The Flight of the Golden Bird

Stories are something you carry with you, something to last your entire life, to be passed on to your children, and their children for evermore.’ Duncan Williamson Duncan Williamson was one of Scotland’s Travelling People, born on the shores of Loch Fyne. He has been celebrated as the bearer of Scotland’s greatest national treasure: the richest trove of story and song in Europe. As a child, Duncan learnt the ways of the world through stories: ‘Now my father would say, ‘Sit down there and listen carefully. Because by listening to this story you’re going to learn something that will teach you in life. And remember, carry the story with you all of your days. Because this story was told to me by my father.” In this collection, he passes on some of these wonderful children’s folk and fairy tales. For over sixty years Duncan travelled around Scotland — on foot, then in a horse and cart, and later an old van — collecting tales, which not only come from the Travelling People but from the crofters, farmers and shepherds he met along the way. This collection includes stories about silver horses and golden birds, cunning lions and trilling nightingales, brave princesses and magic scarecrows, the four seasons and old Father Time. At the heart of each story is a lesson about life and what it means to be a good person. The stories have been written down as faithfully as possible to Duncan’s unique storytelling voice, full of colour, humour and life.