The Faa's revenge, and other tales

In Short

The Faa's revenge, and other tales is a collection of Scottish short stories and novellas edited by John Mackay Wilson and others. The book moves from violent clan feuds and romantic betrayals to humorous urban brawls and cautionary tales of moral ruin. In its pages, wronged lairds burn gipsy encampments only to face ruthless frontier justice, ambitious lovers unmask hidden identities, and gentle souls succumb to the fatal pull of the tavern glass. It has endured through its vivid regional texture, stark moral clarity, and mastery of traditional Scottish storytelling.

The Story

The collection opens in the wild border country with "The Faa's revenge," where the Laird of Clennel discovers his cattle stolen and his pride insulted. He tracks the thieves to a rugged gipsy settlement, ordering his men to burn the hovels to the ground and leaving the aged and infant population exposed to the freezing elements. Willie Faa, the gipsy leader, returns to find his home in ashes and his family wailing. Vowing a terrible retribution, Faa's tribe captures Clennel, puts him through a mock trial, and reveals that the young soldier who took him prisoner is actually Clennel's long-lost son, before executing the laird at sunset.

The narrative sweep then shifts across various social strata, from Alexander Campbell’s "The Rival Nightcaps," which details a comical yet fierce neighborhood feud in Edinburgh sparked by domestic disputes and petty pride, to Walter Logan’s tragic account of Clara Douglas. Clara, impoverished by her father's financial ruin, finds love with a young ensign who falls at Waterloo; she dies of a broken heart, leaving her brother to curse her murderer.

In Theodore Martin's "Country Quarters" and James Maidment’s "Mortlake: A Legend of Morton," the plots navigate urban pretensions, mistaken identities, and hidden aristocrats. Characters like the humbled Tom find themselves unexpectedly restored or vindicated through mysterious benefactors and secret lineages. James V of Scotland makes a disguised royal progress among his subjects in another historical episode, testing the loyalty and boasts of his provincial hosts.

In J. F. Smith’s "May Darling," a village maiden falls deeply for an itinerant actor named Wilkinson, whose real name is Bolton. Despite her father's initial resistance, the wedding day arrives, only to be shattered when Bolton's abandoned, destitute wife appears with their child to expose his villainy. Bolton draws a dagger and flees, while the heartbroken May sinks into a gentle, permanent madness.

The collection concludes with cautionary notes such as George Howell's "Major Weir's Coach" and John Mackay Wilson's own "We'll Have Another." The latter traces the downward spiral of Adam Brown, a quiet, studious village boy raised by a pious widowed mother. Adam marries and secures respectable employment, but he falls into bad company and gambling. Cornered by the discovery of his financial guilt, and driven by the fatal refrain "We'll have another!", he swallows arsenic in a low gaming house, dying in his wife's arms just as she arrives to tell him his debt has been paid.

How It Unfolds

The border reckoning opens with a stranger at the Rothbury inn listening to local lore before the narrative plunges into the violent feud between the Laird of Clennel and the gipsy king Willie Faa. After Clennel burns the gipsy hovels, Faa retaliates by abducting the laird's children and engineering a fatal family capture.

Domestic warfare erupts in the city streets and drawing-rooms, where neighbors like John Anderson and Tom Callender find their household rivalries escalating into physical brawls over petty insults and red nightcaps.

The actor's mask slips in rural Scotland when May Darling prepares to marry the man she loves, only for his secret past and abandoned wife to disrupt the ceremony at the altar, driving the bride into madness.

The tavern's grip tightens on Adam Brown as he abandons his quiet scholarly pursuits for the gaming table, sliding from modest beginnings into financial ruin.

The fatal draught is swallowed when Adam, cornered by discovery, rushes from his companions, utters his final cry for another glass, and poisons himself before his grieving wife and father-in-law.

The People

Clairvoyant and ruthless, Willie Faa leads his gipsy clan with fierce pride. Standing in his way is the arrogant Laird of Clennel, whose destructive contempt for the poor brings down a devastating multi-generational vengeance that destroys them both.

Clara Douglas is a refined, accomplished young woman who loses her fortune and her father, seeking independence as a governess. She loves the young Ensign Malcolm, whose death at Waterloo leaves her isolated and heartbroken.

May Darling is a pure, nature-loving village maiden whose heart is entirely won by the charismatic actor Wilkinson (Bolton). Blocked only by her father's suspicion of actors, she yields to the marriage, only to be abandoned by Bolton's cruelty when his true, dishonorable identity is exposed.

Adam Brown is introduced as a mild, studious boy devoted to books and his widowed mother. Standing in the way of his peace are his own quiet weaknesses, which give way to gambling and heavy drinking under the fatal influence of corrupt associates. His devoted wife, Mary, tries desperately to save him, but arrives too late to stop his self-destruction.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the deep, consuming absorption of young May Darling as she falls in love with her suitor:

Substitute the name of May Darling for that of Desdemona, and the description becomes perfect of our heroine's situation, whilst the result was similar: in a short time, the happiness of our village maiden was entirely at the disposal of Mr Wilkinson.

Reflecting on the quiet, bookish beginnings of Adam Brown before his tragic fall into ruin:

In the summer, too, Adam would steal away from the noise of the village to some favourite shady nook by the river side; and there, on the gowany brae, he would, with a standard author in his hand, "crack wi' kings," or "hold high converse with the mighty dead."

Capturing the bitter confrontation between the gipsy king and his captive laird in the mountain wilderness:

"Now, Laird Clennel, say ye that I haena lived to see day about wi' ye."

What It's Really About

The collection investigates the destructive power of pride, class prejudice, and unbridled vengeance across Scottish society. It questions how easily a life of honest intellect or rural simplicity can be derailed by social ambition, petty domestic rivalry, or the insidious trap of alcoholism. Across these tales, justice rarely arrives as a clean legal verdict; instead, it manifests as an inescapable moral reckoning. The stories interrogate the boundaries between the settled citizen and the outcast, asking whether civilization truly protects its members from their own worst impulses or merely masks them in custom and dialect.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love rich regional atmosphere, gothic undertones, and nineteenth-century moral storytelling will find much to treasure here. To read this collection is to experience the cadence of traditional Scottish oral history translated into print—filled with the bite of northern winds, the warmth of cottage hearths, and the dark shadows of remote mountain crags. It feels both intimate and expansive, moving effortlessly from high-stakes clan vengeance to sharp domestic satire.

At the same time, a modern reader must navigate certain historical hurdles. The dense regional dialects, occasionally melodramatic pacing, and period-specific attitudes toward gender and class demand patience. Yet what stays with you long after closing the book is the stark emotional honesty of its tragedies: the quiet devastation of the betrayed bride, the haunting desolation of the gipsy ruins, and the chilling finality of a life unraveled by a single whispered phrase at the tavern table.