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Duncan Williamson grew up and lived as a Scottish traveler. Consider travelers as akin to gypsies. This roaming life imbued with a strong work ethic filled Williamson with hundreds of stories.
Stories of magical animals, fearsome warriors, unsavory villains and proud heroes. These are morality tales shared around the campfire, each steeped in tradition and performed long before there was a television in every home.
Williamson has published books of stories he heard from his father, uncles, co workers and other travelers he has encountered. Storytelling was a performance art, and everyone around the dinner table was expected to take a turn to entertain the company.
The Coming of the Unicorn focuses on stories for children. Each story is no more than a handful of pages long and often features some enchanted animal learning a valuable life lesson about patience, hard work, or other worthwhile virtues.
These are fun stories that have stood the test of time, especially considering thatthey come from an aural tradition. Charming stories like “Mary Rushie Coats and the Wee Black Bull” and “Fox and Two Cat Fishers” are fun, even if the moral lesson feels shoehorned in at times.
For non-Scottish children, the book includes a glossary of terms readers will encounter such as ceildhs, cowples, dinnas and plooks.
That’s just a puckle of the charm awaiting young readers.
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The Coming of the Unicorn: Scottish Folk Tales for Children (Kelpies)