Tonight on this full March sap moon, Orkney Islands storyteller Tom Muir has a blether with an old pal, well-known storyteller and harpist Heather Yule. This episode is a deep dive into the Scottish oral tradition, which Tom calls "a free class in great storytelling".

You'll hear this and more:

• How Heather ended up in Scotland from Chicago, and was raised deeply immersed in traditional storytelling

• Scottish caleighs as early training for storytelling

• How Heather met some legendary Scottish Traveller storytellers as a child

• Tom's memories of Traveller folk in Orkney, and the specter of racism

• Influences of different cultures on folk tales

• Travellers' stories and Jack Tales

• Anecdotes about the great Shetland storyteller, Lawrence Tulloch

• A PhD on Jack Tales from Appalachia

• Heather Yule tells a spooky Stanley Robertson story!

• "Burker stories", relating to the horrible days of Burke and Hare, and the dangers to Travellers in particular

• Press gangs, and the relationship to "disappearance" stories

• Stanley Robertson - storyteller, seer, fortune teller, and how Tom's "fortune" worked out; and second sight

• Christianity and how it was woven together with the ancient Scottish/Celtic traditions

• The most haunted and evil house in Shetland - the true story of the sadistic laird

• Telling other people's stories as a way of continuing the connection and honoring the memory of the teller

• Hearing the voice of the storytellers no longer with us - "Kist o' Riches" online

• The anglicizing of Scottish place names by incomers and map-makers, and re-learning the original meanings

• Harps, harp-makers; playing the harp while telling a story

• The beginnings of The International Scottish Storytelling centre, The Netherbow and the storytelling festival

• Bursary for young storyteller: Meeting with Lawrence Tulloch and shadowing David Campbell

• Heather pays a beautiful piece of harp music in the manner of the old tradition

• Working with children and stories

• Heather tells a Lawrence Tulloch Shetland story with a harp

• Bouncing stories off other storytellers, like being around the kitchen table

Links to mentioned:

A Jack story: Silly Jack and the Princess - find it near the bottom of this page, under tales especially for the bairns. https://www.orkneyology.com/tales-from-tom.html

Heather's website/TRACS https://tracscotland.org/storytellers/heather-yule/

Heather's commission art: https://www.heatheryulepapertales.co.uk/paperdesigns

Story Harvest ~ revered Scottish storyteller David Campbell's book of traditional stories and tips for telling stories: https://www.orkneyology.com/David-Campbell-Orkneyology-Press.html

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