A man was changed into a woman and had a family before being...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1988.009; SA1988.010
Original Tape ID
Summary
A man was changed into a woman and had a family before being changed back and winning a lying contest.
A laird held a ceilidh for his workers. Everybody had to "tell a story, sing a sang, show their bum, or oot they gang." There was a golden guinea for whoever told the biggest lie. One cattleman couldn't make up anything, so the laird sent him to clean out his boat, but he floated away in it. He discovered that he had turned into a woman. When 'she' landed, she met a young man, who took her home to his mother. In the course of time, they got married and had children. One day they were out walking and saw the boat. [Break to change tape.] The woman turned back into the cattleman and returned to find that no time had passed. Crying for his lost family, he told them what had happened, and won the guinea. The laird was a mesmerist and master of the black art and had made the cattleman imagine it all so that he would have something to tell.
Item Notes
Performance at the Scottish Oral History Group Conference. A small part of the story is lost when the tape is changed: 'she' steps into the boat and is carried away. The same story is told on tapes SA1981.064 and SA1984.080.
Recording Location
County - Midlothian
Parish - Edinburgh
Village/Place - Edinburgh
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good