publication

New York : Pantheon Books, c1977.

Description

Selections from the author's Dictionary of British folk-tales in the English language.

User reviews

LibraryThing member wrichard

As the title says this is a sampler from Brigg's larger work. However the stories she selects are entertaining and funny, as well as representative of the folklore genre.

1 more

LibraryThing member isabelx

The Laird of Duffus was walking out in his fields one day, when a cloud of dust whirled past him, and from the midst of it he heard a shrill cry of "Horse and Hattock". Being a bold man, he repeated the cry, and immediately found himself whirled away in the air with a troop of fairies to the King

of France's cellar. There they caroused all night so merrily that the Laird fell asleep and was left behind. The royal butler found him the next day, still fast asleep, with a cup of curious workmanship in his hand. He was taken before the King, and told him all that had happened. The King pardoned him, and he returned home with the fairy cup, which was kept in his family for several generations.

A selection of tales from her four-volume dictionary of British folk-tales and legends, with interesting introductions to each section. "Horse and Hattock" is one of the shortest stories in the book, and Duffus is a real place, near Elgin in northern Scotland. The Lairds of Duffus did own a fairy cup, a silver cup with their arms engraved on it, but there was nothing about it that would make you think that it actually came from fairyland.

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