"There was both panic and resignation in his voice. He was so alone, and had been for what seemed like a long time, for twenty years tramping from one continent to another, looking for knolls, and only finding the standing stones of stories and folktales. The only hint of wonder he found in all of Shetland was in the small village of Brettafield, but he didn’t know why, and couldn’t find a point of crossing. His sojourn was almost over. After this he would return to Aotearoa. He had found friends and common cause among the patupaiarehe. Together, they would watch their worlds slowly fade."

After 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands, this podcast is an experiment in intimate ethnographic storytelling. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored in the "B-sides" episode but through contemporary fiction based on a mixture of themes and characters based on tales found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales

This B-side episode explores the theme of disguise explored in episode 3 of The St. Magnus Street Tapes. This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the two tales “Midwife to the Trow” and “Kidnapped by the Trows.”

This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER

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The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church.

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