FTX-304 - FEE FIE FOE FUM
Four Folk Tales in the English tongue
1. JACK AND THE THREE GIANTS - 28'30"
2. PIRICHAN PICH AND PIRICHAN MOR _ 14'01"
3. THE OLD WITCH - 19'25"
4. Mrs APRIL AND THE SNOWMAN - 17'04"
1. JACK AND THE THREE GIANTS - This is an Irish
Tinker tale, one of many concerning the irrepressible Jack, worked from the
story THE FIERY DRAGON, collected by Padraig MacGreine from Oney Power in the
late 1920's, and included in the book TO SHORTEN THE ROAD.
2. PIRICHAN PICH AND PIRICHAN MOR - This is a cumulative story, which was
told in Scots Gaelic, and translated into English as she told it, by Annie Johnston
(1886-1963) from the island of Barra in the Hebrides. This is on FT-463 THE
MAGIC QUERN (Dover Publications: 1968/ orig. 1892)
3. THE OLD WITCH An English folk-tale, re-worked from Jacobs' ENGLISH FAIRY
TALES (London: 1892/Frederick Muller: 1942). It is a variant of tale well-known
in other cultures such as the Russian BABA YAGA (Cp.Arthur Ransome's OLD PETER'S
RUSSIAN TALES (Pullin 1974)
4. MRS APRIL AND THE SNOWMAN A re-working of Mabel Marlowe's story THE SNOWMAN,
included in STORIES FOR SIX~YEAR-OLDS edited by S & S.Corrin (publ. Faber,
1967). Also incorporated with a Seneca Indian myth, heard in Buffalo, New York,
which has the same story, but applied to the defeat of Winter by Spring. Winter
is tricked into entering a warm log-cabin by Spring
Recorded by Peter Kennedy & first published on Folktrax cassettes
1975.
HUGH LUPTON was born in 1952, and grew up in Cambridgeshire. Since the early
seventies he has lived 'n Norfolk. -
"I became interested in storytelling as
a result of other interests gradually drawing together and overlapping. I've
always (or nearly always) been a writer - of both prose and poetry - and, especially,
I've always been intrigued by the sound of words, by the power of evocation,
inherent in the spoken word. Then, when I was about eighteen, I discovered folk
music - a revelation - and I realised that there was a whole heritage of music
and poetry that had depended for its survival, not on the written word or musical
notation, but on the mouth, the ear and the memory. A heritage which, in its
passage through the generations, had come refined, had been made universal.
1 wanted to make myself part of the process of folk song. Then, later again,
I got involved with the theatre - street theatre, pub theatre, puppet theatre
- and increasingly I found myself moving towards a fundamental theatre, a primary
theatre, where someone with something to tell meets those who will listen to
him. These three strands converged and merged and, since the late seventies,
story-telling has been my main occupation. Some books that I have found useful,
either directly or indirectly, in relation to these stories are:
THE WHITE GODDESS Robert Graves (Faber 1961); THE PENGUIN BOOK OF ORAL POETRY
ed.Ruth Finnegan (Penguin I 978); ORAL POETRY Ruth Finnegan (Cambridge Univ.Press
1977); STORY-TELLING Eileen Colwell (Bodley Hlead 1980); LEAF AND GRASS J.R.R.Tolkien
(Unwin 1964); THE HERO Lord Raglan (Methuen 1936); THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND
FACES Joseph Campbell (Secker & Warburg); FOUR AGES OF MAN Jay Macpherson
(Macmillan 1963); THE GOD BENEATH THE SEA & GOLDEN SHADOW Leon Garfield,
Edward Blishen (Corgi 1977); THE LOST GODS OF ENGLAND Brian Branston (Thames
& Hudson 1957); THE LITERATURE OF THE ANGLO SAXONS George Anderson (Princetown
Univ.Press 1966)
Some other FOLKTRAX recordings of Storytelling:-
FTX-073 TIlE FIDDLER AND THE FAIRY by John & Michael Doherty of Donegal
FT-302 JOHN AIRY stories with pipe-tunes by Seamus Ennis
FTX-303 JACK TALES told by Frank McPeake of Belfast: Jack and the Lord High
Mayor of Dublin & Jack and the Three Giants. Henry McGregor of
Perth with his "Silly Jack" Tales.
FTX-461 THE STOLEN PIPER by Davie Stewart with both tinker Fairy tales &
Burker "body-snatching" stories.
FTX-463 THE MAGIC QUERN Annie Johnston of Barra with Scots Gaelic & English
FTX-809 THE LION ON THE PATH African stories in their original language and
told in English by Dr Hugh Tracey
Some useful books ( suitable for schools):-
FAIRY & FOLK TALES OF IRELAND W.B.Yeats (TPan,1979)"
IRISH SAGAS & FOLK TALES Eileen 0' Faolain (Oxford Univ.Press
1954)
CROCK OF GOLD James Stephens (Macmillan 1920)
FOLKTALES OF THE IRISH COUNTRYSIDE Kevin Danaher (Mercier 1967)
THE LAD OF THIE GAD Alan Garner (Collins 1980)
THE WHITE GODDESS Robert Graves (Faber 1961)
THE JUNIPER TREE L. Segal & R.Jarrell (Bodley Head 1977)
THE PENGUIN BOOK OF ORAL POETRY Ruth Finnegan(1978)
ORAL POETRY Ruth Finnegan (Cambridge Univ. Press I 977)
STORYTELLING Eileen Colwell (Bodley Head 1980)
LEAF AND GRASS J.R.I Tolkien (Unwin 1964)
"TOCHER (magazine) published annually by The School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh."
"HUGH LUPTON (born 1952)- ""I became interested in storytelling as a result
of other interests gradually drawing together and overlapping. I've always been
intrigued by the sound of words. Then, when 1 was about eighteen, I discovered
folk music - a revelation"
Further tales told by Hugh Lupton:-
FTX-305 ODYSSEUS & BEOWULF: 2 Epic Tales
FTX-306 THE HERO RETURNS: 2 Mythic Stories
