Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/14



is undoubtedly a growing tendency among the younger people of the present day to undervalue or neglect what has come down to us from former times. The object of this work is to preserve the memory of the old traditions, stories, phrases, words, and social customs, which were once familiar to bygone generations of our island folk. Most of the tales that constitute the folk-lore of our islands have a charm of their own. To understand that charm fully, one must picture to one's self the old grandfather or grandmother telling to the eager bairns, round the blazing peat fire on the long winter evenings, tales of trows and witches, spirits and apparitions, until at last the children