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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On this full snow moon, Tom Muir has a fascinating fireside chat with Simon Heywood, Doctor of Philosophy and Senior Lecturer at University of Derby, who is also an authority on Arthurian stories and an elegant storyteller.

If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology

Join the conversation to find out such things as ...

• Who was King Arthur? Was he a real person?
• The time when the English were unwelcome invaders who came into Britain by boat (ironically)
• What was the first written account of Arthur and his court?
• King Arthur, the national hero of Wales
• The French connection: where did Lancelot come from?
• Was Arthur an "English" king?
• What if such a magical thing as an honourable king really did happen?
• The tragedy when those trying to do right fail
• Cornwall and King Arthur
• The return of the king
• Glastonbury and Avalon
• The Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny
• The dark genius behind Arthur: Merlin and his terrible crimes
• Tennyson's act of evasion in his Arthurian vision, and how he was made a "freeman" of Kirkwall
• Vortigern's last stand; who keeps tearing down his tower? The story of the two drgons of Wales
• The sword in the stone - is it Excalibur?
• Morgan leFay
• Lot (Earl Lyot of Orkney?) and his wife, the powerful Morgause; Lot's sons, knights of the Round Table
• The moving circle of stones at Stonehenge
• Are any of the details based in historical fact?
• Camelot and Guinevere
• Mordred the "monster"
• Arthur's birth and the Questing Beast
• Who is in the boat, coming to fetch the wounded Arthur to take him to Avalon?

About Simon: https://shonaleigh.uk/about/simon-heywood/

Simon's books: https://www.waterstones.com/author/simon-heywood/1465389

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Tonight, Tom Muir and his wife Rhonda have a cozy winter storytelling session, with readings from Tom's books published with The History Press ... including his new Scottish Folk Tales of Love, gorgeously illustrated by artist Hester Aspland.

If you're inspired to do so, you can buy us a dram on Ko-fi, with our hearty thanks: https://ko-fi.com/orkneyology

Winter is for stories. As we round the bend of a new year, Tom will tell us some stories in their entirety, as well as sharing selected readings from his History Press books. So snuggle in and draw closer to the fire, even if it's an imaginary one. Happy New Year to you all, friends.

Along with readings from stories of sea witches, second sight, doomed lovers, the devil, lovers returned from the dead and runaway princesses ... full stories Tom will tell are:

• The Three Questions
• The Selkie's Revenge
• The Three Gifts

Mentioned in the episode:

Hjorliefur Helgi Steffanson: podcast episode 10; Ailsa Dixon: podcast episode 9 - https://www.orkneyology.com/orkneyology-podcast.html

The Green Man of Knowledge, told by Tom: https://www.orkneyology.com/tales-from-tom5.html

Tales for Troubled Times folktale storytelling archive: https://www.orkneyology.com/tales-from-tom.html

History Press books by Tom: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/contributor/tom-muir/

Anthologies: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-anthology-of-scottish-folk-tales/

https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-anthology-of-scottish-folk-tales-volume-ii/

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