Fiddles in Story and Song

In traditional lore, the Borders fiddler cuts a dashing figure.

In 'The Maid of Gallowshiels', by the Jacobite poet-laureate, William Hamilton of Bangor, a fiddler challenges a piper to a musical duel. The prize? The love of a gorgeous Gala gal!

Things weren't always settled so sweetly. The archetypal brawling Borderer fiddler, Rattling' Roarin' Willie, was a Jedburgh player who slayed Robin Rool after a particularly vicious fiddle competition. He later got his come-uppance in a revenge attack by the Elliot clan.

Legend has it that one of the most popular characters on the Borders dancing circuit, 'Pate' Baillie of Liberton, smashed his fiddle to smithereens after a similar fiddle-to-fiddle duel. Must have been a bad loser…