FROM a "sleekit moose" to "thon deep mirk wid", children's classic the Gruffalo is being given a linguistic overhaul to reflect regional dialects including Doric and Orcadian Scots.
The regional translations will go on sale in October, offering readers a new slant on Julia Donaldson's bestseller, first published in 1999.
Four titles - The Doric Gruffalo, Thi Dundee Gruffalo, The Shetland Gruffalo and The Orkney Gruffalo - will go on sale in paperback from October 21.
It follows the success of a Scots version of the children's classic published in 2012.
Each title has been translated into the regional dialects by experts in each field.
The Orcadian Scots version has been devised by Simon W Hall, who completed a PhD in Scottish Literature at Glasgow University and is now principal English teacher at Kirkwall Grammar school in Orkney.
Awarding-winning Aberdonian writer and illustrator, Sheena Blackhall, provided the Doric translation, with novelist and Scots language champion Matthew Fitt in charge of the Dundonian translation.
Meanwhile, Laureen Johnson, co-editor of Scotland’s oldest literary magazine, The New Shetlander, has translated the Gruffalo into the Shetland dialect.
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