Piety saves a youth from his father's pact with a mysterious...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1956.176.A1
Original Tape ID
Summary
Piety saves a youth from his father's pact with a mysterious stranger.
An old fisherman and his wife and their neighbours were starving as there were no fish to be had. A gentleman came to the river and offered his help in exchange for the fisherman's firstborn son. He agreed (his wife was 83) and his net came up crammed with fish. The gentleman told him to gut the fish himself, before giving it away, and to meet him in a year and a day. The fish had jewels for guts and the couple bought a large house. The old woman became pregnant and had a baby boy. At their next meeting, the gentleman told the fisherman he would come for the boy when he was twenty. The son grew up and was very pious. When he was twenty, the gentleman came back. The father told his son of his promises [change of tape] and the son agreed to go. The boy took a stool and a Bible that his mother had given him. Before his father left him, the son opened the Bible and prayed, and the gentleman disappeared in a ball of fire: it was the Auld Man [the Devil] himself.
Item Notes
Starts off in English and switches into Scots.
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Blairgowrie
Village/Place - Blairgowrie
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Classification
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good