OpenLearn Works Unit 13: Storytelling, comedy and popular culture by Donald Smith Copyright © 2019 The Open University 2 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 Contents Introduction 4 13. Introductory handsel 5 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling 8 13.2 Humorous folk tales in Scots 13 13.3. Music halls and the dominance of English 17 13.4 From Leonard to Bissett 21 13.5 What I have learned 28 Further Research 29 References 29 Acknowledgements 29 3 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 Introduction Introduction Storytelling belongs first of all to an oral culture, which is not written down, remaining fluid, and relatively uncontrolled. When something is written down in a manuscript or a book, there is a standard against which other versions can be compared or corrected. Since the emergence of writing, political, social and religious institutions have privileged written records over oral memory and tradition. This has had a huge influence on the survival and evolution of the Scots language. Having lost its role as a contemporary written language in the 17th century, Scots continued to thrive as a spoken tung. This led to Scots often being associated with aspects of culture that were not sanctioned by authority, or explicitly dissident. To gie tung or ‘raise your voice’ could be seen as anti-authority, an expression of cultural resistance and human freedom. Consequently, people were told to curb or haud their tungs. And the forms of punishment administered by local courts included restraining the tongue, as for example with a Scold’s Bridle. In the Bridle the tongue is bitted, i.e. bitten or held in a metal brace. In extreme instances tongues were also removed, while another cruel physical punishment was the removal or cropping of lugs – the ears. Clearly all the organs of oral communication were targeted for repression, control and punishment. This was done to impose social order in communities where drunkenness and physical fighting were not uncommon. Verbal abuse and flyting also came to the fore, which raised quarrels to a level of verbal skill and artistry. Until the 19th century travelling entertainers in Scotland – pedlar poets, storytellers and sangsters – were classified as vagrants and subject as social outcasts to restrictions on movement and settlement, and at times cruel restraints. The same regime applied to unlicensed beggars or sorners and to Scotland’s Travelling People – sometimes called Tinkers, ‘Gypsies’ or ‘Egyptians’. However, such official disapproval could not prevent the general population continuing to sing and story in Scots, (though it did mean that such activities took place in unofficial venues: homes, taverns and around camp fires – rather than in school, church or tollbooth). Nonetheless, there is evidence that Scotland’s nobility continued to patronise poets, harpers, storytellers and even fools or jesters in the privacy of their castles and halls. This may be why Scotland’s older traditions of oral song and story often feature the castle and the cottage, neglecting urban settings. Important details to take notes on throughout this section: ● the resilience of oral storytelling ● the popularity of ‘kitchen ceilidhs’, ‘backgreen’ concerts, ‘speakeasies’ and ‘penny gaffs’ in the 19th century and onwards ● music halls and the dominance of English “in a Scottish accent” ● pantomime, television and comedy on stage. Activity 1 Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts on the important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could 4 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13. Introductory handsel write down what you already know about each of these points, as well as any assumption or question you might have. Provide your answer... 13. Introductory handsel A Scots word and example sentence to learn: Flyte Definition: To scold, chide, rail; to altercate. ○ Example sentence: “They wid flyte oan the lood bairns tae haud yer tung.” ○ English translation: “They would scold the loud children to hold your tongue.” Activity 2 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word 5 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13. Introductory handsel Related word: Fash Definition: To make angry, enrage; to trouble, annoy, bother, inconvenience. ○ Example sentence: “Dinnae fash yersel wi thon lassie – she’s buttoned up the back.” ○ English translation: “Don’t bother yourself with that girl – she’s daft.” Activity 3 Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker. You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word 6 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13. Introductory handsel Witch Winnie, the story of a "king's daughter;" (1890) 7 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling There is a need to qualify the term ‘oral’. As printing developed in Scotland, and literacy grew, a market opened up for cheap versions of songs and stories. These booklets were effectively folded sheets of print. The storytelling ones were often known as chapbooks and the ones with sung ballads as ‘broadsides’. These did not displace oral communication but they did feed into it. The minority of the population who could read might memorise and then share these narratives, while many of the pedlars or chapmen who hawked them around Scotland performed their contents as a form of sales pitch. Some travelling professions such as tailors also became known for their storytelling abilities. In this way, Scots language material was sustained through print and oral memory. A portrait of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe Something that survives only by oral transmission is, by definition, impossible to find before the onset of modern recording technologies. We do, however, have some precious records of oral performance. The following example comes from the memories of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe from Hoddam in Dumfriesshire, written in later life in Edinburgh. Sharpe was a friend of Robert Chambers, who used Sharpe’s manuscripts in his Popular Rhymes and Traditions of Scotland (1870). This book went through successive editions as Chambers went on collecting, but Sharpe’s memories of his Nurse Jenny’s storytelling were a valued element from the first edition of 1826 onwards. 8 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling Cultural links Arthur Rackham Little Red Riding Hood In collecting and sharing Nurse Jenny’s stories in this way, Sharpe and Chambers were very much at the forefront of cultural developments happening across Europe. 9 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling In the early 19th century, many scholars of language and culture, such as the famous Brothers Grimm in Germany, had begun to recognise that folklore and the traditions of the ‘common’ people were the essential part of every culture. This came as a consequence of the rise of Romanticism during the 18th century, which had revitalised interest in traditional folk stories. To the Grimms and their colleagues, it represented an ‘uncorrupted’ form of national literature and culture, free from the influence of the ruling classes. Like the Brothers Grimm, who collected and published folk tales and popularised traditional oral tales during the 19th century, Sharpe recoded the stories his Nurse Jenny had told him, including the way in which she made traditional stories and tales her own, adding embellishments, linking them to her local context – and last but not least – using her mother tongue, Scots, to convey them. Activity 4 Part 1 Now work with an extract from Sharpe’s memories of his Nurse Jenny’s storytelling. To convey this oral tradition in the Scots language as authentically as possible, we want you to work with an audio recording rather than a written version of one of Jenny’s fairy stories. Before beginning to listen, we suggest you look up the following words in the DSL, or you might also want to try the Online Scots Dictionary, as knowing the meaning of these words will help you follow the story better. ● caad (v.) ● kent (v.) ● aweel / weel (adv./adj.) ● weel sookit (adv./adj.) ● gae / gaes (v.) ● grys (n.) ● soo (n.) ● wolron (n.) ● moudiewart (n.) Part 2 First of all, listen without reading the transcript and take some notes on what you think Nurse Jenny’s story is about. As a second step, listen again while reading the transcript and compare your understanding with your notes. Audio content is not available in this format. 10 of 30 http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=2705 Thursday 9 January 2020 13.1 The resilience of oral storytelling Answer This is a model answer. Your answer might be different. Nurse Jenny’s fairy tale is about Tibbie Dickson, a mother who goes to fetch water from the well, and who, when coming home, finds that the fairies put a spell on her child, who has changed from a sweet looking boy to a skinny scoundrel with a huge mouth and scary eyes.