Roba English Podcast Ep. 6: Scottish Story for Beginners B1

英語の後に日本語が続きます！

Are you an English learner? I'm glad you landed on my channel!

My name is Roba and I'm from the UK.

This podcast is perfect for those who want to learn British English and who want to do it the natural way - by listening to natural, native speakers!

I live in Japan and I've been an educator since 2018 and I'm fascinated by languages. I'm a native English speaker and I'm fluent in Japanese, and I'm learning French and German! Learning languages is all about meeting new people and in learning Japanese, my life has changed in so many ways, so I started this podcast because I used Japanese podcasts for learning and I found them incredibly helpful.

This episode is the story of the Witch of Fife. A story in from Scotland near my hometown in a place called Fife!

It's also a chance for you to contact me! Please comment below or send me an email! Please let me know in the comments about the channel and what you would like to hear about next. —------------------------------------------

みなさん、こんにちは！自然な英語を聞きながら英語を勉強したいですか。私のチャンネルへようこそ！ イギリス出身のロバです。

英語圏の自然な英語で、異文化や僕の経験など、面白い内容を楽しみながら英語力を身につけたいという方にとって、このポッドキャストはぴったりの内容になっています。

２０１９年から日本に住んでおり、その時からも教育業界で働いています。外国語がめちゃくちゃ面白いだと思い、日本語ももちろん、フランス語とドイツ語も独学で勉強しています。だからこそ、言語学習の大変さの溝と楽しみの波をよく理解できますし、そのポッドキャストを作ることで、みなさんとその経験を共有したいと思っています。

僕は日本語を勉強し始めた時に僕と違う背景の人に会いながら楽しく話すというモチベーションで勉強し、日本語のポッドキャストをよく聞き、人生が変わった実感があったので、僕と同じような道を歩んでいる人の役に立ちたいと思い、このチャンネルを始めるようになりました。

今回のエピソードでは、The Witch of Fifeという童話です。この童話は僕の故郷の近くの舞台です。

リスナーのみなさんと繋がれるのを楽しみにしています！　コメントでもメールでもご連絡をお待ちしております。ご意見や感想を共有してもらえれば一緒にこのチャンネルをより良いものにしていきましょう！ 宜しくお願いします

Contact: [e-mail]

Find the transcript for this episode here!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
[Music]

(00:14):
Hi guys, welcome back to another Roba English podcast episode. The date is the 11th of August 2025,
and the time is 2.38pm. Now thank you for listening and thank you for all the feedback and the

(00:36):
comments. I realised that my voice is a little bit boring maybe. I'm kind of a little bit boring
in that way and so this time I wanted to do a story and the story is from my hometown in

(00:58):
Scotland. It's about witches, it's not scary but it's a Scottish story and so maybe there are
somethings you don't understand so please look at the transcripts if you don't understand the story.
Feel free to send me any emails or questions about the story. I really love listening to what

(01:28):
you guys have to say about the channel and about the content so please do that for me.
So yeah, here we go, I'm going to jump straight into the story. Do you guys believe in witches?
If you do post in comments below or send me an email. In Scotland, we love witches. The story is

(01:54):
all about witches. It's got a good lesson at the end for her any husbands out there. It's got a
good lesson and yes, please enjoy the story. Let me know what you think. Let's get into it.
[Music]

(02:21):
The Witch of Fife. A long time ago in the Kingdom of Fife,
there lived an old man and his wife. The old man was quiet, but his wife was cheerful and full

(02:42):
of energy. Some neighbours whispered that they thought she was a witch. Even her husband began to wonder.
She often disappeared at night and came home in the morning looking pale and tired. One day,

(03:03):
the old man asked her directly, "Are you a witch?"
"Yes, I am," she said without hesitation. "But she must never tell anyone, especially when I go out
at night." The old man promised, At the next new moon the wife vanished again.

(03:30):
When she came back, the next morning, the old man asked, "Where were you?"
"I met some friends at the old church," she said. "We rode three branches that turned into horses,
we flew through the sky, hunted animals, foxes and owls, climbed mountains and drank beer

(03:59):
not made by humans, but by gods." Then a little man came out from under a stone and played the
bagpipes. We danced all night with rats, crows and other birds before I flew home.
The old man was shocked. "Why do you do these things?" he asked.

(04:25):
"You could be warm at home and comfortable."
At the next new moon, she told him another story. "We sailed to Norway on seashells,
we rode invisible horses and danced with elves and monsters, we learned a new magic spell that can

(04:51):
open any door." The old man said, "Why not stay here? You would be warmer."
One night, she told him about visiting a local lord's house to drink his fine wine.
They used the Norwegian spell to fly up their chimney, open the door and enjoy the drink.

(05:20):
The old man loved wine and wanted to try it. "Tell me the spell," he begged, but his wife refused.
"If everyone knew it, people would only steal. They would leave their good jobs and steal

(05:41):
everybody's things, it's better you don't know."
The old man was stubborn. He hid in the witches' meeting place until one night they arrived.
One by one they ran into the fireplace, said the magic words and vanished.

(06:06):
The old man copied them and followed.
The witches didn't notice him until they reached the lord's house.
They were angry, but they let him join. They drank only a little wine, so no one would notice,

(06:26):
but the old man drank too much. He fell asleep on the floor. His wife decided to teach him a lesson
and left him there. In the morning, the lord's servants found him.

(06:47):
"How did you get in here?" they asked.
"I came in on the midnight wind," he mumbled, "a witch!' they cried and took him to the lord.
The lord was a strict and holy man, ordered him to be burned alive.

(07:09):
The old man was tied above a pile of wood. The fire started and the flames rose up.
Then he heard his wife's voice in his ear. The ropes fell away.
He shouted the magic words and he floated into the air and flew home.

(07:35):
"Thank you for saving me," he told his wife. "I don't know what you mean," she replied with a smile.
After that, the old man never asked anything about her secrets again.
So that was the witch of Fife story.

(08:10):
It's a very famous story around where I live. Where I live is called the Kingdom of Fife.
This story was told to me when I was at high school. I do remember it, but I had to make it

(08:33):
simpler, I think, for this podcast. So if you want to know a little bit more or you want to know the
details, then or you're an advanced learner, then please send me an email. Please, please, please send
me an email. I really enjoy getting emails from listeners. I might do some more stories like this

(08:58):
from my hometown. Especially if you're coming to Scotland, there's lots of great stories.
If you're studying abroad or if you're coming to Scotland for a holiday, I really... I really recommend that
you check out some of the Scottish stories because they're very unique and they'll give you

(09:23):
an idea of what the atmosphere in Scotland might be like. There's lots of scary stories,
especially in Edinburgh, the capital. There's lots of really great folklore in Scotland.
And so I really want to do some more of these stories again. So let me know what you think.

(09:46):
I'll do some of these and hopefully we can make the transcripts a little bit more exciting,
rather than me just talking about language. So I really want to give you a taste of what these
Scottish stories are like. So thank you guys for listening to another Roba English podcast.

(10:11):
I'll see you in the next one. Cheers!
[Music]
[Music]

(10:34):
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