|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
Isle of Skye: Latest Posts — Folklore |
Previous 10 | Showing 31-35 of 35 folklore posts. Most recent first
Clach na h'annait (Standing Stone / Menhir) |
|
"The site of Kilbride is not visible from the road, but near it, on the glebe of the new parish church of Torran, stands the Annat Stone. This is an immense boulder of upright shape and of it the Brahn Seer prophesied: 'Here the raven will drink his fill of blood from the Stone.' The Stone is reputed to have once been thirty feet high but now it is five or six - anyhow, above ground. Like the Temple of Annait in Waternish, this Annat Stone is a mystery. Near it is Tobar an ha'annait, the Well of Annat." - Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, p. 222. |
Posted by TomBo28th June 2004ce |
Rudha nan Clach (Standing Stones) |
|
"Rudha nan Clach, the Point of Stones; these are some old Druidical stones near the cliff edge. It is said that when the Cailleach Bhur sprang from a mountain in Duirinish (believed by some to be Healaval Beg) to Ben Cruchan in Argyll to escape from the wrath of the sun, she touched these stones with her foot, and that is why there is a point of the same name in Mull, where the 'Shrieking Hag', as they called her there, landed when she came to Mull to die after a life of many thousands of years. A lament for her death was sung there into modern times." - Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, p. 182. For the complete tale of the Cailleach Bhur, see The Red Cuchuillins. |
Posted by TomBo 28th June 2004ce Edited 1st July 2004ce |
Beinn na Caillich (Cairn(s)) |
|
"As you drive down the road towards Broadford, three peaks can be seen to the north; the first two are Beinn na Greine (2,000 feet) and Scurr na Coinnich (2,401 feet); the third and most northerly is Beinn na Caillich (2, 396 feet). This last must not be confused with the Beinn na Caillich near Broadford, which is one of the Red Cuchullins although, just to make it more confusing, on the summit of our Beinn na Caillich, as on that of her larger sister, tradition has placed a woman's grave. This time it is that of a giantess, one of the Fiennes: beneath her body is a large crock filled with gold and jewels, for she was a great lady, no less than Grainnhe herself, wife of Fionn, and at her burial every man of the Fiennes, for love of her and of their leader, cast their rarest jewels into the earthenware crock to do her honour. Her story, as is so usual in Celtic legend, is a sad one. Grainne is the daughter of the King of Morven and is reputed the fairest and truest princess in all Alban, so the Grey Magician, who hates all that is good, carries her off. One day, as Fionn and his men rest after hunting, an old, old woman, wrapped in the red mantle that denoted royal blood, comes to him, tells him of the theft of Grainnhe and begs him to rescue her. He agrees, whereupon she gives him a fir twig and three small pebbles, all highly magic; she then goes out of sight 'on an eddy of the western wind, growing smaller as she went until she seemed no bigger than a butterfly, a honey bee, a red spider on a thin rope of its web, and a speck of dust in the sun'. Fionn sets out and after many adventures, during which he is assisted by several talking animals, he finds the Grey Magician's palace and escapes with Grainnhe. Thanks to the old woman's gifts, forests and mountains rise behind the fugitives, but before they can reach the Red river, to cross which is safety, the Magician overcomes the old woman's charms. They reach the river bank only to find they cannot cross, and Fionn's magic is exhausted. But Grainnhe has a jewel, a charm against death; as long as she wears it in her hair no evil can harm her; alternatively it will give her one wish and vanish. She takes it from her hair to wish for a boat and immediately sees, as in a vision, the fate to which she will condemn herself if she gives up her talisman. But Fionn is in peril through his efforts to save her, and already she loves him, so she lays the jewel on the water. A boat at once appears and takes them to safety. Fionn and Grainnhe are married and live in great happiness until Grainnhe's son is about to be born. Then come messengers to Fionn to tell him that sea-pirates are attacking his small dark-skinned allies, the Sons of Morna, who have sent to remind him of his pledge to assist them. Fionn longs to remain with Grainnhe but will not break his vow. He and his men spend three days defeating the sea-pirates and when he returns Grainnhe and her baby are gone, carried off by the Grey Magician. Fionn learns from his 'tooth' that she has been turned into a hind. He searches for her for many years, but she has been sent to run with the deer in lone Glen Affaric and he never finds her. Twelve years later, when the Fiennes are hunting, their hounds pick up a scent and follow it to a small copse; Bran, who is leading, is the first to enter it, whereupon, to the surprise of all, he turns at bay, teeth bared against the Fiennes and his fellow hounds of the pack and will allow no one but Fionn to pass him. Fionn finds him guarding a wild boy, with long hair and wild, beautiful, frightened eyes, who can make only such sounds as deer make. Fionn adopts him and teaches him human speech. Needless to say, he is Grainnhe's son, but Grainnhe, the beautiful white hind of whom her son talks, is never found. After her death the Grey Magician permits her son to take her body, once more that of a woman, for burial, and the Fiennes make her grave on the summit of Beinn na Caillich, where she once ran as a hind. It is recounted of this boy that he had in the centre of his forehead a tuft of deer's fur where his mother's tongue had licked him, and that it was from her that he got his gift of poetry. Once he was shipwrecked on Fladda and a party of hunters on the island offered him a share of their venison stew, to whom he made indignant reply: 'When everyone picks his mother's shank-bone, I will pick my mother's slender shank-bone.' The boy was Ossian." - Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, pp. 191-3. |
Posted by TomBo 28th June 2004ce |
Beinn na Cailleach (Cairn(s)) |
|
This site should not be confused with Skye's other Beinn na Caillich, although admittedly this is difficult since not only do they both have the same name, but also each has a cairn on the summit which is said to be a woman's grave. "The road to Sligachan winds under the shadow of Beinn na Caillich, on whose summit a cairn can be seen. It marks the grave of a Norse princess who lies forever gazing out to Norway, which she loved and whence she came. How was she ever laid there? What devotion she must have inspired in one at least in a foreign land. It was believed that if she saw danger approaching she would return to warn her children's children." - Otta F. Swire, Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1962, p. 13. Swire also records a story (pp. 9-11) in which a priest from Pabay was walking through this region of Skye on his way to meet with some parishioners, when a crowd of 'little people' waylaid him in the forest. An old man came from amongst their ranks and explained to him that they were the Daoine Sithe (the fairies) and that: "...we have come to beg you to pray for us, that we may become once more God's children and recover our souls. For a long time we have repented of our sins but we dare not say the Pater Noster or any other prayer unless we have your forgiveness." The priest, in his overwhelming generosity of spirit, refused to forgive them, having been taught that "the 'little people' belonged to the Evil One", and declared to them "as soon would my stick become a tree again as God forgive you". The grief of the Daoine Sithe was tangible, audible: "Everywhere round him he could hear as he went a soft, despairing wailing, as of a people without hope. It spread through the forest and up the slopes of Beinn na Caillich on into the hills and did nothing to lessen the trouble in his mind." He went on his way, met with his parishioners and baptized their new-born child. But when he was done there he realised that he had left his staff at the place where he had met the 'little people', and since this crook was both his badge of office and his only possession, he returned to find it. There he discovered that it had transformed itself into a mighty ash tree, taller than every other tree in the forest. Remembering his words to the Daoine Sithe, about his stick becoming a tree again, he fell on his knees and prayed, then began wandering around the forest calling to the 'little people'. Yet he was answered with only their hopeless wailing. So he returned to Pabay and sought permission to live in the forest, permission which he obtained. On returning to the trees: "...he preached continually, day and night, the forgiveness of God to all who would listen, birds, beasts and trees. Men called him mad and he never saw the 'little people' again, but slowly the wailing ceased in the hills." |
Posted by TomBo 28th June 2004ce Edited 22nd March 2011ce |
Dun Borve (Broch) |
|
Very close to the stones at Borve is a broch, which was once inhabited by the fairies. For some reason the local villagers didn't get on with their otherworldly neighbours and were determined to get rid of them. One day they hatched a plan, and early the next morning surrounded the fairies' fort. They raised a huge racket, shouting that the fort was on fire. The fairies rushed out at once. On realising they'd been duped, they felt so disgusted that they promptly left the district. However, perhaps the fairies ultimately got their own back, because the village of Borve has never flourished. The story was collected by Grinsell, for his 'Folklore of prehistoric sites in Britain' (1976) - I haven't noted his source. He also mentions the name of the site, which like the 'River Avon' is a double naming: Dun and Borve both mean fort, in Gaelic and Norse respectively. |
Posted by Rhiannon3rd December 2003ce |
Previous 10 | Showing 31-35 of 35 folklore posts. Most recent first
Top of page