Tour Scotland Video Tam o' Shanter Book Sculpture National Library Edinburgh

Tour Scotland travel video of the Tam o' Shanter book sculpture on ancestry visit and trip to the National Library in Edinburgh. First published in 1791, it is one of the longer poems by Robert Burns, which includes a mixture of Scots and English language. It tells the story of Tam, a farmer who gets drunk with his friends in a public house and then rides home on his horse Meg. On the way he sees the local haunted church lit up with witches and warlocks dancing and the devil playing the bagpipes. He creeps into the churchyard to watch and on seeing a pretty witch in a short dress he shouts,` Weel done, cutty-sark ! ' ( cutty-sark meaning: short shirt ). Having drawn attention to himself the dancing stops abruptly and the witches chase him and Meg to the River Doon. The witches cannot cross the water but they come so close to catching Tam and Meg that they pull Meg's tail off just as she reaches the bridge over the Doon.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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