A minister found a talking skull, saw people being punished...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1978.159
Original Tape ID
Summary
A minister found a talking skull, saw people being punished for their sins, and discovered he has been gone for centuries.
A minister found a skull in the graveyard, which spoke to him, saying it was a minister who had been in that parish long ago. The skull visited the minister at home. On his way to return the visit, the minister passed three men shovelling sand into a hole, with the sand coming out again as fast as they shovelled it in; a young woman beating an old woman with a broom; and a farmer's wife with rats and mice coming in and out of her mouth. The skull told him that the three men had been habitual Sabbath-breakers, and had been put at the sandpit as a parable. Similarly, the old woman had killed the young woman with ill-use. The farmer's wife had given a poor Traveller woman milk that had had a dead mouse in it, and it had killed her child.
The skull told the minister that when he returned he would find everything changed. The village would be a big city, with cars and aeroplanes. He must take a sack with him and put it on the ground before he dismounted. It was as the skull had said. An old woman told the minister that her great granny had told a story about a minister who rode away and was never seen again. A crowd gathered, and the minister dismounted to preach to them, but forgot to put the sack on the ground, and he turned to dust.
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good