"Story and Song from Loch Ness-Side"

[169]

The belief in dreams has been most active among Highlanders in all ages. It has been a kind of faith with them, and the events and experiences believed to have been revealed by messages from dreamland were simply legion. The people dreamt about most matters within the sphere of their knowledge, and many matters outside it; and, in the case of some persons, little seemed to happen without such warning. We well remember a sage, quiet, meaningful old villager who enjoyed a reputation for dreaming dreams which came true. He dreamt that his wife was to die on a certain day. She had been ill for a considerable time, but seemed to have been slightly improving; so much so that her eldest daughter, who was on a visit to the house, made up her mind to leave that morning for her own home a few miles away. But the old man interfered: "You cannot leave to-day," he said to her; "we are to have a change." And sure enough, a few hours later the hand of death laid its could touch on the hearts of that happy home.

A common form of dreaming about death was to have a vision of the dead coming back for the living. We knew the man who dreamt that a certain woman, long dead, spoke to him, saying she had come for his mother; and the fulfilment was that the mother died soon after. To dream of a steamer on dry land, of ploughing, of raw meat, and of oatmeal in any of various forms, [170] was, among numerous other signs, generally considered portentous of death; to dream of ministers was indica tive of trouble; and to dream of whisky meant anger or disappointment. To dream of certain fruits foreboded illness; and to dream of eggs and creeping things meant annoyance or wounded feelings. To dream of certain persons was unpleasantness of some kind; there seemed a peculiarity about such that meant disagreeableness or injury of some sort to others, by day and by night. To dream of washing was interpreted as foreshadowing a flitting; while to dream of riding on a horse was unders tood to point to the receipt of some hurried news. We remember hearing of one only too true vision of the night in which a horse played an important part. The eldest son in one of our district families dreamt that their horse had got into a nasty, deep hole, and that quite a number of people were for a long time unsuc cessfully making efforts to bring the animal up again to earth. He awoke with uneasiness, and, as he lay reflecting, was disturbed by a loud knocking at the door. He rose, and admitted a cousin, whose sad and mournful message was that a brother of the dreamer had been drowned the previous evening, and that the body had not yet been found. It was, indeed, well into next day before it was recovered.

Ill-luck was believed to follow when one dreamt of a baby girl; a stone out of the wall of the house; a hole on the roof ; baldness of the head ; or being dressed in rags; and of water generally. It might be interesting also to mention that the almost world-wide vision of a bee escaping by the mouth of a sleeping person, and again returning and re-vivifying the apparently dead body, was related as native to the district, which again [171] shows how widely legends and beliefs travel. There was a trace of the inherent desire to ward off possibilities of ill-luck in the "blessings" ("rannan") which were repeated by persons who went house-visiting at Christ mas and New-Year time. These rhymes were at one time probably in the nature of incantations, but latterly have deteriorated into comparatively senseless jingles, or time-serving pass-words. The following were com mon:

[172] Among other superstitions connected with that period first-footing took a very prominent place. A man was invariably preferred, and particularly a dark one. Flat-footed persons were much disliked as first- footers; also a red-headed woman, badly dressed, and more particularly when there was nothing on her head. Great importance also attached to the first to meet one- going on a journey, or from home on any purpose bent. Certain individuals were shunned like poisonous reptiles, so that they should not be met by others leaving home on any business. And, let it be considered strange or not, it had been observed, over and over again, that there were some whom it certainly was not lucky to meet on the way.

There were many things, such as getting off hair, cutting one's nails, and the like, which were not to be done on Sundays, Tuesdays, or Fridays, or the first Monday of the quarter. These were peculiar days, some of them sacred to religious rites and fairy-land lore. According to one old rhyme - which, we think, could not have a general application - it was difficult to identify good luck with any of the days of the week, so- far as journeying was concerned:

[173] It was considered very desirable that one should view face foremost the first calf, lamb, or other young animal seen of a year, and that one should see a snail for the first time of a year on grass rather than on bare ground or on stone; while everybody wished not to hear the cuckoo for the first time without having previously tasted food.
There was on old rhyme which said: —

Even to find a cuckoo's nest was an omen of ill-luck.

There were many things which had to be observed. One should not do anything else between sitting down to food and finishing, and should not spill the salt. Great care was to be taken with glasses. To break one meant evil, and to smash a mirror bespoke ill-luck for seven years. The last man to join a funeral procession would likely himself be the next to be carried ; and to measure a shroud to a living person was a foreboding of that one's early death. One should always bless a child, and a bride, and young animals seen for the first time. A cat to pass between a newly-married couple was a fore-warning of unhappiness; and a cat to jump over a corpse was considered an omen of much trouble, or worse.

[174] Itching in the nostrils meant the hearing of some unexpected news - if in the right nostril good news, or possibly some pleasant experience. Heat in the ears indicated that one was the subject of comment - favour­ able or otherwise, and there were conflicting theories as to the significance of the sensation in the respective ears. A tooth broken or extracted should be thrown into the fire; if the mice got it, no new tooth would grow, and so much of the person's entirety was gone.

There was a belief to the effect that no evil could escape from fire. An amusing story used to be told of a man who had killed a calf, and after he had pro­ ceeded for some time with the skinning of the animal, it appears the calf bellowed loudly. Instantly he cut off its head and threw it in the fire, exclaiming, as if in obedience to an ancient faith - "Cha tig olc a teine" - ("No evil can come out of fire"). The old people did not like to wind dark worsted at night, and they attached much meaning to the cracking of furniture. But the familiar old "Jacky-mill," which used to beat so persistently in the ends of the ancient wooden-posters, was allowed to tap-tap away all unheeded. And was it not an interesting little thing! How many a thought, grave and gay, its industry inspired!

We must not forget to mention that when the spider touched anything - a dress, suit, or article of any kind - such was expected to be replaced anew in early course. To have new clothing on at certain times of the year, such as Easter, for instance, should bring good luck; but to put on any article of clothing inside out by mistake was likely to bring a stroke of bad luck in the near future. In making a present of money to a child, two coins should always be given. Finding certain [175] things lost meant good or bad luck as the different articles were believed to signify. To turn back after leaving the house was always a sign of an unsuccessful journey. There was the common belief in the horse shoe as a protection against ill-luck.

A number of medical spells and charms was current, which were frequently resorted to in certain diseases incident to mankind and brute. In the disease known as "An Ruaidhe," which resulted from a lodging of the milk in the udder of a cow or the breast of a woman, the charm, or "eolas", repeated was:

"Beum-sula" - ("The effect of the Evil-Eye") - was supposed to be common. The idea is of great antiquity, and wide as the world. The Greeks believed that the Evil-Eye exercised a malignant power, and that it was characteristic of persons subject to envy and passion. We have read that Pliny makes mention of it as a [176] reason for the wearing of amulets and talismans among the Romans. In more modern times the belief in the iniquitous influences of the Evil-Eye is well known among many peoples; and it has been, since times immemorial, prominent in the Scottish Highlands. No person, animal, or thing was considered safe from the terrible power of the eye that could split the stone - ("An t-suil a sgoilteadh a' chloich"). And it was observed that the deep-sunk eye was the most baneful, the belief being that a person whose eyes were much out of sight - ("Fada fo dhion") - were more envious of heart, and more cunningly selfish in ambition, than one whose eyes were prominent and open. More particularly was this supposed to be true when the deeply-sunk eye was a small one. "Suil dhubh dhomhain, suil an deomhain," says the old proverb.

When it was believed that the Evil-Eye had taken effect, the person to whom the ceremony of the cure ("An t-eolas leighis") was known was duly consulted. There is reason to believe that there was at one time in Scotland - as there certainly was in Ireland - an order called "A' Chliar-Sheanchain", who travelled about from district to district, and frequently in the High­lands, lived by, among other arts, the performing of cures, magical in their way. But within more modern times only an individual here and there possessed the power to administer such remedies, which were usually successful, unless an error was made in repeating the charm. Of course, if the disease had not been correctly diagnosed the cure would not prove effective. The orthodox charm generally made use of for the Beum- sula was:

In a note at page 268 of "The Beauties of Gaelic Poetry", we find the following reference made to this charm: ''During its repetition the singular operation of filling a bottle with water was being carried on ; and the incantation was so sung as to chime with the gurgling of the liquid as it was poured into the vessel, thus forming a sort of uncouth harmony according well with the wild and superstitious feelings of the necro­ mancers. From the fact that one or two Irish words occur in it, and that the charm was performed in the name of St Patrick, it is probably of Irish origin; but we know that it held equally good in the Highlands of Scotland as it did across the Channel."

[178] We cannot but notice the conspicuous part played by water in all those remarkable cures. It seems to have been a universal medium for the practice of magic, and has held that place in the magical world for at least many centuries back. We find it invariably resorted to in Arabian mythology for breaking spells and effecting transformations. There is mention by Virgil of a sorceress who, in order to recover the lost love of Daphnis, requests her attendants to bring her "running water from the brook" with which to work a charm - a charm which she believes to be sufficiently powerful to "call the moon from its sphere, make the cold-blooded snake burst in the field", and strong as the one "by which Circe turned the companions of Ulysses into beasts".

We have elsewhere described the ''silver-water'' process - which was at once a means of diagnosis and a cure - and there is still another charm for the Evil-Eye - the one called "Eolas a' Chronachaidh" ("The Chastening Charm"), which was:

While repeating this charm the practitioner counted the beads, repeating a line of the charm as each bead [179] was passed. The charm must be an old one, and would seem to have been used for various diseases. It would appear to be the one referred to by the poet-warrior John R oy Stewart, of Jacobite fame, who, having accidentally sprained his ankle, went on to say:

For sprains and dislocations a specific charm was in vogue. It was known as "Eolas-Sgochadh-Feithe " ("The Charm for Vein-cutting"). The performance accompanying the incantation was this: A knotted thread of common worsted was drawn through the fingers of both hands, and the words of the charm whispered as the knobs on the thread came into contact with the fingers. This again suggests a Pagan custom mentioned in Virgil as part of the injunctions of a sorceress to her servants:

"Knit with three knots the fillets,
Knit them straight;
Then say these knots
To love I consecrate."
The charm for this "Eolas" is an interesting one:

[180] "Casg-Uisge" ("Strangury") was a serious trouble. The charm for it was more or less of the ordinary kind, but the wording seems incomplete:

Triuir a thachair orm
A' tighinn as an Roimh—
Peadar agus Po1 ................
'Sebu dusgadh dhoibh
'S iad na 'n codal suain
Dh' iarr Moire mhin as aon
Iosa Criosda stad a chur le fhuil,
'S ruith a chur le ghalar,
'S e dh' fhalbh gu min,
Gun trioblaid gun strith,
Mar uisge le gleann.

which may be rendered:
Three who met me Coming from Rome—
Peter and Paul ...............
What awakened them,
As they slept soundly,
Meek Mary in the name of
Jesus Christ desired that his blood should stop,
And that his disease should cease;
So that it would pass away smoothly,
Like water down a glen.

There was an ailment incident to cattle called "An Tairbhean", a sickness resulting from over-eating, the charm for which was:

There was also a charm for the toothache. It was in English, and the words are:
St Peter sat on a new-rolled stone,
Weeping and wailing.
Jesus came by and said—
"What ails you, Peter?"
"Oh ! Lord, my God, the toothache."
Jesus said - "Be healed,
And whoever will carry
These few lines for My name's sake
Will never feel the toothache."

It was understood that there had also been Gaelic words, and we have a faint recollection of hearing some such fragment as the following:

One of the most remarkable charms of all we ever heard of was that by the virtue of which haemorrhage could be stopped, and that even at a distance. The power to administer this charm does not appear to have been possessed by many; only certain families, in whom it was supposed to be hereditary, could use it. It was, surely, very remarkable that, when a serious case of [182] haemorrhage was reported to one of those, possibly hundreds of miles from the scene of the ailment, a few signs made, and a certain incantation repeated, stopped the blood-flow instantly. Quite a number of instances in which such actually took place, was common talk in our district; but we never heard the words of the par ticular charm used for this purpose. The belief in the power of the practitioner and in the virtue of the charm was, however, absolutely firm. There is still a charm which was used as a protection from accidents and dangers, more especially in the case of huntsrs. The words are:

The charm for curing dislocation of the heart, referred to in a previous chapter, was performed as follows: Lead was melted and poured into a wooden vessel, containing water, and placed on the patient's [183] head, while a short incantation was being repeated. A piece of the lead resembling the human heart was, on examination then, found in the water. This was turned round, and at the same time the dislocated heart went back into its place. The heart-shaped piece of lead was afterwards to be preserved as a protection against a relapse.

Faint echoes of a very weird practice, known as "Taghairm nan Cat" ("Divining by cats") floated down the ages, but we have not heard of any instance of it in the district at all, except one or two, which seemed to have been in the long ago. This mode of divina tion proceeded thus: The party who wished to obtain the knowledge of the future sought for took a live cat, and, driving a spit through it, roasted it slowly to a fire till its groans caused to gather round it a great number of other cats, from which, after the repetition of a suitable incantation, the information desired was elicited. In regard to the last of those horrid perform ances, it was stated that the party had to flee for his life, the cats having all turned on him with intent to eat him up; and it would have served him right to have been cut to pieces by them.

Chapter 11