Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Scottish Traveller Storyteller (1982) - A story told by Willie MacPhee, a Traveller of Blairgowrie, Perth. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and stories and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Story transcription:
I believe the first story I can remember I was about maybe five-year-old. And it was an aunt who used to tell stories to all the wains. She would gather them all about an old aunt that was her pastime, telling stories to the wains. And I think the first story that I remember was Johnny's Famous Mystery. That's a three part story. And it lasts about 2 1/2 hours to three hours. I think that was the first I remember because it was a great story.
[John Cohen] What kind of happened in the story?
Well it starts with with a boy and his mother and what this boy does and the things he's got to come through. He's a fish in the seas, he's a lion in the forest. And he's a hawk in the woods. Now through the time, all these things comes in handy because he's to do difficult things, and each of these things come in very very handy for him. And when the story's finished, he gets his freedom for the money, keeps them in these three puzzles.
Well the castle that he goes to at the end there's a giant wall out round about it. But he's a human being you see, and he walks round about and he says "I can't get over that wall," he says. And he turns himself into a hawk and he flew over the wall. And the end side of this wall, there was these great big giant dogs. The dogs made at him and they bite him and he turned himself into a lion and he frightened these dogs away, you see? Now he frightened the dogs away this big giant castle castle was on and he was looking for this lassie in the castle.
So he turns back into the hawk again and he flew right round about the castle right round about, being in all these wee windows where he thought the lassie would be. And finally way in the topmost tower of the castle here she was present in the topmost part of the castle. And he was sittin' in the window looking in at her and she was sittin' under and she was looking out and she seeing this wee hawk sittin' in the window. And she opened the window and she let the wee hawk in for to pet it. And of course when he come in, he turns himself back into the man again. And he explained to her how he was there and he come to save her and they were gonna get wed.
Scottish Traveller Storyteller (1982) - A story told by Willie MacPhee, a Traveller of Blairgowrie, Perth. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and stories and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Story transcription:
I believe the first story I can remember I was about maybe five-year-old. And it was an aunt who used to tell stories to all the wains. She would gather them all about an old aunt that was her pastime, telling stories to the wains. And I think the first story that I remember was Johnny's Famous Mystery. That's a three part story. And it lasts about 2 1/2 hours to three hours. I think that was the first I remember because it was a great story.
[John Cohen] What kind of happened in the story?
Well it starts with with a boy and his mother and what this boy does and the things he's got to come through. He's a fish in the seas, he's a lion in the forest. And he's a hawk in the woods. Now through the time, all these things comes in handy because he's to do difficult things, and each of these things come in very very handy for him. And when the story's finished, he gets his freedom for the money, keeps them in these three puzzles.
Well the castle that he goes to at the end there's a giant wall out round about it. But he's a human being you see, and he walks round about and he says "I can't get over that wall," he says. And he turns himself into a hawk and he flew over the wall. And the end side of this wall, there was these great big giant dogs. The dogs made at him and they bite him and he turned himself into a lion and he frightened these dogs away, you see? Now he frightened the dogs away this big giant castle castle was on and he was looking for this lassie in the castle.
So he turns back into the hawk again and he flew right round about the castle right round about, being in all these wee windows where he thought the lassie would be. And finally way in the topmost tower of the castle here she was present in the topmost part of the castle. And he was sittin' in the window looking in at her and she was sittin' under and she was looking out and she seeing this wee hawk sittin' in the window. And she opened the window and she let the wee hawk in for to pet it. And of course when he come in, he turns himself back into the man again. And he explained to her how he was there and he come to save her and they were gonna get wed.
