Here’s the second part of my Scottish folk tales blogs. Telling stories is now often confined to bedtime stories for children, or to a tale at the end of a school day for little ones, but in the days before electricity, and when many people either couldn’t read or afford books, stories were a regular feature of entertainment all over the world. Some would be told by professional poets or bards, who would have the job of memorising the history of the people and then telling it in a heroic manner that complimented whoever they were telling it to. But stories were also told by ordinary people, and some of them were scary or warning stories, which entertained a group. Here are a few more that were told in Scotland.
THE WHITE LADY OF LITTLEDEAN TOWER
This story is linked to a tower in the Tweed Valley, which was the home of the Kers until the 18th century, when they moved to a more convenient location. There are the remains of a prehistoric fort on the site, so the area has certainly been occupied for many centuries.
Littledean Tower (Att: David Weinczok@TheCastleHunter
The site is said to be haunted by an old lady, who was at one time the mistress of the tower, but who seems to have been a Scrooge-like character, who particularly disliked the poor, and was very unkind to them. Being a miser, she’d accrued an enormous amount of money, and when she died, her spirit was so obsessed with this treasure that she couldn’t rest, so haunted the tower. The family who lived there at the time had never seen the ghost, but one evening a servant girl was alone in the kitchen cleaning the family’s shoes, when she saw a strange light shining in the corner, which became an old woman, who complained that she was very cold, and asked if she could warm herself by the fire.
The servant was a kind girl, and not only told the woman to warm herself, but also offered to dry and clean the lady’s shoes, which she’d noticed were wet and dirty. The woman was very touched by this kindness, and confessed to the girl that she was the ghost of the old mistress, and told her that the gold she’d amassed when alive was buried under the tower stairs, and instructed her to tell the laird of the tower to dig it up, and to keep half of it for himself, then give a quarter to the poor of the area, and a quarter to the servant girl who’d been so kind to her. She then said that if that happened, she would be able to rest in her grave.
It seems the laird was a decent person (or afraid of ghosts!) because he did as asked, and as a result of that the servant girl, now rich, found herself a good husband soon after (of course!) and the poor people all blessed the old lady who had made their lives so hard when she was alive.
A magician raising a white lady
White lady ghost legends are found all over the world, and are often located in rural areas. Many of them have been murdered, or died in tragic circumstances, so this Scottish story is a little unusual, as there’s no mention of how she died, just that she needed to atone for her wicked life.
THE DEVIL AND SMOO CAVE
Smoo cave is in Durness. I’ve been there, and it’s an absolutely beautiful, peaceful place on the north coast of Scotland, which has a huge sea cavern, and this story relates to that. Sir Donald Mackay was born in 1591 and died in 1649 after an eventful life. He didn’t seem to be a particularly pleasant person, so it’s not that surprising that after his death he became known as a magician, who had struck a pact with the Devil. The Devil invited him to attend the Black School of Padua, but said that the last student to leave the session after his teaching would become his, as payment. Donald Mackay was the last to leave, but tricked the Devil into seizing his shadow instead of him, and managed to escape.
Entrance to Smoo Cave
When he got back to Scotland, everyone noticed that he had no shadow, and concluded that he’d been up to no good. The Devil, however, was not about to let matters lie, and so, one day when Mackay went to explore Smoo Cave, the Devil found out and was waiting for him there when he arrived. Exploring with his dog, Mackay had reached the second cavern, but his dog had gone ahead to the third, but came back howling, and completely hairless. This warned Mackay of who was waiting for him. Before he could decide what to do, dawn broke, and on hearing the cock crow, the Devil, along with the three witches who were with him realised they had to leave immediately, and blew huge holes in the roof of the cave to get away.
The Devil by Jacob De Backer
There are quite a few stories about people going into caves with dogs, including one I read some time ago about a piper who went exploring a cave – the dog returned with all its hair burnt away, but the piper was never seen again. The fiery encounter with the dog is a sure sign that the Devil is involved. These stories may have been told as a practical warning to children not to explore cave systems in the hope that the thought of meeting the Devil would put them off possibly getting lost or buried in a dark cave or shaft.
CHANGELINGS
The belief in fairies goes back a very long way in Celtic culture, and there are many stories about human encounters with fairy folk. I want to add that the fairies of Celtic legend are a very different creature to the gauzy-winged scantily dressed cartoon creatures you might be thinking of! It was widely believed that fairies would sometimes steal a human child that they took a fancy to, and when they did, would often leave one of their own in its place, which would take on the exact appearance of the stolen child. This is one story about such a happening, and took place in Kilchoman, on Islay, which is an island in the Inner Hebrides.
Sixteenth-century blacksmith
On the island lived a blacksmith by the name of MacEachern, who it seems was probably a real person, and a very accomplished smith. It’s said that he had only one child, a strong and healthy son who was very dear to him. But when the boy was about thirteen he suddenly fell ill and spent all his time in bed. He had a huge appetite, but even so, was wasting away, and became very thin. His father was understandably very worried, but no one could work out what might be wrong with the boy until one day a wise man told the smith that in his opinion the son had been stolen by the fairies, and a changeling left in his place.
He said that in order to be sure this child was a changeling, the smith had to collect a great many eggshells and spread them out in the child’s bedroom. Then he had to pretend they were full of water, carry them as though they were very heavy and arrange them round the fire. The smith was a little bemused by this, but did as he’d been told, on which the boy started laughing, and said that in his 800 years of life, he’d never seen such a sight before. This told the smith that the creature was indeed a fairy, but now he had to get rid of it and get his son back.
The Changeling by Füssli
He made another trip to the wise man, who told him to throw the changeling onto a large fire. The smith built up the fire in the middle of his little house and then threw the creature on to it, whereupon it gave a great howl and flew up to the roof, escaping through the hole that let the smoke out. After that, still following the wise man’s instructions, the smith went to a round grassy hill on the island, taking a Bible, his dirk and a cockerel with him. He waited for a while until he heard music and singing coming from inside the hill, upon which he entered the hill, sticking his dirk in at the threshold. The fairies were very angry at the intrusion, but they couldn’t hurt him because he was carrying a Bible, so they curtly asked him what he wanted. He replied that he wanted his son back, and wouldn’t leave until he got him. At first the fairies started laughing at the smith’s audacity, but the noise woke up the cockerel, which started crowing loudly, after which the fairies threw both the smith and his son out of the hill.
For about a year afterwards the son hardly spoke, and did no work at all, which is hardly surprising, if he was traumatised. But one day, while watching his father make a sword, he suddenly said ‘That’s not the way to do it!’ His father gave him the tools, and the boy made an exceptional sword, more beautiful than anyone had seen before. After that, father and son worked together, and soon became very rich and famous.
My next blog has three more folk tales, including one about witches.
