Half Man, Half Myth - Storyteller

09/01/2025

Not long until the full moon now, which for those of us who believe that the Swedish archaeo-astronomer Andreas Nordberg was correct in his theory that the Norse people followed a solilunar calendar, this moon will be the full moon of the first new moon after the winter solstice and therefore the festival of Jól (Yule). If you incline to that view - I wish you all a Merry Jól!

Recently, I have been researching þórliefs þáttr jarlaskáld to work up as a story for oral recitation, and came across the following word: aðfangskveldjöla. 'kveld'means 'evening', 'jöla'is the genitive of 'jól' and the rest seems related to the modern Icelandic verb 'at fanga' - 'to provide' (victuals). I think this would be when the local goði would be required to provide a feast at Yule.

06/12/2024

New story (for me) in the pipeline; 'Thorleifs thattr jarlaskald' - 'The Short Story of Thorleif the Earl's Poet'. Found in the Greatest Saga of Olaf Tryggvasson, this short story tells of the revenge of the poet who declaims an insult poem to his enemy Jarl Hakon. The poem has magical and dramatic effects.

To gain access to the Earl's presence he has to go in disguise as a beggar, wearing a goat's beard. He visits Hakon on 'aðfangskveld jóla'; 'að fanga' is a verb meaning 'to provide', so this means probably something like 'the evening of Yule when food is provided'. Any Heathen Norwegian chieftain, or 'góði', a function both secular and religious, would have had to provide a feast for all comers. So everyone who turns up is feasted. Thus Thorleif gains access along with all the other beggars who understandably wish to take advantage of the Earl's hospitality. Hakon's subsequent humiliation is thus very public, local rich and poor are present.

I have not come across the phrase 'aðfangskveld jóla' anywhere else before.

06/11/2024

My first stone; Old Norse in Younger Futhark. Caithness slate. The first sixteen runes from the black serpent's head are the Younger Futhark. This stone commemorates the Icelander Egill Skallagrimsson.

04/11/2024

I am a teller of traditional tales, that is, I tell them to live audiences from memory. The tales below are all stories which I love. I think you have to love a story to be able to tell it. If someone commissioned me to compose a version of a traditional story that didn't move me in some way, I don't imagine I would do it very well. I published these because I don't get to tell them orally as often as I would like.
They are a collection of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse tales and legends. The second half of the book comprises notes on the origins, themes and academic debate on each tale:
The stories are:
The Legend of Nornagest - from the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, a mysterious stranger arrives at Olaf's court just before Xmas; Olaf was a Xtian, his guest on the other hand… Stories within a story.
Page 15. The Waking of Angantyr - from Hervor's Saga
Page 29. The Never-Ending Battle. - this is still ongoing of course, on the Isle of Hoy in Orkney.
Page 36. The Lay of Wayland the Smith.
Page 50. Edric the Wild - the English resistance fighter against William the Conqueror; his wars, his marriage to an elf-woman and his post mortem fate.
Page 56. The Fight at Finnsburgh - this episode is referred to in 'Beowulf'.
Page 58. Helgi and Sigrun - a conflation of the three Helgi lays in the Poetic Edda.
Page 75. The Song of the Mill - Grottasongr in the Poetic Edda.
Page 82. Nechtansmere A.D. 685 - Ecgfrith of Northumbria's disastrous expedition against the Picts.
Page 88. Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls. a ghostly tale of Iceland's conversion.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DKSJ6FXF

28/10/2024

Stones all carved in Aberdeenshire and sited in Aberdeenshire, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. Every picture tells a story.

25/10/2024

Here’s a collection of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse tales and legends, all of which I composed for oral recitation to live audiences. The second half of the book comprises notes on the origins, themes and academic debate on each tale:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DKSJ6FXF

09/10/2024

Things have been quiet on the storytelling front due to our moving from our Scottish croft (below) back to England on the autumnal equinox. Last full moon, I had a farewell fire in the wood I planted in the winter of '04 - '05. I hope to have more storytelling opportunities now we're living "down south" (of Scotland), "up north" (of England).

31/07/2024

Sonnet for Tilia.

The Lakes the natural northern reach of lindens,
About their rounded oval crowns drone bees,
A summer-soothing, if you pause to listen.
The honey rivals heather’s, so some believe.
Base trunk is ringed with epicormic growth,
Its inner bark long used for ropes of bast
Which strung poor Volund’s hopes of wedding oath;
Gold ring-gifts made to hold a lost love fast.
A linden leaf on shoulder, Siegfried’s bane,
So Hagen’s spear did pierce and strike him down.
This tree of use for honey, rope and stories
To me comprises not its greatest fame:
Simply, its beauty, green gown sweeps the ground,
A gracious lady, swathed in heart-shaped glories.

14/07/2024

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hauntpublishing/queer-horror-from-haunt-publishing

Books highlighting LGBTQIA+ voices.

28/06/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loQbF2vdeO0

P.D's Sitehttps://tracscotland.org/storytellers/p-d-brown/

02/06/2024

Here's a book I am hugely enjoying reading, not just because it features your favourite retired Ranger, where I am described as "A tall, dark figure in the pale landscape, he had a brimmed hat pulled low over his eyes, a stick and a black greyhound that was beautifully trained." - Gothic eh? I had met Lisa to show her around Forvie National Nature Reserve. She was particularly interested in Forvie village, abandoned in the fifteenth century, for her book is all about settlements and land that have been lost to the sea.

The book covers areas all around Britain's coasts as well as places now far out to sea. From Doggerbank that in the Mesolithic still connected Britain to Europe - not just a travel route but that was permanently occupied by hunter-gatherers as marine archaeology attests - down to areas still in the process of being lost today. Some are legendary such as Lyonesse in the Scilly Isles and off the west coast of Ireland, where island paradises may still appear every seven years.

This book is clearly a labour of love for our coastlines and gives the reader a real sense of vast swathes of time, history and prehistory - and the remorseless power of the sea. She also has some beautiful turns of phrase, my favourite is "Storm-clouds were piled high inland, the stillness a held breath before the first drops of rain."

Order links to Lisa's website are here https://lisawoollett.co.uk/book5/ or https://linktr.ee/losttothesea - or on Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529373654/

27/03/2024

18/02/2024

WOULD THE REAL EASTER ‘BUNNY’ PLEASE STAND UP!
Yes, here I am! I’ve been here since the Iron Age and my Mountain hare cousin since the Ice Age ended. The rabbit has only been here since the 12th century and people have been celebrating Easter a long time before then. It makes me as mad as a March hare the way this impersonator has taken my traditional role from me; I DEMAND JUSTICE FOR THE EASTER HARE!
Because hares make scrapes in grassland, people finding ground-nesting birds eggs used to think that hares had laid them, hence the association between Easter, hares and eggs.

03/02/2024

I have developed a new way of carving my runes, with the ends of verticals and obliques tapering to a point. I call this style 'Icicle runes'. This afternoon the westering sun caught them at an angle that shows them in their best light, so to speak. The stone for my penultimate runestone is granite; it is very hard and calls for frequent sharpening of the chisel. Because of this, I have taken steps to reduce the amount of carving that has to be done.

12/01/2024

Old Yule at The Sail Loft, Portsoy, on Saturday 27th January 2.30 – 3.45 P.M.

I first heard the phrase ‘Old Yule’ from a friend from Shetland. The Vikings tend to be associated in Scotland with the west coast, Caithness, Shetland and Orkney but they must have had a presence here in the North-east due to the Old Norse words in Doric. Examples of this will introduce two Norse Yuletide tales.
In the 10th century and before, throughout the Viking diaspora, Yule was celebrated over the three nights of the full moon of the first new moon after the winter solstice. The first two Christian Norwegian kings, Hakon the Good (A.D. 935-960) and Olaf Tryggvason (A.D. 995-1000) both made laws moving the time of Yule to Christmas (the latter with more success).

Old Yule this year will be 24th-26th January. With that moon just waning but still gibbous, join us for two Norse tales for this time of the year: ‘Helgi and Sigrun’, an epic tale of love and war, valkyries and trolls, with a ghostly ending at Yule! The second is ‘Nornagest’, a stranger comes to Olaf Tryggvason’s court at Christmas with an unbelievable tale to tell, a tale that proves true in the end.

The tales will take an hour to tell; the first has adult themes and so would not be suitable for younger children.

The Vikings had an influence on the NE Doric language. Examples of old Norse words found in Doric will introduce two Norse Yuletide tales.

21/12/2023

Full interview here:
P.D. Brown and the 13 Moons - YouTube

20/12/2023

Thanks P.D. I'm hoping to speak again in the new year! I hope you have a blessed Yule and happy new year! Check the links bellow!Book:https://www.amazon.com/...