tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post8349216462905440658..comments2024-03-09T03:38:15.941+00:00Comments on The Faery Folklorist: Duergars of SimonsideThe Faery Folkloristhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-79915447364856306672022-02-01T14:00:36.407+00:002022-02-01T14:00:36.407+00:00That sounds like a wonderful story James, thanks f...That sounds like a wonderful story James, thanks for sharing about it!The Faery Folkloristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-54909608060128521602022-01-31T23:41:16.993+00:002022-01-31T23:41:16.993+00:00I live in the heart of Rothbury and have always be...I live in the heart of Rothbury and have always been fascinated by stories of the Duergar of Simonside. It is a lovely place and I am very fortunate to have been brought up there. I am a self-employed musician, teacher, composer and dialect poet. Recently, I published a fairy-tale I wrote about the Duergar of Simonside, wherein I invented a backstory for them, explaining how they got to be the nasty little tricksters, etc. The story deals with their corruption and eventual redemption, through the power of music, which is rife in this area. The story began as a dialect musical I wrote for local schools to perform, funded by the community foundation. Not an awful lot has actually been written about the Duergar, and we are indeed left to guess what they are all about, etc. You will find my story here:https://jamestaitmusic.com/products/the-world-of-lightness-paperback James Taithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06105180870480156913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-47197340960465627172019-05-12T19:07:06.298+01:002019-05-12T19:07:06.298+01:00Thanks for sharing your Duergar ballad Ken, great ...Thanks for sharing your Duergar ballad Ken, great version of the Duergar tales, most impressed! :D The Faery Folkloristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-28736954576045192172019-05-02T07:53:01.493+01:002019-05-02T07:53:01.493+01:00https://soundcloud.com/tunesmiths/the-simonside-du...https://soundcloud.com/tunesmiths/the-simonside-duergar-ballad<br /><br />Here’s my Duergar ballad based upon Grice’s Folk Tales of the North (1945).<br />Ken Pattersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-49163027187968617842017-06-04T20:33:28.282+01:002017-06-04T20:33:28.282+01:00Little tosson is a farm steading on the side of th...Little tosson is a farm steading on the side of the simonside hills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-9288670558475410692013-09-29T17:59:41.939+01:002013-09-29T17:59:41.939+01:00Thanks for sharing that JD, I love hearing from pe...Thanks for sharing that JD, I love hearing from people who actually lived in the areas and heard the stories first hand! So were the little people said to live at Little Tosson rather than on Simonside? Would love to hear any other stories you remember!The Faery Folkloristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-31060396660960604492013-09-28T15:10:56.934+01:002013-09-28T15:10:56.934+01:00KayJay's story is interesting. I lived in Thro...KayJay's story is interesting. I lived in Thropton as a boy in the late 1950s, early 1960s. We were often told we should cross to the Simonside of the river after dark becuaes the little people might come down by Little Tosson and get us.<br />I always put this down to stopping us wandering too far, but now I wonder. We were also told of people dancing in the dark in strange ceremonies.JDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07408920784477313053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-78599855575942427412011-10-04T11:16:35.398+01:002011-10-04T11:16:35.398+01:00A note for anyone researching the Duergars. I have...A note for anyone researching the Duergars. I have since found both these stories in an earlier source, Richardson's Local Historian's Table Book, Legendary Division, Volume 1. Published in 1843.The Faery Folkloristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-4691678925660263562009-11-11T16:06:00.553+00:002009-11-11T16:06:00.553+00:00Thank you so much for sharing your story KayJay! I...Thank you so much for sharing your story KayJay! It's good to hear that the Duergars are still active, that's the first sighting i've heard of them in many many years! So sorry for not replying to your comment sooner, this is my first attempt at blogging and I thought I would get email notifications if anyone left a comment but oops it looks like I forgot to set email notifications up, so I only just noticed I'd had a comment :) I'll have to revisit Simonside in April, still a bit too spooked to visit after dark though just incase!The Faery Folkloristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487251751662049629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6268906151061835777.post-15422972756795872502009-07-02T23:02:06.549+01:002009-07-02T23:02:06.549+01:00I have been told they are most active in April, so...I have been told they are most active in April, so you missed high season by a month! A friend told me of something that happened to a man he knows, several years ago - he swears it's true...<br /><br />There were accounts of a witches' coven that used to go up to Simonside in the seventies, and the rumours were that they danced naked round a fire - all very scandalous. So after a night of boozing in the pub, this local man decided to go up there and spy on them. He saw lights in the distance and snuck up on the small group, but as he got closer he was terrified to see their faces were ugly and mangled and far from being young, nubile women, they were in fact, dwarves. They saw him and gave chase, he ran for all he was worth and made it back to his car. As he struggled to get his key into the ignition in the dark, all he could hear was the scraping of long fingernails on the car windows...he lived to tell the tale, however.KayJayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02598307484098820912noreply@blogger.com