Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - Jack beats the Laird of the Black Art at cards and answers h...
Contributors - Stanley Robertson
Reporters - Barbara McDermitt

Summary - Jack beats the Laird of the Black Art at cards and answers his riddles to win a princess.

At the end of summer the trees laden with berries indicated a hard winter to come, and Jack set off to the north to kill a stag to supply meat and deerskin. When he was about to shoot a stag an old woman appeared and asked him to spare it. He did so, and the old woman said she might help him one day. On his way home, having shot a fine big stag and put it in his cart, Jack came to a castle where a girl was chained to the wall. She was being kept prisoner by a Laird of the Black Art. Jack took on the Laird's challenge of a game of cards and some riddles to get the girl free. Jack beat the Laird at cards by choosing to play Jig, a game taught him by his grandmother, but unkown to the Laird. Stanley Robertson describes how Jig is played.

The Laird then posed three riddles to Jack, telling him only the Devil knew the answers. Jack went back to the old woman. She turned out to be Hoddy's [the Devil's] favourite auntie, and visited him with Jack concealed under her frock. She got the answers to the riddles from the Devil while taking lice out of his hair. Jack went back to the Laird with the answers and the girl was freed. Her father, the king, gave her in marriage to Jack. The Devil was annoyed with the Laird and told him off.

Stanley says that this tale is a typical Travellers' tale. They had thousands of riddles and rhymes.


Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:23:14
Date Recorded - 1984.03.31
Language - Scots
Genre - Story, Information
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 82308
Original Tape ID - SA1984.026
Original Track ID - SA1984.026
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R


Item Notes -

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/82308/1


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