Get cultured.

your mam

@@MarjoleinRobertson she isn't that mental

@@phonotical fair dos must've been someone else's mam

Thanks for your comments on the story, some enjoy the humorous breaks to lighten the dark tale but many versions keep it dark, in this instance not so as it was being pitched to Secondary Schools for engagement. Spayman (Spaman) is a Scots word for a man who can predict the future (seer, prophet). You can contact Tom Muir and David Campbell directly to find out more about their storytelling and public appearances using the Directory of Storytellers here: www.storytellingforum.co.uk/home/book-a-storyteller/ Both men will be part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival in October - details of that programme coming soon to www.sisf.org.uk

@@ScottishStorytellingCentreEd Isn't "spay" also a river?

@@soslothful There's the The River Spey - yes - in the northeast of Scotland. There's also Spay, Sarthe in France and Spay, Germany

Hi Soslothful : There has been the suggestion that Burke had had enough and wanted to be caught by historians as well as them also speculating Hare was the more sinister of the two. Burke was hanged for murdering 16 men, women and children while Hare was given immunity from prosecution after testifying against his partner in crime. “scot” in the case of "scot free" is from the Old Norse word “skot” meaning “payment” or “contribution”. In English, “scot” initially just meant “tax” so the phrase scot free was first used in reference to civic tax levies., and is not connected to Scottish law.

@@ScottishStorytellingCentreEdSo to get away, "scot free" is to have avoided paying this tax?

@@soslothful believe it is being used in the general sense in this story of modern "meaning" of to get away with it - history of the phrase: www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/scot-free.html

@@ScottishStorytellingCentreEdThanks! This is an excellent site. Except it will now absorb a lot of my time... fun facts you know.

Thanks for your lovely comment, which we'll share with Tom - unfortunately we do not have Tom on any audio CD collections, but he has published this story in various forms - this version comes from 'Tales on the Tongue' which is available through the Scottish Storytelling Centre's bookshop: www.scottishstorytellingcentre.com/bookshop/ - and Tom has also published 'The Mermaid Bride and Other Orkney Folk Tales' books.google.co.uk/books?id=TBANPwAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:%22Tom+Muir%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD98GAy97iAhWlQxUIHVaRAYoQ6AEIMzAC and 'Orkeny Folk Tales' books.google.co.uk/books?id=XTkTDQAAQBAJ&dq=inauthor:%22Tom+Muir%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD98GAy97iAhWlQxUIHVaRAYoQ6AEIKjAA

Have passed on your comment to David :)

@@ScottishStorytellingCentreEd Thank you, and I will be posting this on our Reddit, MBTI RadioSTation.

@@wynstansmom829 Wonderful Stuff!