 |
| Kate Leiper |
This is a transcript of Auld Cruivie, or Jack and the Dancing Trees, told by Claire McNicol. Listen to the audio recording.
This is a story that I heard from Stanley Robertson, and it is one of my favourites.
Now Jack lived with his old mother, and they had very little money, so after a while he got a job for a Laird, a very wealthy man, and Jack’s job was to look after the sheep away up on the hill. The Laird hardly paid him anything for this work, but although he got hardly any money Jack loved the job. You see the hillside was beautiful, he would sit there and watch the sheep, and when he looked down the hill he could see the river flowing through the valley. And in the summer months often he would see a salmon leap out of the water, catch the sunlight for a moment, before it dived back in underneath the blue surface. Along the banks of the river there were silver birch trees, and the deer often grazed near those trees, but it was at the top of the hill that was Jack’s favourite spot, for there at the top of the hill was a big ring of oak trees, and in the midst of them an enormous oak tree that had a face etched it in, and the folks around those parts called that tree Auld Cruivie.
Well one day Jack was sitting minding the sheep and he looked down the hill and saw his old mother coming up the hill; she often used to come up the hill to collect the wee bits of fleece that the sheep had rubbed off themselves, and she would take these wee bits of wool and she would card them, and spin them, and dye them, and knit them into wee ganzies - wee jumpers - and she sold the jumpers to make ends meet. And she had a wee basket with her this day with some bannock and some cheese for Jack’s lunch, and she got up beside him and the two of them had a lovely wee picnic on the hillside. And whilst they were sharing lunch together Jack’s mother said to him, 'Jack I had an awful queer dream last night. I dreamt that the oak trees up on the hill there, they were dancing, and I am minded my mother and father told me a story about those trees. They said the trees dance once every 70 years on midsummer’s night. And Jack, it’s midsummer tonight, and I think those trees are going to dance. And when those trees rise out of the ground beneath them are jewels and gold and silver. Now Jack if the trees dance tonight and you want to take some of their treasure, you mustn’t be greedy son, you must only choose a few very precious things, for if you are greedy Jack and you try and take too much, you will never live to tell the tale.' So Jack listened to his mother’s advice, and before she left him his mother took out a long rope that she had knit for him which had twelve loops in it, and she said, 'Jack you keep that by you', and Jack folded up the woollen rope and he put it in his little leather satchel.
Well the day wore on, and as the sun began to set the birds all rose up out of the trees in unison and the sky became dark, and there was a chatting and a cheeping, and all the birds were 'chittering' away at once. Now Jack had spent that much time on the hill that he could understand the language of the birds, and he asked one of the little robins 'What’s happening? Why are you all leaving your nests?' 'Oh' said the wee Robin 'Jack, the oaks are going to dance tonight, and we will be thrown out of our beds if we try to stay in our nests. We have to go away for the night Jack, but we will be back tomorrow. Bye-bye.' And all the birds flew off together.
Then Jack turned around and who was standing beside him but the Laird himself. The Laird knew that Jack could understand the birds, and so the Laird said 'What were the birds saying to you Jack?' 'Well' said Jack, 'the birds have told me that the trees will be dancing tonight.' 'Mmm' said the Laird, 'I have heard tales of those trees and the treasure that’s buried beneath them. I will be back later Jack and I will be getting treasure for myself.' Well the Laird went away, and just before it got dark, up the hill came Mary, who was the servant girl at the Laird’s castle. She had a black shawl wrapped around her head and shoulders and she was hurrying. When she got up to Jack she said, 'Jack, I have come to warn you, the Laird’s at the castle there and he’s pacing up and down. He is muttering under his breath that he is going to come up here tonight, and Jack I saw him put a knife in his belt; I think he means you harm, Jack.' 'Oh, don’t you worry about me Mary, said Jack, I am well able to look after myself, I will watch out for that Laird.' Well, Mary started to make her way down the hill, and darkness fell, and the moon came out bright and full, and Jack went and he lay down on his belly in the bushes near the ring of oaks. And as the moon came out bright and full in the sky this beautiful fairy music began to play. Jack was entranced by the music but then he heard the crack of a twig, and he looked over his shoulder and there was the Laird, and Jack could see the Laird’s knife glinting in the moonlight. The Laird brandished his knife in Jack’s face and said, 'You stay away from Auld Cruivie’s birth spot, that treasure is mine.'
Well as the Laird and Jack watched, the great oak trees rose up out of the ground with their roots trailing behind them and they began to lumber their way down the hill. And as Jack looked, the little silver birch trees had risen out of the ground and they were skipping and hopping up the hill. And as Jack watched, the ancient oaks and the silver birches entwined their branches in the middle of the hillside and they began to whirl around and round to the sound of the silvery music. Well, the Laird ran forward and dived into Auld Cruivie’s birth spot, he had an enormous sack with him and he began to stuff it full of the gold and the silver and the precious jewels that he could see. But Jack remembered his mother’s counsel, and he chose the smallest birth spot of the smallest oak and very carefully he selected just one or two treasures from within. But when he looked up he saw that he had sunk right beneath the earth and he was deep underground. He tried to get a foothold or a handhold in the earth, but the earth just crumbled underneath him. He began to get very frightened that he was stuck and he wouldn’t be able to get out. Just as he began to panic he heard a voice, 'Is that you Jack?' it was Mary’s voice. He looked up and he said, 'Mary, Mary, how will I get out?' and then all of a sudden he remembered what his mother had given him, and he opened up his little leather satchel and he threw up the end of the knitted rope with the 12 hoops in it, and up he climbed like a little mountain goat to safety. He and Mary pulled up the rope and then Jack said to Mary, 'Mary, we will need to go and rescue the Laird, he is in Auld Cruivie’s birth spot. So the two of them ran over and they shouted down to the Laird, but the Laird’s ears were stopped up with greed and he couldn’t hear their warnings, he was so intent on stuffing his sack full of treasure.
Mary and Jack looked and they could see that the trees had stopped their dancing. And as they watched, the oak trees began to lumber their way back up the hill. Jack and Mary ran to the bushes and lay down on their tummies, and as they watched, the oaks hovered over their birth spots for just a moment before they sank back down into the earth.
Well, the Laird was never heard of again after that night, but Jack was able to sell the wee treasures that he had got from the ground, and he sold them for some good money. And with that money, and with the better wage that the Laird’s nephew paid him for his work, Jack was able to buy a little whitewashed cottage at the bottom of the hillside where he liked to work, and he and his mother lived there. And when he got a little bit older he married Mary, and the three of them lived together there in great contentment.
So it goes to show you that many a strange thing can happen on a Scottish hillside on a midsummer’s night.
TASK
1.- First you must read this Scotland fairy tale, called "Auld Cruivie, or Jack and the Dancing Trees".
2.- Now, you can listen to it here
3.- I have created a exercice using "Listen and write". You can start trying the easier one: "3. Blank Mode". After you can try the other two: "2 Quick Mode" and "1 Full Mode". You have all the year long to do these exercices, track by track, listening slowly and enjoying the "Auld Cruivie, or Jack and the Dancing Trees" tale. THE MAIN THINK IS TO ENJOY IT and to reinforce your´s listening skill. Clik here to try the exercices.
