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Allan Cunningham’s Traditional Tales is a selection of folk stories steeped in the traditions and popular literature of southern Scotland and northern England. Originally published in 1822, this was one of the earliest collections of folktales ever produced in Britain. Operating within the debateable land between fact and fancy, mixing the natural and supernatural, they blur the distinction between the oral traditions of the distant past and emerging ideas of literature and modernity. Cunningham’s Traditional Tales form an essential part of folkloric history, as well as being fascinating stories in their own right.

Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) was a poet and songwriter. Born in Dumfriesshire, he corresponded with numerous Scottish authors of the day, including James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott, and published extensively in Scotland and England.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 
Introduction 
Note on the Text

TRADITIONAL TALES OF THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH PEASANTRY 
VOLUME I 

Preface 
Ezra Peden 
The Selbys of Cumberland. Part First 
The Selbys of Cumberland. Part Second 
The Selbys of Cumberland. Part Third 
Placing a Scottish Minister 
The King of the Peak 
The Mother’s Dream 
Allan-a-Maut

VOLUME II 

Miles Colvine, the Cumberland Mariner 
Honest Man John Ochiltree 
Elphin Irving, the Fairies’ Cupbearer 
Richard Faulder, Mariner 
The Last Lord of Helvellyn 
Judith Macrone, the Prophetess 
The Ghost with the Golden Casket 
The Haunted Ships 
Death of the Laird of Warlsworm 
The Seven Foresters of Chatsworth; an Ancient Derbyshire Ballad

APPENDICES 

A: Traditional Literature. No. I 
B: The Twelve Tales of Lyddalcross. Introductory 
C: Allan Cunningham’s Contributions to the London Magazine 
D: Emendation List 
E: Glossary 

NOTES

Cover image: ‘A Galloway Idyll’, by Edward Atkinson Hornel (1890) 
Courtesy of Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh 
Cover design: Mark Blackadder.