Folk Tales of Scotland (22 page)

‘What can we do for you?’ they all said together.

‘Take me to the Kingdom of the King under the Waves!’

At once he was there. He found board and lodgings in the house of a weaver. The weaver told him there was to be a horse-race in the town, and the winner would marry the King’s daughter.
Iain took out his snuff-box and opened it. Out jumped the three wee men.

‘What can we do for you?’ they all said together.

‘Bring me the fastest horse ever seen, and the finest clothes and a pair of glass shoes.’

The first wee man appeared leading the horse Iain had bartered for the gun, the dog and the falcon. The second wee man appeared carrying a very fine suit of clothes over his arm; while the third
wee man brought a beautiful pair of glass shoes.

Iain put on the fine suit of clothes and the glass shoes and rode off to the races on his mother’s horse. He had never thought much of it, but it came in first and won the first prize, and
the first prize was a bag of gold.

Iain was amazed to hear the people talking about his beautiful racehorse. It surprised him, for the horse had never looked out of the ordinary. He recognised the Princess, but she didn’t
know him.

He changed into his old clothes and shoes and rode to the weaver’s house on his mother’s horse. He went into the weaver’s house and threw a handful of gold into the
weaver’s apron, then broke his loom and tore his cloth. The weaver thought he was mad, but did not mind as the gold was worth more to him than the loom.

Next day, there was a dog-race. In the morning, Iain took out his snuff-box, opened it and out jumped the three wee men.

‘What can we do for you?’ they said.

‘Fetch me the fastest dog in the world, a suit of silver, and silver shoes!’

The wee men went away, and brought back Iain’s own dog from nowhere, as well as a silver suit and silver shoes, Iain put on the silver clothes and rode, with his dog trotting by his side,
to the dog-races. But when the race started, Iain’s dog, running like a greyhound, led all the other dogs round the course, came in first and won the first prize. The crowd admired his
beautiful dog, but the Princess did not know him.

When he returned to the weaver’s house, he gave the weaver a handful of gold, then smashed up his furniture. He looked at his horse, it looked like any ordinary horse, and his dog looked
like an ordinary dog.

Next day was the falcon race. Again he asked the three wee men to help him, and this time the first wee man brought him his own falcon. The second wee man brought him a
suit of gold, and the third wee man brought him a pair of gold shoes. Iain’s falcon won the first prize. He took the bag of gold from the King’s daughter, but still she did not
recognise him. After the race, he slipped away quietly, put on his old suit and his old shoes and rode back to the weaver’s house on his mother’s old horse, his dog trotting beside him
like any ordinary dog. No one they passed looked at them twice. The horse did not look like a horse that could win a race, nor did the dog and nor did the falcon. As for Iain, he looked so
ordinary, no one could imagine that he might marry the King’s daughter. Even the house he was living in was a ruin, for after he had given the weaver another handful of gold, Iain had knocked
in the windows and pulled half the thatch off the roof.

When the King’s men came to the weaver’s house, looking for the winner of the horse race, the dog race, and the falcon race, Iain said that he was the man they were looking for. The
King’s men looked at the horse, then at the dog and the falcon, and then at Iain in his tattered clothes and old shoes, standing outside the broken-down house. They laughed. They laughed at
the old horse, the mangey dog and moulting falcon, but they laughed loudest of all at Iain.

‘Take me to the King,’ said Iain in a firm voice.

So they took him to the King’s court, where a crowd was waiting outside the palace, and into the palace where the courtiers waited for the man who had won the horse race, the dog race and
the falcon race. When the crowd heard that Iain was the man who had won the races, and that
he
was the man who should marry the King’s daughter, they laughed and laughed so loudly
that all the windows of the palace were cracked. Inside the palace, the courtiers laughed, but when the King looked at the horse, the dog and the falcon, he turned and looked at Iain, and he was
very angry indeed.

‘You’re insulting my daughter, the Princess,’ he said. ‘How dare you come to my palace in those rags, with that old horse, that mangey dog and that
moulting falcon? You’re just a common swindler, and you’ll hang for this!’

The King ordered his executioner to take Iain away to the gallows and hang him. So Iain was led to the gallows, up the steps, and a noose was put round his neck.

‘Have you anything to say before you die?’ asked the executioner; for it was an old custom to ask the criminal who was about to be hanged this question.

Iain raised his arm to address the King, the Princess and the courtiers, who were all there looking at him. They were wondering what he would say before he was hanged. Just then, the Princess
saw her name written under his upraised arm, ‘Daughter of the King of the Kingdom under the Waves.’

‘Stop! stop!’ cried the Princess. ‘This is the man I am destined to marry!’

The executioner was ordered to take the noose off Iain’s neck and lead him from the gallows.

Then Iain turned to the King and said:

‘Allow me to go home first, so that I may dress correctly for the court.’

The King gave his permission and Iain returned to the weaver’s house. He changed into his suit of gold and the golden shoes. Even his horse, his dog and his falcon looked like the
creatures that had won the races. As for the weaver, he was already building himself a better loom and house with the gold Iain had given him.

Meanwhile, the Princess told the King, her father, how Iain had lifted the spell from her when she had been turned into a deer, and how he had faced death at the robbers’ hands, three
times, for her sake, and how she had written her name under his arm while he slept. The King agreed that such a young man deserved to win her.

So, when Iain returned to the palace, the crowds outside cheered him.
Inside he was given a royal welcome by the courtiers, for he looked a fine young prince in his gold
clothes.

The King greeted him warmly, while the Princess took both his hands in hers. Soon after, they had a magnificent wedding, with feasting and dancing and merry music.

SCAR
used to play shinty with his school-fellows on the seashore. By the time he was
sixteen his side always won, for he had grown very big, twice as big as any lad his own age. Twice as many lads played against him as for him. At last he played alone against the rest.

One day, when they were playing shinty, they saw a boat coming in. There was a giant in it like nothing they’d seen before. All the lads were afraid of the giant and gathered round Oscar
for protection.

The giant came towards them. Only his eyes could be seen, for he was covered with green scales. Every lad he struck with his enormous hand lay dead on the shore. Then he struck Oscar and made
him dizzy. He could just rise, but he thought it best to lie still, for if he got up he would surely be slain.

The giant seized Oscar and put him, like a trout, on the end of a branch, with sixteen of his school-fellows on top of him. Then the giant slung the branch over his shoulder and threw it, lads
and all, into his boat, with Oscar underneath.

On sailed the boat till it came to a shore, with a castle on the edge of it. The giant went inside, put down the boys, and called for his housekeeper. A fine big woman appeared at the door.

‘I’m going to rest now, goodwife,’ said the giant. ‘Cook me the biggest lad for my supper!’ Then he fell asleep.

The woman went over to the branch, and felt all the lads. Oscar was
the biggest, but he caught her by the hand and begged her to let him be for the present. So she took the
best of the others. This one was no sooner cooked than the giant awoke.

‘Is my supper ready?’ he roared.

‘It is,’ said the goodwife, setting the dish before him.

‘There was a bigger lad than this,’ said the giant. ‘I’ll go to sleep again, and unless you have that big lad cooked when I wake, I’ll have you instead!’

So the goodwife went to Oscar, and said:

‘I must take you now.’

‘That’s not the best thing for you,’ said he. ‘Let me live, and I’ll think of a better idea. You’re not his wife, are you?’

‘Not I. He stole me seven years ago, and I dread each day that he will kill me.’

‘Help me,’ said Oscar, ‘and I’ll help you. First put the poker in the fire, and then free me from this branch.’

The woman did this, and freed him. When the poker was red hot, Oscar took it and drove it through the green scales of the monster’s head to the ground, and the woman took the
giant-monster’s sword and struck off his head. The monster was dead, the spell broken, and all the boys lifted themselves up off the branch.

When Oscar and his fifteen school-fellows left the castle, they took the woman with them, and as much of the giant’s gold and silver as they could carry. Then they found his boat and rowed
back to the shore.

NE
day Finn and his men were hunting on the hill. They had killed many deer and sat in the
sun out of the wind. They could see everyone, but nobody could see them.

Finn saw a ship sailing straight for the haven beneath them. A young Hero leaped out of her, and pulled the ship on to the green grass. Then he climbed the hill to Finn and his men.

Finn and he greeted each other, and Finn asked where he had come from and what he wanted. He answered that he had come through the night watches and the storms of the sea, because he was losing
his children, and only one man could help him. That man was Finn, King of the Feinne.

‘I’ll lay a spell on you,’ said he to Finn, ‘to be with me before you eat, drink or sleep.’

Having said this, he left them. When he reached the ship, he pushed her with his shoulder into the water. Then he leaped into her, and sailed away over the horizon.

Finn said goodbye to his men, and went down to the shore. He walked along it, and saw seven men coming to meet him.

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the first man.

‘I’m a good carpenter.’

‘How good are you at carpentry?’

‘With three strokes of my axe I can make a ship of the alder tree yonder.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the second man.

‘I’m a good tracker.’

‘How good are you?’

‘I can track wild duck over the nine waves within nine days.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the third man.

‘I am a good gripper.’

‘How good are you?’

‘I will not let go till my two arms part from my shoulders, or till what I hold comes with me.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the fourth man.

‘I am a good climber. I can climb a thread of silk to the stars if you tie it there.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the fifth man.

‘I am a good thief. I can steal the heron’s egg while she is watching me.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the sixth man.

‘I am a good listener. I can hear what people are saying at the end of the world.’

‘What are you good at?’ Finn asked the seventh man.

‘I am a good marksman. I can hit an egg in the sky as far away as bowstring can carry the arrow.’

The Carpenter went to the alder tree, and with three strokes of his axe the ship was ready. Finn ordered his men to push her into the water, and they went on board.

The Tracker went to the bow. Finn told him how the Young Hero had left the haven in his ship, and Finn wanted to follow him to the place where he now was. The Tracker told him to keep the ship
that way or to keep her this way. They sailed a long time without seeing land, till evening. In the gloaming they saw land ahead, and made straight for it. They leaped ashore and drew up the
ship.