These are the folk tales from Dr. Helen Creighton's life journey through the Maritime Provinces, collecting songs and ghost stories and old cures--and folk tales. Helen serves as our guide, introducing us to storytellers, setting the scene of the telling--and then she lets the person tell the story just as it was told to her.

The feel of the kitchen and the fish shed still cling to these stories. Some are long, really miraculous folk tales--miraculous in detail and in that they have managed to survive. Others are the brief riddle or the tantalizing quick-telling that a folklorist can expect along the way. Helen kept it all. And taken as a whole, the reality and intensity of those rare smaller pieces reveal their value in among the more finished, well-told tales.

Both Helen Creighton and A Folk Tale Journey Through the Maritimes are Atlantic treasures. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Michael Taft and Ronald Caplan, and a Motif Index by Michael Taft.

Helen Creighton (1899-1989) was one of Canada's most respected and renowned folklorists. She received numerous awards for her achievements, including six honorary doctorates and the Queen's Medal, and she was also made a member of the Order of Canada in 1976. Helen authored thirteen books, including Bluenose Magic and A Life in Folklore.

Helen Creighton's profile page

After 25 years conducting folklore fieldwork in Canada and the northern plains of the United States, Michael Taft retired as Head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. He has held research and teaching positions at universities across Canada. His books include Talkin' to Myself: Blues Lyrics, 1921-1942; "Them Days": Memories of a Prairie Valley; The Bard of Edam: Walter Farewell, Homesteader Poet; Discovering Saskatchewan Folklore; Tall Tales of British Columbia; and A Regional Discography of Newfoundland and Labrador, 1904-1972.

Michael Taft's profile page

Ronald Caplan has served as interviewer and photographer for Cape Breton's Magazine for twenty-five years. He has received the Barbeau Award of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada, Nova Scotia's Cultural Life Award, the Canadian Historical Association's Award for exemplary contribution to the Oral History of Cape Breton and an honorary doctorate from Cape Breton University. His work is best known for keeping the Cape Breton story alive through oral testimony and images. Living at Wreck Cove on the Cabot Trail, Caplan is the author of several books and the publisher of Breton Books.

Ronald Caplan's profile page