A blacksmith tries unsuccessfully to copy the cutting off of...

Original Track ID

SA1978.37.A1

Original Tape ID

SA1978.037

Summary

A blacksmith tries unsuccessfully to copy the cutting off of a woman's back-to-front head, but wakes to find it was a dream.

A lad came into an old blacksmith's smithy with a woman on his back. She was bonny [beautiful], but her head was turned back to front. The boy asked the blacksmith to lend him the smithy fire for payment. The lad cut off the gueri's (girl's) head, burnt it to bone in the fire, struck it on the anvil, put it back on, and she was restored. The boy told the blacksmith never to do what he saw other people doing.

The blacksmith wondered what it would be like to have such a beautiful woman. [Break in tape and omitted detail picked up.] He did the same to his shan [shabby] old mot [old woman], but nothing happened. He hid the body in a trough of water, and went wandering on the road. He came to a town where he was told he could win a king's ransom if he could cure the king's daughter, whose head was on backwards. He took her to a smithy and did what the lad had done, but nothing happened. Then the lad appeared standing next to him. The lad gathered the ashes and restored the princess to normal. The lad told the blacksmith to sit there. He fell asleep, heard his wife and woke up. It was only a dream.

Duncan Williamson heard the story from his mother's brother, Johnnie Townsley, when he was about five. Another man, Reggie, comments on the interesting detail Travellers put into their stories.

Item Notes

'Shan' is cant, possibly from Gaelic. 'Mot' is English slang. 'Gueri' (maiden) is Romany.

See:
'Romano Lavo-Lil. Word-Book of the Romany, or, English Gypsy Language' (George Borrow, 1874)
'The Scottish National Dictionary' (available online [[www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/]], accessed 1 May 2009)

Recording Location

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair