The classic folk tales of Scotland were passed down from storyteller to storyteller, and from the first sentence they were designed to hold the attention of the listener or reader as though a spell had been cast over them, transporting them to a magical realm where mermaids and men, selkies and sailors, ogres and princesses mingle and are miraculously transformed. The Montgomeries, distinguished folklorists, gathered traditional stories from all parts of Scotland. Their collection, first published in 1956, became a classic of the storytelling tradition, with the stories retold in a simple, dramatic style, appealing to adult and child alike.