A few more Kidnapped bits and pieces

[regshoe]

Kidnapped fandom is taking off! It's great to see so much love for the book :D

There's been one more fic since my RMSE stuff, this excellent, funny and cute Alan/Davie story by soundsandsweetairs:

Fencing; or, A Lesson with Alan (1069 words) by soundsandsweetairs
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
Characters: David Balfour, Alan Breck Stewart
Additional Tags: Fluff, One Shot, takes place during catriona, Sword Fighting, Kissing, a rather silly little thing, tagged as CNTW b/c idk how old davie is meant to be at this point
Summary:

Our swords clanged together, the steel flashing bright, and in a moment, he had pushed mine aside and had his blade at my throat.

Over on tumblr chiropteracupola has been posting some lovely fanart, and I especially recommend this beautiful picture of Alan and Davie together. Some discussion of their height difference in the tags and replies with chiropteracupola and sanguinity inspired me to write a very silly little fic based on these ideas—here it is:

The Apple Box (598 words) by regshoe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: David Balfour/Alan Breck Stewart
Characters: Alan Breck Stewart, David Balfour
Additional Tags: Height Differences, Silly
Summary:

David reacts to an innovation of Alan's.

I have now got a paper copy of the book, a nicely edited and annotated Penguin Classics edition with a literary and a historical introduction, and these editorial bits contain a few details which I thought might be of interest to any fans who haven't already seen them:

I brought up Alan's dialect in my last post, and it seems to have puzzled several of us. The introduction quotes from an essay by Stevenson in which he muses on the contradictory relationship between Highland and Lowland; although enemies, they yet have an affinity and a strong sense of common Scottishness. One of the details he mentions, speaking of 'a century and a half ago', is this:

Last and perhaps most curious, the sons of [Highland] chieftains were often educated on the continent of Europe. They went abroad speaking Gaelic; they returned speaking, not English, but the broad dialect of Scotland.

So apparently there is some historical basis for Highland gentry speaking Scots, or at least Stevenson thinks there is.

Regarding the episode of Robin Oig Macgregor and his piping—the annotations describe how Robin and his brother James More were eventually brought to trial for the abduction and (attempted?) forced marriage which Stevenson mentions. James escaped to France... where, in 1753, he tried to kidnap Alan Breck Stewart 'in order to deliver him to the authorities in exchange for the freedom of Robin Oig'! The attempt failed, however, and Robin was executed. If one could get David to France at the right time, this could make an, er, interesting plot for a 'continuing adventures' future fic...

The historical introduction quotes this from Walter Scott in his notes to Rob Roy; he apparently heard an account from a friend who had met Alan Breck Stewart in France in 1789 (!).

He found, sitting by the fire, a tall, thin, raw-boned, grim-looking, old man, with the petit croix of St. Louis. His visage was strongly marked by the irregular projections of the cheek-bones and chin. His eyes were grey. His grizzled hair exhibited marks of having been red, and his complexion was weather-beaten, and remarkably freckled. Some civilities in French passed between the old man and my friend, in the course of which they talked of the streets and squares of Paris, till at length the old soldier, for such he seemed, and such he was, said with a sigh, in a sharp Highland accent, “Deil ane o' them a' is worth the Hie Street of Edinburgh!” On inquiry, this admirer of Auld Reekie, which he was never to see again, proved to be Allan Breck Stewart. He lived decently on his little pension, and had, in no subsequent period of his life, shown anything of the savage mood in which he is generally believed to have assassinated the enemy and oppressor, as he supposed him, of his family and clan.

I note that this is further corroboration for the idea that the historical Alan was tall; and also that he is speaking Scots in a 'Highland accent'.

Comments

[luzula]

Oh, lovely! *opens new fic in tabs*

Hmm, perhaps I ought to get a physical copy, as well...actually I listened to it as a Librivox audiobook, and have never read it in the ordinary way.

And those are some interesting bits from the introductions, thanks for writing them up!

[regshoe]

I feel spoilt by it being so much more of a 'classic' than e.g. FotH—there are loads of different editions, these literary ones with informative annotations and old hardbacks with beautiful illustrations (albeit they inevitably ignore the canonical height difference) and random 20th century paperbacks with bizarre choices of cover image... I may get another one just for some variety.

You're welcome—and I hope you enjoy the fics :D

[sanguinity]

Oh, lovely! I'm so pleased to see the apple-box story!

And that's a lovely description of the historical Alan Breck. Of course, it only recommits me to the idea that the fictional Alan Breck was short: obviously RLS was very committed to his height difference between Alan and Davie!

[regshoe]

It's funny to think of the fictional Alan being alive and in France in 1789. That's about when I imagine Davie writing the book (we know he's writing after the US became independent; I can't remember if there are any other relevant details, but for some reason I've always thought late 1780s-ish), and he's still there, though far away...

And yes, absolutely—the fictional height difference is very important :D