The Prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer, and the comical story of Thrummy Cap & the Ghaist.

The comical story of Thrummy Cap & the Ghaist

Thomas, the Rhymer, 1220?-1297?

Burness, John, 1771-1826

Boyd, Allan, fl.1789-1820

Glasgow: Printed for the Booksellers

1840-1850 per National Library of Scotland

24 pages

16 cm

Chapbook #8 in a bound collection of 20 chapbooks (s0231b06)

114 printed at the bottom of the title-page.

supernatural & ghost stories

wit & humor

The chapbook begins with a short history of some of the reputed prophecies by Sir Thomas Learmant, commonly known as Thomas the Rhymer, who was a 13th century laird and knight under Alexander III. Supposedly, Thomas’ prophecies have been linked to a number of important Scottish events, including the death of Alexander III during his lifetime, and the Jacobite Risings that occurred centuries after his death. The prophecies themselves, in verse, are included, followed by the Scots tale of Thrummy Cap, which tells the story of two companions—one brave and one cowardly—who are beset by a storm and take refuge in the nearby house of a local laird. The laird warns the two that the only unoccupied room is haunted, but Thrummy Cap refuses to be dissuaded, so they spend the night in the haunted room. While his friend cowers in the bed all night, Thrummy gets up multiple times and meets the ghost, who appears in the same likeness and dress as himself, and ends up drinking with him and assisting him in an impromptu and paranormal football match. Thrummy’s courage is rewarded when the ghost shares with him the cause of his curse, which Thrummy solves, thereby restoring the laird’s inheritance and receiving a hefty financial reward himself. His cowardly friend receives nothing.

Fife, Scotland

Chapbooks - Scotland - Glasgow

Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario

National Library of Scotland http://www.nls.uk/

JPEGs and PDF derived from master file, which was scanned from the original book in 24-bit color at 600 dpi in TIFF format using an Epson Expression 10000XL scanner.

In the public domain; For higher quality reproductions, contact Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph. libaspc@uoguelph.ca 519-824-4120, Ext. 53413

Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library, Guelph, Ontario, Canada