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'Duncan is a first-class storyteller' - Northern Times
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Duncan Williamson was the son, grandson and great grandson of nomadic tinsmiths, basket makers, pipers and storytellers. In this book, he describes his life as a traveller with verve, candour and intimacy, recounting a childhood spent on the shores of Loch Fyne, work on the small hill farms in the summer, walking with barrows and prams and later with horse and cart, the length and breadth of Scotland. He recalls camping with hundreds of traveller families from the 1940s to the 1960s, his marriage to his cousin, Jeanie Townsley, and all the various traditional skills and arts which must be perfected for a man to maintain his family adequately."The Horsieman" is the story of traditions long vanished - of traveller trades, of building tents, of routes travelled and traditional camping sites, of stories, songs, music and cures which have been the heritage and tradition of travelling people in Scotland through the ages. Set mainly in Argyll, Tayside and all stations in between, Duncan Williamson's story is told with great warmth and humour and in the inimitable style of one Scotland's master storytellers.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book by chance and with no expectation of anything beyond a predictably dull, ghost written memoir. What I discovered instead was a beautifully written evocation of a rapidly vanishing life and culture. Williamson is a master storyteller, and the simplicity of his prose belies his genius. His work casts a unique light onto the lives of a generation of travellers: their ballads, their poetry, their stories and their music. Williamson seems to stand within the continuity of a long oral tradition, one sustained by the very human values of kindness and mutual respect so lacking today. As the man himself says, 'stories was wir education.'
Hamish Henderson, the greatest Scottish folk-collector and himself a legendary figure, was quick to recognise his unique qualities of singer and storyteller: "Duncan Williamson," he said, "is the Scottish folk tradition in one man."
Hamish Henderson, the greatest Scottish folk-collector and himself a legendary figure, was quick to recognise his unique qualities of singer and storyteller: "Duncan Williamson," he said, "is the Scottish folk tradition in one man."
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a book recalling the life of a Highland Traveller in bygone days it is mainly written in Scottish dialect so unless you are acquainted with this manner of speech takes you awhile to read, nonetheless it makes a very interesting read, so glad I purchased one for myself and one for a Birthday gift.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If DW is remembered by posterity (and I hope he will be) it will be as a storyteller and ballad singer: in the old parlance, a seanchaidhe. Yet this autobiography, transcribed from his telling before he became widely known, concentrates on his career as a horse-dealer; presumably that was where they felt the market was at the time. There is almost nothing about he acquired and practiced his immense repertoire of traditional Traveller stories. In fact, I've read other biographical material on him, like his chapter in Neat's Voice of the Bard, and this has almost nothing in common with it. An awful lot of interesting material is simply left out.
This is still good stuff. It doesn't give you the atmosphere of day-to-day traveller life like Betsy Whyte's Yellow On The Broom; but, against that, it isn't in the least literary and has the real vernacular sense of 'a tale told'. It's just a shame that it wasn't revised to reflect his real claim to fame, and shed more light on his context within his own community. For my money, it's better to read the stories themselves - and better still to listen to them.
This is still good stuff. It doesn't give you the atmosphere of day-to-day traveller life like Betsy Whyte's Yellow On The Broom; but, against that, it isn't in the least literary and has the real vernacular sense of 'a tale told'. It's just a shame that it wasn't revised to reflect his real claim to fame, and shed more light on his context within his own community. For my money, it's better to read the stories themselves - and better still to listen to them.
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