"Story and Song from Loch Ness-Side"

[205]

d uring the long days the Highlander passed most of his time outside; when not working he rested beside a favourite bush, or in a cosy cave under the shadow of a rock, listening to the wind as it soughed and whistled past, murmuring in tones that seemed to breathe the "joy of grief", or as if inviting a world of stress and strife to peaceful meditation. And while thus his ear was pleasantly entertained, his eye commanded a view magnificently grand - possibly a str tch of miles of the loveliest scenery on earth - and Nature, fresh from the inimitable brush of the Divine Artist, beaming and blushing in indescribable beauty. What a school! Who would compare with it the man-made city with its sky-scrapers and slums! On the one hand, souls get being; on the other, souls are lost. Than a beauti ful evening in the Scottish Highlands there is, perhaps, nothing more superlatively glorious amidst all the manifestations of the sublime in Nature. It is the perfection of all that is best and most highly artistic in song and picture; and no wonder that to the under standing heart it is an inspiration, a religion, a faith. Occasionally a number of country-people gathered together outside, and told stories, or otherwise, passed the time in the exchanging of views. We have often witnessed many spare hours thus intelligently and innocently put in, while the children gambolled and frolicked in harmless fun around. This pretty sight [206] was rendered still more interesting when were to be seen the hamlet cows coming home in the gloaming, and making for their own respective quarters, with almost the intelligence of human beings. The scene was one never to be forgotten. It was living the life of all that Art in its various forms aspires to. The bard suggests it when he says:

Then, as night on the wings of great, black clouds stole towards us from behind the big mountains to the west, silently embracing us in its dark folds, we felt as we retired to our peaceful firesides that there was altogether a peculiar charm about the evening in the Highlands - a charm which one must feel to admire and to enjoy.

During the other season of the year - that of the long nights - our people never worked very hard. Their circumstances were so favourable that they could afford to do little work during a considerable portion of the year. The slack season usually com menced about the end of October, and continued till early in Spring, when the herding and the farming work generally began. During that period little or no heavy work was done, unless, as was sometimes the case, some money was earned by contract labour, such as in cutting and carting timber, or some other country employment. With a well-stocked barn, a number of potato-pits, a stack or two of peats, a supply of herring well cured, a sheep or part of a cow in the salter, and often also a pig, with a few bolls of meal, all in store, our small farmer felt as independent as any working [207] man possibly can feel in this world. The state of the people as a whole was one of neither poverty nor riches; and, speaking from our own knowledge, we have never seen any class of working men on whom the world sat more lightly - or, indeed, nearly so lightly - as on those we have now in mind; while it must be admitted that during the earlier portion of the period covered by our story, the conditions and circumstances were not generally so favourable.

Thus, comparatively free from the mental and bodily troubles that life in the crowd is peculiarly heir to, our people could view the coming of Winter with few or no forebodings of straitened circumstances or pressure of economic conditions, and their minds were free to dwell on things imaginative and ideal - things pertaining to a higher plane than that to which the mind of the mere vegetating, bread-earning machine can aspire. To this, then, must be ascribed the idealism, the romance, the chivalry, and the poetry of the Scottish Highlands. In circumstances such as these only could such an institution as the Ceilidh become possible; and the Ceilidh in the Scottish Highlands became a school in which not only was information acquired, and were ideas formed, but one in which character and conduct were moulded.

When we remember the Ceilidh in our district, it still retained many of the features and characteristics of the institution in former days. While occasionally a dance might result from a chance gathering that much more frequently became a Ceilidh, still, the entertain ment associated with our Ceilidh proper was of a much: higher and more intellectual nature. Thus, while in one house there might be light gossip and some innocent [208] fun, in another there might be a general conversation on commercial lines, and yet, in a third, a class-room, or something such. Sweet and beautifully natural were the numerous chapters which the Ceilidh contributed to the Book of Love. The efforts made to conceal the tender feelings that the little god had stirred up in the hearts of the young, while to everybody about it was so very obvious that these were really of tremendous importance, were a charming study. It was so Eden- like; there was so little of the cold function, and so much of the divinity and spirit of truth. Often did the words of the illustrious Burns occur to us in those circumstances:

"But hark! a rap conies gently to the door;
Jenny, wha kens the meaning of the same,
Tells how a neighbour lad cam' o'er the moor
To do some errand, and convey her hame.
The wily mother sees the conscious flame
Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek;
With heart-struck, anxious care, inquires his name,
While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak;
Weel pleased, the mother hears its na wild, worthless rake."

Interesting also were the discussions on money matters which one often listened to at those fireside meetings. While not extensively acquainted with the money market so far as investments generally were con cerned, there was yet a wonderful grasp of the laws of supply and demand. The value of money was cer tainly well understood, but there was little or no appreciation of the power of money to make more; any savings at disposal went to the bank - and the bank of all banks with those people was the Bank of Scotland - and foreign speculations or Exchange risks they [209] practically looked upon as in large measure dishonest. Parliamentary questions sometimes came up for treatment; and there were two or three who sometimes read a newspaper, and settled all the more important sub jects to their own and every other body's satisfaction in a manner that, while not dictatorial, was quite authoritative.

The more scholastic circle, however, embraced altogether a wide field. There was one house whither all interested in book-learning repaired. There it was quite common to find a considerable class being taught their school lessons by some member or other of this household; and not only young pupils, but also the more advanced. Everybody obtained assistance under this roof. The father was not only a crack arith metician, but also a noted mathematician, and he did not know it. We remember his solving, time after time, certain algebraic equations without even the assistance of a slate or scroll; and anything in the nature of weights and measures, the mensuration of superficies, and land-surveying, was simple amusement to him. lie could also recite Ossian's ballads and other old Gaelic compositions innumerable; while his comm and of tradition was extensive. To all this has to be added that he was a bard in his way; some of his verses being by no means without merit. He had had the advantage of considerable education in his youth, his father having, like many others in the olden times, employed a teacher for several winters in his own house. The mother was an exceptionally good English and Gaelic scholar. She had read extensively; she knew most of the songs and airs in the Highlands; and she sang as none in the district, or within miles of it, could [210] approach; while she could compose excellent poetry, and translate from English into Gaelic or Gaelic into English successfully, whether verse or prose. She also knew the ancient Gaelic literature exceedingly well, and was quite at home in Highland history and tradition generally; while she appeared to have the Scriptures an d the Psalms by heart. She was the one elsewhere inentioned as having written down and edited the songs and poems of Archibald Grant, the bard of Glen- moriston - not a small undertaking for a country woman, over fifty years ago. She was the adviser and secre tary of almost every person in the district, and of many outside its bounds. The family were all more or less above the average. This was the composition of the home which gathered around its fireside, during the winter nights, those to whom intellectual exercise appealed. And when purely school subjects did not engage attention, discussions historical, religious, literary, and philosophical occupied the time. No doubt there was much said that lacked exactness, and the scientific spirit was not always sufficiently in evidence, but, notwithstanding, very great intelligence v/as at all times displayed, and the cultivation of a literary and artistic taste in the young was the inevitable result.

There was practically no limit to the field embraced by story and song during those long periods, and we cannot do better now than introduce the reader to some of the more native subjects which furnished a large proportion of our Ceilidh seanachies' repertoires. We submit the material as it did duty from time to time. Any of the matter already given, such as under " Wakes", which naturally came under contribution at [211] Ceilidhs, we shall not repeat; nor any such as is already well known. We begin with the interesting subject of

GHOSTS AND GHOST-SEEING

It seems to be pretty generally understood that the word ''ghost'' should be applied to the spirits of the departed only; while, on the other hand, it is understood that when the spirit of one appears to another before the death of the person whom that spirit is supposed to represent, the word "wraith" is used to describe the apparition. In the Highlands, however, there seems to be no hard and fast distinction drawn between the two. The Gaelic word "samhla" ("likeness") in most places covers both, though in some districts we believe the word "tannasg" to be employed as the equivalent of our "wraith"; and we think it would be correct to say that there are far more ghost stories based upon the wraith idea than upon that of the ghost, taking both words in their English sense. This is not without its interest, as some believe the ghost to have probably by ages preceded the wraith.

Every Highlander will remember the ghost and goblin stories to which in his youth he listened while one of the circle sitting by the fireside. There is some thing in winter gloom and wildness which, when taken in connection with the supernatural, is of peculiar interest. The innate fears of the young in the dark are well known, and we know not how much of our ghostology may have been the result of night, wind, and weather, what Burns refers to when in one of his poems h e says:

"Then a child might understand
The de'il had business on his hand."

[212] This more than anything, perhaps, is calculated to re produce in us the arch-types of things "uncanny" which we seem so much to inherit; and it, indeed, takes "an effort of philosophy to shake off those idle terrors in after years". The awe with which Highlanders generally view the question prevents them from making such observations with regard to ghost-seeing as would help to render the matter easy for consideration from a scientific standpoint. When a ghost is " seen," no attempt is made at a natural explanation of the pheno menon, and too often the description of the apparition is not satisfactory. The expression "Ghabh mi feagal" ("I had a fright"), with a vague description of peculiar feelings, and of something like some one, is about the most that can be learned; while others, though perhaps more communicative, are to be watched against exag geration. One most important matter is almost always overlooked - the personale of the seer; and we think ib is on this the whole question of ghost-seeing turns. But there is such a healthy dread of ghosts present with most who believe in them, that detail is too much to look for. We heard many stories afloat of one of two bosom friends promising the other to come back from the regions of the dead, and reveal to him the grand secret behind the veil. But it appears that no sooner did the one breathe his last than the other became terrorised, lest the spirit of the dead friend should return to renew the acquaintance. In all such cases that we heard of, the minister was religiously consulted, and his circle-drawing art resorted to. Such feelings have militated considerably against the proper conception of ghosts, and have also interfered with the people's capacity in the direction of understanding the [213] circumstances attaching to the different cases. This is very much to be regretted. There can be nothing about ghost-seeing more interesting than the manner in which the ghosts appear to the seer. Some ghosts are at once understood to resemble certain persons from the striking likeness of the one to the other; and it is not an uncom mon thing for the seer to speak to the ghost under the impression that the party recognised in the apparition is addressed. We remember hearing that a certain woman, when turning round the corner of a small hillock, saw a neighbouring woman coming directly towards her. She was just about to address her, when, behold, the other had disappeared. This same woman, at another time, was making her way home from the woods, where she had been looking after the cattle; and when approaching the house of one of the villagers, she saw him there before her, apparently dressed, she having especially noticed that he was at the time wearing a vest, which he was never known to put on but occasionally. When just about to address him, the man disappeared. These instances of ghost-seeing occurred in broad day-light, and both parties died soon after their ghosts or wraiths were seen. But it would be very interesting to know what part the imagination played in the production of these apparitions. Let us give another case as bearing further upon this point: While a woman who had arrived at a considerable age was on a beautiful summer evening milking the cow at the door of her home, she felt her attention drawn to an object - as it appeared to her - actually flying in the air. It seemed to have issued forth from a house near by where there was a dying person at the time, and it moved, along steadily through the air until [214] disappeared into a rock standing not far away. The object, more or less, resembled a man in his ordinary apparel, but the representation was not very distinct. We remember hearing about a boy, perhaps about six or seven years of age, while running about his father's doors, hurrying to his mother to tell her that his grand father, whose remains had been buried some days before then, was coming along to the house. Of course the mother was somewhat alarmed, but set about question ing the boy very particularly. She was fully satisfied that he saw the ghost of his grandfather. The following is a peculiar instance of ghost-seeing: A man and his mother were living together. The mother died, and it transpired afterwards that something was left unsettled between them. He went to the minister to seek a bless ing and counsel; and was advised to pray fervently, and never to sleep without the Bible under his pillow. One evening, however, long after the death of his mother, he went to bed rather hurriedly, forgetting all about the minister's injunctions. He slept, but was very soon disturbed by some one violently dragging him out of bed. He recognised his dead mother's face and form in this nocturnal visitant, and became at once conscious of the mistake he made when going to bed. But on promising something or another to the ghost, he was told that he would never afterwards be interfered with. Here is an interesting case: A man who was engaged with some smuggling operations had been amissing for some time, and his people became anxious as to his whereabouts. They went in search of him, but found no trace of him after a day and a night had been lost to them; and eventually they found him drowned in a pool of water with his horse beside him.

[215] But the most peculiar part of the mishap remains yet to be told. When the man left home he told his sister to go to a certain place with his dinner if he did not return by such and such a time. She prepared the dinner against the hour mentioned, and, seeing that the brother had not returned, began to pack up. Just at that moment she saw him pass the window as if coming into the house. "Oh," she said to her mother, "I need not go further with this; E...... has come." But E...... did not come, and their anxiety for him increased accordingly. A party remembered having once been in the company of a young man, who, on passing a certain place, whispered that he saw beside him the ghost of E...... R...... , who was then very ill. The party saw nothing, and was wondered at by the other, who felt confident of the existence of the ghost. It was afterwards ascertained that E...... R...... died about three minutes before. The apparition was seen at night when indeed very dark. There was another story told of a man who had to pass through a dark wood in order to get home one evening. Just when about half way through this wood he noticed the figure of a. young man looking up rather inquisitively at him. He thought he knew the face. Strange to say, seventeen years afterwards the body of the young man whom this other thought he had recognised in the ghost was taken that way home, having met his death by drowning not less than twenty miles away from that place. A third case may be given. A young lady was sitting up one night attending to her sick uncle; and, while he was asleep in the room, she passed the time reading a book. Quite unconsciously she looked behind towards the door, and, behold! there stood the figure of an old woman [216] looking in the direction of the dying man. The young lady felt that she would like to move away from the ghost-visited place. Her uncle, however, awoke, and asked her whether she saw his mother in the room. We had some sort of a clue that disturbed imagination might have produced the ghosts in such eases as follows: We knew a place remarkable for its fertility in calling up ghosts and goblins, and indeed all sorts of unearthly creatures. There one man, long ago, met with a mysterious calf, of which he could not get rid for a long time. There another man was nearly pelted to death with stones at dead of night, while some invisible power was catching him by the neck, and raising him bodily off the ground. There the same man on another occa sion got his blocd up to fever heat getting through an extraordinary multitude of people which blocked the way ; and there a young girl on a beautiful summer evening, just as the shades were falling, had some reason to add to the already unpleasant history and strange character of the place. She was on her way to drive home her master's cattle, and when nearing the haunted spot she saw a man bending over the parapet of the road, seem ingly concerned in something particular. She thought this might have been an acquaintance going the same way as herself. But on looking for him he was not there. She wondered and kept on. However, after she had gone a little further she saw him again, and in the same position, but a distance away from her. Thus, time after time, until she had seen the figure several times, there it was appearing and disappearing like a mirage of the desert, and finally it resolved itself into nothing. The next is the case of a man who was passing by another place which did not enjoy a good name; and [217] just at the exact spot where people were frequently said to have been frightened, he saw a. disfigured face look ing up to him imploringly over a dyke, and to his terror a ragged, half-mutilated arm extended towards him, while in his ears were heard pitiful appeals for help. The spectre - or whatever it was - represented himself as a man whose own brothers had maltreated in a neigh bouring public-house the previous night, and asked the man's assistance for some end or other. We must be excused for giving some more cases of the probable effect of place upon certain imaginations: Somewhere in the vicinity of a certain country churchyard a young man was one winter evening roaming about, when his attention was arrested by the figure of a well-dressed man, wearing a gold chain, moving rapidly along, the young man was not quite sure, whether on the earth or in the air. He saw the figure glide over the church yard from one corner until it came to a grave, from which, to his utter amazement, he saw another figure, dressed in a white habiliment, rise up and shake hands with the one just come, after which they separated, the dressed ghost returning as it came, and the shrouded one to its clayey home below. This was considered , most remarkable case of ghost-seeing, and numerous and ingenious were the attempts made at solving it. It was finally disposed of on the supposition that the dressed gentleman was dying in some far-off land when his image appeared in the churchyard, and that his last wish probably was to be laid beside the person whose bones tenanted the grave. The explanation may be that a strange admixture of ideas and associations on being so near the graveyard - the place of dread to many country people - acted upon the young man's mind so as [218] to result in the creation of the apparition. But, how ever, not long after this time a funeral took place there, and he was convinced that he knew a certain gentleman attending, from his resemblance to that dressed ghost which he saw in the churchyard. Here is another case in the production of which place may have had some thing to do. It introduces us to no less important a personage than his Satanic Majesty's real self. A man was passing a small cluster of trees late one night, when beside him stood a figure that struck terror into his innermost soul. It seemed to have horns sticking out of its head, and its hair appeared like flames of fire; while its face looked like a small map of Hades. Its body appeared as if covered with shells, and altogether- it was such a figure as would not only "scaud puir wratches", but, for the time being, shake the strongest and most composed. Of course there was no doubt that the Devil had been seen, and this was more or less con firmed by the remembrance of a relative of this man having, fifty years before then, seen the same figure in this identical spot. This man became all at once ter ribly frightened. He ran as it were for life, and arrived home in a very exhausted condition. There could be no shadow of a doubt as to his having experienced a most unusual start. He took ill after it, and, a charm having been performed for him, it was discovered that his heart was dislocated - as is said in the vernacular, "Chaidh e a cochull a chridhe" - a very common term in describ ing the effects of fear. The charm was said to have-cured him. It is described elsewhere. But we should' like to make a few remarks on this case. We find nothing in the whole world of demonology more inter esting than the different descriptions given us of the [219] Devil. He has appeared to man in almost all con ceivable shapes and forms, at times indeed in shapes that would not carry out the idea of his personification of the Evil Principle in nature. We should particularly draw attention here to the above description of his body, as covered with shells. At first sight this coincides more or less with the theological devil of Milton and Bunyan. But the idea goes much further back, and links this apparently ghost or goblin instance with the water- demons of ancient times, the Polyphemes of Grecian, mythology; and, perhaps, nearer ourselves, with the Muireartach of the Ossianic ballads. The idea of the Devil having horns is also important as of mythological significance.

Ghosts were found to be gregarious. Battles have been seen in several places fought at dusk of evening by intangible armies; crowds- of people have been frequently met and seen where really nothing of the kind existed. Among others the case of a. workman came under notice, who had to go aside, when passing on a spring evening through a certain village, in order to let a funeral procession pass. Strange to say, a short time afterwards a funeral did pass that way, and the workman thought he knew some of those there from their resemblance to the- ghosts.

Another ghost story may be related. It happened that a farmer's wife was in the byre one beautiful summer evening, when she noticed a small light burn ing right in the centre of the building. For the- moment she felt alarmed, having little ones of her own about her, but her concern soon passed off. Next evening, about the same time, she saw the light again, [220] and, in spite of all her philosophy, she trembled with apprehension. The explanation soon came; a child died in the near neighbourhood, and the little coffin for it was made on the very spot in the byre where the light had been seen.

SOME INTERESTING SPIRIT STORIES.

Numerous instances were related of the spirits of living persons revealing themselves out of the flesh. The revelation was frequently followed by the death of the party whose wraith had been seen ; but not in every case. One was to the effect that the spirit of a young man, engaged to a young woman, at a. time when the relations between them were being disturbed by the rumoured dissolution of the engagement, appeared to a mutual friend. Another man well known in our midst was understood to have had in his youth to request a girl acquaintance of his, whose spirit grievously dis turbed his peace at night, to leave him alone. The spirit never, it was said, appeared to him afterwards, consonant with the prevailing belief to that effect.

The following experience was also related. One had been engaged for service as a shepherd during a certain summer season, in a lonely, up-hill glen, miles away from all human society. He dwelt in a small bothy, containing only his bed, a rough fire place, an old stool, and a few necessary domestic utensils. As he sat one night resting, and enjoying his usual pipe, his dog barked ominously. He heard the door opening, and saw a person, whom he thought he recognised, come into the bothy, look into his bed, and thereafter walk outside. It was absolutely impossible that the party could be there at the time, and he [221] believed the apparition was the spirit of a living acquaintance.

A very peculiar instance of spirit-seeing was related by yet another, who had the facts from the seer. A young woman was nursing two or three children, whose mother had been removed to the nearest infirmary to undergo an operation. One night after the nurse had got the children to bed, as she sat alone in the room, just before retiring, what was her surprise at seeing the mother enter the room, and after having a look at each of the little ones, as they lay on their pillows in peace ful and innocent slumber, turn again outside, and dis-a ppear. In due time it transpired that at the exact moment the vision was seen the mother was very ill from the effects of the operation.

These instances are very difficult of explanation except upon some such basis as that of one mind, by a kind of "wireless" telepathy, sending a sympathetic message abroad, which, now and again, where the sympathies and susceptibilities are of the necessary affinity, finds its way about.

There is something uncomfortable about the feeling which another of those stories creates. It appears that a certain official, once upon a time in authority, made himself, during his occupancy of office, obnoxious to some people. His time came to throw off the mortal coil, and his remains were buried in usual course. But soon after, it was said, he was seen by more than one person frequenting the neighbourhood of his home in life. On one occasion he appeared to a man who was brave enough to speak. The burden of the spirit's plaint was that he had died under condemnation of conscience, for his dealings with certain persons. He then [222] expressed a wish to have some little thing put right which troubled him. It was understood that the dead man's wish was carried out, and that his spirit troubled no one any longer. The man had, rightly or wrongly, acquired a notoriety for performing his duty too well; and it was taken for granted that the story in all its detail was fact. It is not, however, difficult to suppose a motive for tales of this kind, as a possible check on persons who might be disposed to exercise power with some severity.

ABOUT FAIRIES, &c.

All over the Highlands of Scotland small round mounds are pointed out as having been at one time inhabited by the fairies. These are called Sitheanan ("fairy mounds"), and practically every township has in its vicinity the well-known "fairy hill," with the soft, green meadow attached, on which the " little people" were often "seen" to perform their saltatory exercises, just as the shades of the calm summer evenings fell. These places were as much as possible avoided after dark, a fact no doubt to be ascribed to the many stories which were current of late passers-by having been kidnapped by the dwellers within.

One rather amusing tale, of which we heard several versions, was to the effect that a certain Knight of St Crispin, somewhat the worse of liquor at the time, was attracted by music which he heard issuing from a fairy-mound while on his way home at night. The shoemaker soon found himself inside the cave, where he was made to join in the dance. He entered into the sport with characteristic glee, and time passed on, though he was evidently regardless of its flight. His [223] friends, however, soon missed him from among them, and instituted a search. But he was nowhere to be found. At length, after eight years had elapsed, it appeared to his brother in a dream that the lost one was with the fairies in this particular cave. He was sent for with due expedition. It has not transpired how the search party made way into the Sithean, but they got there, and immediately observed the "waxy cobbler" still dancing. They desired him to break off and come home, but he replied - "Leave me till I finish the reel; I am only half-through." This is proverbially referred to as "Leth-char a' Ghreusaiche Bhuidhe," and often quoted when time is supposed to pass with more than usual quickness. But ordinary means would not at all times be sufficient to reclaim a person from the fairies. Certain mystic rites had occasionally to be resorted to. We heard of a man, whose wife had been carried off haying gone to consult a " wise woman" as to the means he should adopt in order to get his better-half back from fairyland to his own fire side. The usual fairy-hill was not far away; and he had ascertained that his wife was in safe keeping there. The "fiosaiche ("diviner") advised him as follows: He was to get a pure white horse, and ride round the mound a certain number of times, calling upon his wife at intervals to come out and join him. After a while he was to deposit a live lamb beside a large stone that lay against the Sithean; and on returning next day the lamb's place would be taken up by his wife.

Fairies were supposed to be more or less invulnerable to all ordinary weapons. Many years ago the story was current that a young man, while taking the high road by Loch Ness-side between the small hours, was [224] surprised to find himself addressed in good Gaelic by about a dozen little women wearing green caps. They made a circle round him, and remarked that he was very early on the road. Having a loaded gun in his posses sion, he pointed it at one after another of them; but in every case it refused to fire, and he eventually made off. Later on he tried the gun again, and it fired.

As a preservative .against being interfered with, most married women carried charms and amulets in the shape of the "silver heart", a silver pin, or a piece of iron about their persons. We remember about one woman of whom it was said that she had a narrow escape. She had gone to rest one night, but had hardly closed her eyes in sleep when she was disturbed by the voices of a few shadowy-looking women who seemed seriously to be discussing her own fate. She at once took them to be fairies, and understood that they meant to carry her away. Her speech left her as she counted nine of them coming deliberately to her bedside. She felt as if some tremendous power or weight pressed her down. "Shall we take her?" said the Queen of the Nine. "Yes, certainly," exclaimed the others with one voice. She advanced to lift the woman out of bed. "Ah!" she said, "we cannot touch her; she has a 'silver heart' in her breast-cloth." They left, and the terrorised woman once more breathed freely.

But there were no members of the human family that fairies so much desired to possess as little children. From the time of birth onwards till more or less able to take care of themselves, children were a source of anxiety to their parents on this account. During infancy they were not on any condition to be left un guarded. Certain rites, charms, and incantations were [225] in use with a view to rendering them proof against the little people of the caves. It is still remembered in Abriachan that mothers were in the habit of getting their children baptised with water from the sacred stone of Citt-Fhioan, [Fionnan]under the belief that its virtues would keep the fairies at bay. It is said to have also been customary to deposit pieces of cloth about this stone, which were afterwards used about the children as talismans against fairies.. When a child was stolen by the fairies, a changeling was usually left in its place, and thus the theft was not suspected until the unnatural touch and rapid pining away of the changeling awakened suspicion. The well-known old Gaelic poem, "An Coinneachan," found in our country, though also met with in many other Gaelic-speaking districts, depicts in beautiful language the grief of a Highland mother at finding her little child carried away by the fairies, and her vain search up hill and down dale for him; and a good story occurs to us, which we might submit in this connection. It tells that a child was carried away by the fairies; and twenty-one years later, after the mother had become a widow, she was passing by the neighbouring Sithean, when a bag of meal she was getting home on her horse's back fell off. Making several unsuccessful efforts to lift the bag, she at last cried out, weeping - "If my son or his father were now living I would not be tried like this." At that moment a tall, good-looking young man appeared at her side, and in a twinkle he placed the bag on the horse's back. "Who are you who performs this service for me?" asked she, as he stood there by her side. "I am your son," he replied. "I have been with the fairies all the time, and I am quite happy." He then disappeared.

[226] To tell a lie about anything meant practically to hand it over to the fairies. Should a needy person apply for charity in the shape of meal or milk, and the possessor to deny the possession of such, the party would afterwards find that the meal or milk had mysteriously disappeared. Instances were related of cows having been deprived of their milk under circumstances of this sort; and one story tells that a Highland lassie was on a beautiful evening milking the cow beside a Sithean. When about half-full the pail tumbled and the milk spilled. Just then a sweet voice from within the fairy hill cried out, "This is the portion that you ought to have given to such and such a person who asked for it to-day."

Closely associated with fairy lore are similar tales concerning other "uncanny beings," such as the Uruisg, the Gruagach, the Mermaid, the Bocan, and the Brownie. Of all these the Brownie was the best known, though the others do not seem to have been by any means strangers to the people at one time. This type lingered about long after the rest had been consigned to the limbo of cold neglect. Their peculiar trait was an extraordinary capacity for work, a circumstance of which farmers were always willing to take advantage. Any quantity of corn put out for them at night was thrashed by morning. It seems they sometimes expected remuneration for their services. It is said of one of those that after having long served a certain farmer he left because no kind of reward had been offered him. He, however, occasionally returned at night, and dis turbed the farmer's rest by exclaiming at his window:

The Giant-Fairy of Bad-an-t-Sithean, and also the "Mha'ag Mhullach", and others often mentioned in the fairy tales of Strathspey, would belong to this class. They seem to have been numerous at one time. So much about the people of Fairyland.

ABOUT OTHER "UNCANNY " BEINGS.

There was current in the district a version of a common story known under the title of "Cu Dubli Mhic-a-Phi," and "Cu Dubh Mhic-Aoidh " (the Mac- Aoidh having been, according to the tale, the progenitor of the Mackays, in GlenUrquhart), known also as "The Story of the Four Hunters and the Glastigs." The saying was often heard: "Thig a latha fhein air mar thainig air Cu Dubh Mhic-a-Phi," or "Mhic-Aoidh," when having occasion to refer to any person or animal whose exertions and activities were considered too slow. The connection is seen from the story, which went on to show that a certain gentleman at one time possessed a fine black hound, which never could be got to work. When any one twitted the man as to the utter useless- ness of his pet animal, he excused the circumstance by saying "Tha 'latha fhein ga fhrithealadh" ("His own day is before him"). No note was taken of this until one day the owner of the dog fell in with a "demon of the forest", in some stories, in the shape of an animal, such as a white fawn, and in others in that of a human being, such as a witch, disguised as a fair woman. A struggle between the man and the "evil being" ensues; and the end is that the man is saved from a cruel and untimely death by the bravery of his black dog, which, however, is so much worsted in the [228] combat that it is hairless, skinless, and almost mauled to death by the time the fight is over. All those legends travel far and wide. There are different ver sions of them peculiar to various districts, but the theme is always the same, and is, in every instance, old in myth, and capable of equation with a similar tale in many another country throughout the world.

The following is the local version of a goblin tale of which a few variants occur, and which would - as no doubt, a good many more stories of the supernatural sort, so common all over the Scottish Highlands, and indeed various other countries - appear to be suggestive of an easy explanation. It is the story of "Cailleach-a' Chraich" ("the Hag of the Craach"). In olden times almost every Highland hamlet had its hag, or "caill- each." These extraordinary beings, whatever they were, according to common tradition, all frequented the wildest, weirdest, and most solitary parts of the districts where they were to be found, but yet very often such places as drovers, packmen, and travellers generally had from time to time to pass. An interesting feature of the belief in them was that while some of them were considered inimical, particularly to members of certain clans, others were looked upon as friendly. The parish of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, some hundreds of years ago or so, possessed, it would seem, no less than five or six of those "cailleachs," most prominent among whom was "Cailleach-a'-Chraich" ("the Hag of the Craach"). The Craach is a wild, high-lying district about halfway between Corrimony and Achnanconeran, in the hills, of Glenmoriston. Here by the side of Loch-a'- Chraich (the Lake of the Craach), and under the shade of Creagan-a'-Chraich (the Rock of the Craach), this

[229] wicked, old hag is said to have for years met and molested and murdered many a weary wayfarer. Like most similar regions, the Craach always had an evil reputation. Numerous stories are still told throughout the parish as to the loss of life at this place under "un canny" circumstances. One man of the name of "Alasdair Cutach" ("Short Alister"), as elsewhere shown, while running after a young mare that had escaped from Coire-Dho, was last seen at the Craach by his companions, who were not so swift of foot as he, and though searched for diligently for days, he was never found, alive or dead. Some time after, it is told, another man was lost at this same place, and nothing was known concerning his disappearance until his ghost spoke to a friend, describing the circumstances of his death at the Craach as unspeakably awful, and adding that none ever saw such a fearful sight there as he since Alasdair Cutach went amissing.

According to one tradition, Cailleach-a'-Chraich's pet aversion was the Clan Macmillan. There is some evidence, however, to show that members of the Clan Macdonald were particularly the objects of her malice and spite. In an old song, one of them says regarding her:

This remarkable member of the hag-world appears to have had a peculiar way of bringing about the death of her victims. After struggling with a man for a time,, she usually deprived him of his bonnet, in which she danced furiously until a hole was made in it, when, as common belief says, he dropped down dead. On one occasion she accosted a man belonging to Glenmoriston, and gave him a most severe handling, but, with the assistance of a faithful dog, he got out of her clutches. However, he lay ill for months after wards, while the poor dog was almost flayed in the encounter with the Cailleach. On another occasion a certain Macdonald was met by her as he passed the notorious Craach. After a brief struggle, she ran off with his head-gear. Knowing that his life depended upon its recovery, before she could make a hole in it, he pursued her. A fierce fight ensued, with the result that in the end Macdonald had the best of the situation, but not until he had buried his dagger in the body of the Cailleach. In another version of this tale, it is stated that Macdonald merely recovered his bonnet from the hag, and that she told him, as he was running out of her sight, that he would die at a certain hour on a certain day within the year, which was said and believed to have actually taken place.

[231] The story of "Cailleach-Beinn-a'-Bhric" - in all probability a myth to begin with - was well known as generally related throughout the Scottish Highlands, and the local version of the words associated with the legend is:

In further illustration of Highland folk-lore - and, at the same time, of a belief in the supernatural, widely spread - a few representative stories were related. That certain persons in the olden time enjoyed the acquaintance of fairy sweethearts ("leannain-sith"), and fairy companions, was not doubted by the generality of the people. The belief was no less entertained that some held appointments with certain other powers [232] pertaining to the world of the supernatural. Of that class of stories the following is a good example: A long time ago, when it was quite common to attribute anything, unexplainable by the easiest possible methods, to the interference of the supernatural with the natural, there lived a farmer, who, to assist him in the management of his worldly concerns, engaged a. servant, a young man of gcod repute. The servant was usually out during the most of the day time, and when he returned home at night he was, as a rule, so tired as to have little will to leave the house till fully rested. One evening, however, just as he was sitting comfortably at the fireside, a neighbour came in and told him that he would have to go for one of the farmer's stock, which evidently had died or been killed, and was being eaten up by dogs at a certain place, a long distance away from the house. The man felt very much displeased at the intelligence brought him. There was none other about to go for the dead animal; but he felt well-nigh exhausted with the day's exertions, and the idea of going far from home that night was most repulsive. Getting into a fit of angry rage, he swore that he would not go a. single step on the errand that night. But by-and-bye the farmer interfered, and the result was that the man was ordered off to bring the car case home at once. The night was dark and dreary, and as he neared the spot to which he was directed, he thought he felt some peculiar sensation passing through his whole system. He was not in the best of moods, it can easily be imagined ; and he did not mind this much. But when he came to within a few yards of the carcase, he saw what he took to be an animal of some kind standing [233] right before him, and he made use of forcible language in getting it out of his way. However, in a moment's time the animal seemed to take a form something like the human image, but decidedly more horrible and more unearthly than ever man was known to be. This of itself was bad enough for the servant; but matters got still more serious when the figure spoke, in firm tones, claiming the poor man's life in fulfilment of the man's own words and conditions. What then transpired between the two has never been known : but the man is said to have had by far the worst of the meeting. He managed somehow to crawl home before the morning, and lay in bed for months afterwards suffering from the shock that he had experienced from coming in contact with this unexpected and unwelcome being. When questioned as to the circumstances of the occasion, he gave ominous replies, which were enough to indicate that he did not feel at liberty to speak freely, and that he possessed a secret which was not to be communicated to any. But one thing was clear, namely, that he considered himself the unwilling victim of some power, from whose strong grasp he had no escape. He from time to time, when unwell, betrayed considerable uneasiness to get strong again: and when able to rise and move about, one of the first acts he performed was to go of an evening to a certain solitary place, where, it was all round believed, he had an appointment with the being which he had met with before. And as time passed on it became generally known that these appointments were of frequent occurrence in the life of the servant, and it was observed that there seemed to be something of more [234] than ordinary moment weighing down his mind, as he was seen to have lost all liveliness and spirit. He usually became gloomy as the time of the appointment drew near ; and on several occasions he was known to leave the society of his companions and friends, and walk deliberately out of the room to hold his appointed communion with whatever power it was that exercised such influence over him. The story says that attempts were made more than once to keep him from fulfilling his appointment. But all in vain. He would slip out between the people's hands, and hasten to the appointed place as if his very life depended upon his observance of punctuality. In point of fact, there did exist a belief to the effect that such persons as were unfortunate enough to find them­ selves in the power of a "spirit" could only get away with life on condition that they would hold secret meet­ ings with that "spirit" just as dictated to. But it was understood that these meetings were merely a putting off from time to time of the sad event that always closed any dealings between a member of the human family and a supernatural being, such as this one was supposed to be - the death by violence of the former by the latter. This belief is not confined to the Scottish Highlands alone, for it is frequently to be found in Continental legends, between which and Highland legends there can be drawn not a few suggestive similarities.

We can scarcely conceive what a regretful thing it would be looked upon in the Highlands to fall under the power of a being from whose powerful hand there could in the end be no way of escape. It was common, however, to credit such parties with the gift of prophecy, the faculty of second-sight, and sundry other [235] potentialities not generally attributed to beings of this world. This was so in the case in point; people soon came to the conclusion that the man foretold future events with the strictest accuracy. But he soon tired of his existence,, and sought means of putting himself once more side by side with other men. He was advised to consult the minister as to his circumstances. This he did; but after all he had little peace from the "spirit" that forever haunted him, and he found that it was as difficult for him to get rid of his ubiquitous follower as Shakes peare makes it for the notorious Richard the Third to= flee from himself, or as we find depicted - a case somewhat similar - in "Frankenstein." In a very short time people came to know that the man had a habit of withdrawing himself from company occasiona lly, even against the earnest persuasions of all present; while it was also noticed that he always returned from his mysterious excursions in a half-dying condition - perfectly exhausted. For days afterwards he was- known to complain of illness - of a languishing weari ness, as if all his bones had been unmercifully squeezed against each other. Thus the fellow lived on, and time after time attended meetings with the spirit of his fate. But he was evidently getting more and more exhausted; and it was clear that he had now but little time before him. Those who knew him well could understand that he foresaw his own end. He mixed but little in company, and appeared to be always heavy-minded and dull. He met with a few friends on one dark night, and they all adjourned to an inn. The company sat there for a little time, enjoying a, quiet glass. But by-and-bye he slipped away in his usually persistent manner. No further notice was, however, [236]

taken of the circumstance, and no more was heard of him until it was reported next morning that his body had been found, in a bruised and mutilated condition - a circumstance which the people found ready means of explaining to their own satisfaction, though the story is merely the survival of a very ancient belief.

The Bocan, Fuath, Bodach, Uruisg, and Gruagach were beings of a somewhat similarly "uncanny" type. Their appearance m the district from time to time in the past was a matter of serious belief. There was, for instance, " Bocan-an-t-Sleibhich," who was compara tively inoffensive. But the legend was current that a man held regular appointments with a being of that sort for years. When quite young he came under the Boean's spell, and, to get rid of it, he joined the army a.nd went abroad. But even there he did not regain his liberty, and he returned home. Still his tempter fol lowed him, and again found him. It was often noticed that after an appointment with the Bocan he had to go to bed for days, and that his clothes had been rendered practically useless ; yet no power on earth could prevent him from fulfilling the engagement. The Fuath was not common in our district; but there were at one time quite a number of Bodachs. An excellent legend of the Bodach class is the well- known one of the "Bodach Glas," which is common in various Highland districts widely apart. The Uruisg and the Gruagach were species of those fairy-tale beings by no means often seen in the locality. Traditions of their habits lingered, however, in the country; for most they would seem to have frequented certain secluded places, and they made themselves sometimes agreeable and useful; sometimes the reverse.

[237] There can be little doubt that the root idea of the belief in the existence of all of those beings is to be found in the intercourse at one time between the cave-dwellers of the far past and the more civilised races that eventually brought about the disappearance of the former.

Stories of the Water-Kelpie ("An t-Each-Uisge") were also often heard around the fireside. This denizen of the pools would seem to have been a being that changed its form at will, and which, from the figure of a horse, might become an ugly monster, or a beautiful man, or, again, a horrible demon. Its object would appear to have been to entice human beings into the water with itself. It was related that once a certain work man was wearily making his way home after the day's labour; and, a considerable distance still from his house, the wish to get a lift on horseback took possession of him. Just then a beautiful black horse was noticed by him, feeding contentedly by the road-side. Why should he not mount, and have an easy journey home? This he made up his mind to do ; but just when about to take the leap, he noticed the horse coming towards him, very invitingly, and bending its back as if actually desirous to get the man there. This made our wayf arer suspicious, and, on closer examination, he observed that the animal's hide seemed polished, and that its hoofs were cloven! He blessed himself in the name of the Holy Trinity, and the horse disappeared into a loch at hand.

Two little children were, according to an old tradi tion, tempted to get on the back of a horse that met them, as they were wandering on the banks of a lake; [238] and, finding when the horse brought them dangerously near the water, that they could not get off, they realised their position, just as the tempter plunged with them beneath the depths.

A very old composition has been handed down from the hoary past, which brings the common belief in the existence of this being in all its weirdness before us. The story says that a young girl had a fairy-lover ("Leannan-sith"), with whom she held appointments which eventually resulted in her becoming a mother. But she would have nothing to do with the child, and left it beside a hillock to its fate. The "father" appears to have experienced some emotion of parentage, and he appealed warmly to the mother to return and nurse her child. But she still refused, and he then composed a lullaby which conveys sentiments of tenderness and passion not at all discreditable to him, fairy as he was. The following is our version of the composition:

[240] The fairy-lover in this story is identified in many parts of the Highlands with the water-kelpie, of which the conception that prevailed generally was one that inspired repulsiveness. There seems no getting away from the fact that the idea represented some sort of monster that, in the far back, obscure corridors of the past, came across the path of man as he slowly but diligently was making his way upward and onward. According to the Scandinavian Saga, the god Odin is said to have sometimes taken on the shape and character of a water-kelpie.

Mermaids did not enter very prominently into the legendary lore of our district. According to common belief, they were usually seen sitting on a rock by the water side, basking in the sunlight, and combing their beautiful hair with combs of silver and gold. Their desire seems to have been to kidnap men to their palaces beneath the deep. They are thus peculiarly suggestive of the sirens of the ancient tales. It may be interesting to note in passing that a somewhat similar picture, that of a nymph sitting on the bank of a river, occurs often in ancient writings. Numerous stories were current about romantic unions between mermaids and men; but the marriages always resulted in the lady escaping from what must have been bondage to her, on the non-observance of a certain condition of the union bv the man.

Chapter 13