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A baker was given a loaf at the end of a year's work, was ch...

Date 16 December 1978
Track ID 66131
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1978.134

Original Tape ID

SA1978.134

Summary

A baker was given a loaf at the end of a year's work, was chased by burkers, and got home to find the loaf full of sovereigns.

An out-of-work baker went away and got a job in a town. He was paid very little, but sent home money when he could. The baker was an expert, and the business thrived. After a year he left to go home to his wife and family. His employer gave him a loaf, which he was not to break until he broke it into his wife's apron, and warned him not to take a short cut, nor to go into a house with its gable end to the road. However, the baker did take a short cut. He came upon two burkers cutting a packman's throat. They chased him, and he ran into a house with the gable end to the road, where two men attacked him with a knife. He escaped but they caught up with him again at a farmhouse. Again he escaped and ran home. He broke the loaf in his wife's apron. It was full of sovereigns, his year's wages.

A woman comments that this is John Stewart's version of a basic story she has heard. Barbara Mcdermitt says she has also heard a different version. Neither of them has heard a version where the hero is a baker. John says it is supposed to be unlucky for a house to have the gable end to the road.

Item Notes

Burkers were murderers whose motive was to obtain bodies to sell for dissection. The term comes from William Burke, of Burke and Hare, who was hanged in 1829.

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Classification

AT910

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good