A blacksmith tried to copy a cure involving cutting a head o...

Original Track ID

SA1976.203.B3

Original Tape ID

SA1976.203

Summary

A blacksmith tried to copy a cure involving cutting a head off and sticking it back on. He failed, but it was all a dream.

An old blacksmith and his wife were very poor. One day a boy came into the smithy, carrying a girl whose head was on back to front, and gave the blacksmith five gold sovereigns for the use of the fire. The boy warned the blacksmith never to do what he saw someone else doing. The boy cut off the girl's head, heated the neck in the fire, and placed the head the right way around. The girl was all right. The blacksmith tried to fix his old wife's humped back the same way, but he killed the old woman. He learned about a king's daughter whose head was turned backwards. He went to the palace and tried to fix her as he had seen the boy do, but her head would not stay on. The boy appeared and warned him again never to do what you see another person doing. The blacksmith pleaded for his help, he cured the princess, and the king gave the blacksmith a bag of gold. When he got home to his own smithy the blacksmith realised that when he was poor he had been happy, but now he was rich and unhappy. His wife wakened him. He had dreamed the whole thing.

Duncan Williamson's father told him this story when he was young.

Recording Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good