THE FIDDLERS OF STRATHSPEY

[FOLK-LEGEND]

[Radio Times, November 18, 1938] “A Scottish folk tale dramatized by Elizabeth Kyle…

“Once upon a time, not long after the Battle of Culloden, two traveling fiddlers from Strathspey

were passing through the town of Inverness round about Christmas time; but their music was not

welcome in the town, for the hearts of the folk were heavy with sorrow for Prince Charlie and his

defeated cause.

“So the fiddlers had to spend the night out in the snow on the little hill near the town called

Tomnahurich—the hill of the fairies—and in the middle of the night the hill opened and the Fairy

King welcomed them in to play a reel for his daughter’s revels. What befell them in the fairy hill

and how they returned to the world to find that they had been gone, not one night, but a hundred

years, you will hear if you listen to the play.”

ORIGINATION:

Scottish Programme, Edinburgh (BBC).

DURATION:

November 26, 1938.

PERSONNEL:

Elizabeth Kyle (scriptwriter).

EXTANT RECORDINGS:

None.

[PROGRAM LOG]

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR (SCOTTISH PROGRAMME, EDINBURGH)

[Saturday—5:00-5:30 PM]

November 26, 1938The Fiddlers of Strathspey