Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - A tall tale in which a man is duped by a woman, flees naked,...
Contributors - John Stewart
Reporters - Dr Sheila Douglas

Summary - A tall tale in which a man is duped by a woman, flees naked, and takes the skin off the corpse to win a wager about ugliness.

John Stewart says this tale relates to an incident on his first leave from the RAF. He had to spend time in Edinburgh changing trains. He met a woman who claimed to be Jean Stewart, a cousin, and took him to her flat. She told him to go to bed while she went out to buy drink. A picture on the wall beside the bed slid down to reveal a bearded man who attacked the storyteller with a knife. He fled naked, and eventually got onto a railway line and across the Forth Bridge. He got a tile hat from a scarecrow, then frightened away people from an isolated house. He found food and drink and some clothes in the house, where a wake had been taking place.

A gardener on an estate promised him a suit and £20 if he could find a face uglier than his. The storyteller went back to the house of the wake to cut the skin off the face of the corpse, but when he showed it to the gardener it turned out to be the skin off the corpse's backside.


Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:15:21
Date Recorded - 1978
Date of Content - 1939 to 1939
Language - English, Scots
Genre - Story, Information
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 34566
Original Tape ID - SA1978.157
Original Track ID - SA1978.157.A4
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R



Recording Location:
  County - Perthshire
  Parish - Perth
  Village - Perth


Item Location:
  County - Midlothian
  Parish - Edinburgh
  Village - Edinburgh

Item Notes -

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/34566/1


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