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Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland

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Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME • FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage 1891 ..k..l.53Ut U/J.^IM Cornell University Library GR145.H6 C185 Superstitions of the highlands & islands 3 1924 029 909 896 olin The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029909896 SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND PUBLISHED BY JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW, ^ntilisheis to the Snibeistts. MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON AND NEW YORK. London, Sifitpkin, Hamilton and Co. Cambridge, - Macmitian and Bo^es. Edinburgh, - Douglas and Foiilis. Superstitions of the Highlands ^ Islands of Scotland Collected entirely from Oral Sources By John Gregorson Campbell Minister of Tiree Glasgow James MacLehose and Sons Publishers to the University 1900 GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT JVIACLEHOSE AND CO. Jr EDITOR'S NOTE. This volume is the result of many years' labour by the late Rev. JOHN Gregorson Campbell, while minister of Tiree during the years 1861 — to 1891. Much of the material was already collected before Mr. J. F. Campbell of Islay published his Popular Tales of the West Highlands in i860, and readers of Lord Archibald Campbell's volumes on Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition are already acquainted with the valuable work contributed to that series by the Rev. J. Gregorson Campbell. It is hoped that this volume on the Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands, full as it is of racy stories, may throw fresh light on an extremely interesting subject. The MS. of a corresponding work by the same author •on Witchcraft and Second-Sight in the West Highlands, is in the editor's hands, and in the event of the present "work meeting with the reception which the editor vi EDITOR'S NOTE. thinks it deserves, the volume on Witchcraft will be published next year. Mrs. Wallace, Hynish, Tiree, the author's sister, has kindly read the proofs. August, 1900. PREFACE. The object aimed at in the following pages is to put before the reader a statement, as complete and accurate as the writer can attain to, of the Superstitions and Antiquities of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. In other words, the writer has endeavoured to gather full materials relating to that subject, and to arrange them in a form that may prove of some scientific value. In pursuit of this object, it has been deemed ad- visable to derive information solely from oral sources. Books have been purposely avoided as authorities, and a rule has been laid down, and strictly adhered to, not to accept any statement in print regarding a Highland belief, unless also found current among the people. In the few books there are, having any refer- ence to Gaelic lore, the statements have been so frequently found at variance with popular beliefs that this rule has been a necessity. There are a ' few viii PREFACE honourable exceptions, but in general what is to be found in print on this subject is not trustworthy. A want of acquaintance with the Gaelic language or with Highland feelings and modes of thought, is usually the cause of error. The writers think in English, and are not careful to eliminate from their statements thoughts derived from English or classical literature, or to keep from confusing with Celtic beliefs ideas derived from foreign sources, and from analogous creeds existing elsewhere. This gives an unconscious tinge to their statements, and (what is more to be regretted) sometimes makes them fill up with extraneous and foreign elements what seems to them gaps or blanks in beliefs they but imperfectly understand. The writer's information has been derived from widely separated districts in the North, West, and Central Highlands, and from the Islands. Naturally, the bulk of the information was obtained in Tiree, where the writer had most opportunity of making inquiries, but information from this or any other source has not been accepted without comparison with the same beliefs in other districts. The writer has not been able personally to visit all parts of the High- lands, but his informants have spent their lives in PREFACE ix districts far apart. The reader will fall into a mis- take who supposes that the whole information is within the belief, or even knowledge, of any one individual, or of any one district. The beliefs of one district do not differ essentially from those of another. In one or two cases several versions of a tale are given to show to some extent the nature of the variations of popular tradition. The writer has thankfully to acknowledge, and he cannot but remember with pleasure, the readiness and courtesy, and in very many cases the great intelligence with which his inquiries have been answered. Some of his informants have shown a quickness and reten- tiveness of memory which he could not but envy, and an appreciation of, and an acquaintance with ancient lore that seemed to him to indicate in those who were strangers to the world of letters powers of mind of a high order. The objection to books and print as authorities has also been extended to written correspondence. No doubt much that is additional and interesting could be obtained through these channels, but if the account given is to serve any purpose higher than that of mere amusement, strict accuracy is of such importance that all these sources of possible error have been X PREFACE cross-examination avoided ; they cannot be sifted by and further inquiry so readily or thoroughly as infor- mation obtained by word of mouth. The whole has thus passed through the writer's own hands directly from what he has found current among the people. Care has been taken that no statement be made con- veying an idea different in the slightest from what has been heard. A popular Gaelic saying can be " quoted as applicable to the case : If it be a lie as told by me, it was a lie as told to me " {Ma's breug bh'uam. e, is breug dhomh e). It is as free to another as it has been to the writer, to draw his inferences from the statements given, and it is thought no genuine tale or oral tradition will be found to contradict the statements made in the following pages. In the translations given of Gaelic, the object aimed at has been to give the corresponding English ex- pression, that is, one conveying the same meaning to the English reader that the Gaelic expression conveys to the Gaelic reader. Accuracy has been looked to on this point rather than grace of diction. Where there is anything striking in the Gaelic idiom the literal meaning is also given. In poetry there is conse- quently a baldness, to which the original is a stranger ; but this, it may be urged, is a fault inherent in all PREFACE xi translations, however carefully executed. The trans- ference of ideas from one language to another weakens the force and beauty of an expression ; what is racy and witty, or musical and expressive in one, becomes tame and insipid in another. This trite observation is made to deprecate unfavourable opinions being formed of the genius and force of the Gaelic language from the translations given. V \ \ 1 CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Fairies PAGE Names Given to Fairies 3 The Size of Fairies 9 Fairy Dwellings 1 Fairy Dresses 14 The Defects of Fairies 15 Their Occupations 15 Seasons of Festivity 16 Fairy Raids 18 Circumstances under which Fairies are seen 21 Fairy Food 21 Gifts Bestowed by Fairies 22 The Giving and taking of Loans 24 Eddy Wind 24 Rain and Sunshine, Wind and Rain 26 Fairy Arrows 26 Cattle 27 Horses 30 Dogs 30 Elfin Cats 32 xiii CONTENTS Fairy Theft CONTENTS CONTENTS CHAPTER III Tutelary Beings CONTENTS CHAPTER IV The Urisk, The Blue Men, and The Mermaid PAGE The Urisk 195 The Blue Men 199 The Mermaid 201 CHAPTER V The Water-Horse Farmers and Water-Horses 204 Mac-Fir Arois 205 The Talking Horse at Cru-Loch 207 Island of Coll 208 The Nine Children at Sunart 208 Killing the Raasay Water-Horse 209 The Water-Horse at Loch Cuaich 210 The Water-Horse at Tiree 211 Water-Horse and Women 212 The Water-Horse at Loch Basibol, Tiree 214 The Kelpie 215 The Water-Bull 216 The King Otter 216 Biasd na Srogaig 217 The Big Beast of Lochawe 218 ' i CONTENTS CHAPTER VI Superstitions about Animals PAGE Lamprey — Sea Serpent — Gigelorum — Lavellan — Bernicle Goose — Eels — Whale — Herring — Flounder—Lobster—Serpents—Rats and Mice- Cormorant — Magpie —Beetles — Emmet— Skip Jack 219-228 CHAPTER VII Miscellaneous Superstitions Gisvagun, Eapagun, Upagun 229 The Right-Hand Turn (Deiseal) 229 Rising and Dressing 230 Clothes 231 Houses and Lands 231 Baking 232 Removal Cheese (Mulchag Imrich) 234 Leg Cake (Bonnach Lurgainn) 234 Giving Fire out of the House 234 Thunder 235 Theft 236 Salt 236 Combing the Hair 236 Bird Nests 237 Hen's First Egg 237 Euphemisms 237 Boat Language 239 Fresh Meat 240 Killing those too long alive 240 Funerals 241 The Watch of the Graveyard (Faire Chlaidh) 242 CONTENTS Suicides CONTENTS CHAPTER X Dreams and Prophecies PAGE Dreams (Bruardair) 268 Prophecies (Fkisneachd) 269 The Lady of Lawers 274 CHAPTER XI Imprecations, Spells, and the Black Art Imprecation (Guidhe) 277 Spells (Geasan no Geasaibh) 281 The Black Art 285 CHAPTER XII The Devil Card Playing 292 Red Book of Appin 292 Coming for the Dying 295 Making the Devil your Slave 296 Coming Misfortune 298 The Gaick Catastrophe (Mort Ghkthaig) 300 The Bundle of Fern 303 The Pig in the Indigo Pot 303 Among the Tailors 304 Taghairm, or "Giving his Supper to the Devil" 304 Glas Ghairm—Power of Opening Locks 311 CHAPTER I.
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