Read Folk Tales of Scotland Online
Authors: William Montgomerie
Folk Tales of Scotland (34 page)
‘I am the messenger of the other world. I helped you because your heart is warm to do good to someone else. You will take no reward of gold or silver from the King under the Waves, but the
King will send a ship to take you where you came from.’
Diarmid did everything the little red man had said. He cured the Princess with the three clots of blood in the water in the cup given him by the King of the Plain of Wonder. But he lost his love
for the Princess. He refused the King’s reward for curing the Princess, and he refused to marry the Princess. All he took was a ship to carry him home to the Feinne, who were very pleased
that he had returned.
LOSSARY
AIN
own
ALOOR
! alas! alack! (Orkney)
ASSIPATTLE
one who is loath to leave the fireside to do any work (Orkney)
BAIRN
child
BANE
bone
BANNOCK
oatcake
BARQUE
three-masted sailing ship
BEN
(1) mountain; (2) the ‘front room’ of a
but and ben,
a two-roomed cottage
BICKER
bowl or dish
BIDE
dwell
BOGLE
hobgoblin
BONNACH STONE
a stone, usually round, on which bannocks were baked before a fire
BRAE
hillside
BRAW
handsome, beautiful
BREE
water in which food has been cooked or preserved
BROSE
oatmeal or peasemeal mixed with boiling water
BUDDO
(a term of endearment)
BURD
(poetic) woman or lady
BURN
stream
BUT
kitchen or outer room
BYRE
cow-house
CANNILY
cautiously
CARLE
man
CARLIN
an old woman
CLEW
a ball of yarn
CLOGGIRS
goose-grass
COG
,
COGIE
a wooden vessel for milk etc.
COLLOP
portion
CORRIE
hollow on a mountain side
CREEL
basket
CROFT
small piece of land adjoining a house
DEIL
devil
DIRK
dagger
DOO
dove, pigeon
ETIN
a giant
FIN-FOLK
mythical sea-folk
FULLING-WATER
water in which cloth is fulled (milled) and cleansed with soap and fuller’s earth
GIEN
given
GILLIE
man-servant, boy
GIRNAL
chest for meal, salt etc.
GLOAMING
twilight
GRUAGACH
a kind of brownie with long hair and beard
HALY WATTER
holy water
HECKLE
a comb for dressing flax and hemp
HILDA-LAND
Fairy-land
HOODIE
carrion crow
HYN-HALLOW
Holy Island, between Rousay and Orkney mainland
ILKA
each
INARY
a woman’s name
KITCHEN
(vb) to season, give a relish to food
KNOCKING STONE
stone-mortar, or flat stone
KNOWE
knoll, small hill
KYE
cattle
LAIRD
squire
LAMMAS
the beginning of August
LAP-BOARD
a board laid across the lap for working on used by tailors, etc.
MALISON
curse
MIDDEN
dunghill
MIND
remember
MIXTER-MAXTER
confused, jumbled
MOOR-STONE
a granite standing stone
ODIN STONE
a stone sacred to the Norse god Odin; there is one in Shapinsay
PARLEY BOAT
a small boat of a particular rig
PEAT-HAG
a hole from which peat has been cut; a heap of peat
PEERIE
small
ST CRISPIN
saint of shoemakers
SASSENACH
Saxon, foreigner
SELKIE
seal
SHINTY
game played with stick and ball in the Highlands
SKIRL
a shrill cry
SMIDDY
smithy, smith’s workshop
SPEY-WIFE
fortune-teller
SPEIR
ask, enquire
SPORRAN
purse
STANE
stone
STRATH
a wide valley
THRAFT OR FORETHRAFT
front rowing seat across (athwart) a boat
TOCHER
dowry
URUISG
water hobgoblin
WARLOCK
wizard
WAULKING
treading cloth
WHIN
gorse
WHUPPITY STOORIE
a brownie
WIDDERSHINS
anti-clockwise
WITHIES
willow branches
YILL
ale
TORY
S
OURCES
THE WELL AT THE WORLD
’
S END
Popular Tales of the West Highlands,
orally collected with a translation by J. F.
Campbell (3 vols., Alexander Gardner, Paisley and London, 1890-93), II, xxxiii, p. 140.
RASHIE COAT
Popular Rhymes of Scotland,
collected from tradition by Robert Chambers (2nd ed., Chambers, Edinburgh and London, 1870), p. 66.
PRINCE IAIN
‘Mac Iain Direach’ in Campbell, II, xlvi, p. 344.
THE FLEA AND THE LOUSE
County Folklore,
III, printed extract no. 5 (Orkney and Shetland Islands), collected by G. F. Black (Folklore Society
Publications 49, London, 1903, reprinted 1967), p, 226.
WHUPPITY STOORIE
Chambers, p. 72.
THE FAIRY-WIFE AND THE COOKING-POT
Campbell, II, xxvi, p. 52.
THE MAIDEN FAIR AND THE FOUNTAIN FAIRY
‘The Paddo’ in Chambers, p. 57.
THE TALE OF THE SOLDIER
Campbell, II, xlii, p. 290.
THE FECKLESS ONES
Campbell, II, xlviii, p. 388.
PIPPETY PEW
‘The Milk-White Doo’ in Chambers, p. 49.
THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY
Chambers, p. 95.
ROBIN REIDBREIST AND THE WRAN
Oral source: from the recitation of Mrs Begg, youngest sister of Robert Burns. She believed her
brother made it.
THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS
Campbell, I, ii, p. 25.
THE GOOD HOUSEWIFE
Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, Argyllshire series,
edited by Lord Archibald Campbell (5 vols., David Nutt, London,
1889-95); V,
Clan Traditional and Popular Tales,
collected from oral sources by the Rev. J. G. Campbell, p. 83.
THE KING OF LOCHLIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS
Campbell, I, xvi, p. 344.
THE WIFE AND HER BUSH OF BERRIES
Chambers, p. 57.
BROWNIE THE COW
Oral source.
HOW THE COCK GOT THE BETTER OF HER FOX
Campbell, III, lxiii, p. 105.
THE SMITH AND THE FAIRIES
Campbell, II, xxvill, p. 57.
THE GAEL AND THE LONDON BAILLIE
’
S DAUGHTER
Campbell, I, xvii, p. 289.
THE WEE BANNOCK
Chambers, p. 82.
THE BROWN BEAR OF THE GREEN GLEN
Campbell, I, ix, p. 168.
FATHER WREN AND HIS TWELVE SONS
Waifs and Strays,
V, p. 120.
MALLY WHUPPIE
Campbell, I, xvii, p, 259.
THE WHITE PET
Campbell, I, xl, p. 199
BIG FOX AND LITTLE FOX
Oral source.
THE TALE OF THE HOODIE
Campbell, I, iii, p. 64.
THE STOOR WORM
W. Traill Dennison in
Scottish Antiquary,
V (1891), p. 130.
THE MERMAID
‘The Sea Maiden’ in Campbell, I, iv, p. 72.
THE WINNING OF HYN-HALLOW
W. Traill Dennison in
Scottish Antiquary,
VII (1892), p. 117.
THE GOODMAN OF WASTNESS
W. Traill Dennison in
ibid.,
p. 173,
TAM SCOTT AND THE FIN-MAN
W. Traill Dennison in
op. cit.,
VIII (1893), p. 51.
FARQUHAR THE HEALER
Campbell, II, xlvii, p. 377.
JOHNNIE CROY AND THE MERMAID
W. Traill Dennison in
Scottish Antiquary,
VI (1892), p. 118.
THE WIDOW
’
S SON
Campbell, II, xliv, p. 307.
OSCAR AND THE GIANT
Campbell, I, lxxx, p. 311
FINN AND THE YOUNG HERO
’
S CHILDREN
Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition,
III:
Folk and Hero Tales,
edited, translated and annotated by the Rev. J. MacDougall, p. 1.
FINN AND THE GREY DOG
ibid.,
p. 17.
FINN IN THE HOUSE OF THE YELLOW FIELD
ibid.,
p. 56.
GREEN KIRTLE
‘The Fair Gruagach’ in Campbell, II, li, p. 424.
THE LAST OF THE PICTS
Chambers, p. 80.
MURCHAG AND MIONACHAG
Campbell, I, viii, p. 161.
PEERIE FOOL
County Folklore,
III, p. 222
THE HEN
Campbell, III, lxiv, p. 106.
THE YOUNG KING
‘The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh’ in Campbell, I, i, p. 1.
THE RED ETIN
Chambers, p. 87.
THE EAGLE AND THE WREN
Waifs and Strays,
V, p. 120.
IAIN THE SOLDIER
’
S SON
Campbell, III, i, p. 9.
THE LEGEND OF LOCH MAREE
Waifs and Strays,
V, p. 74.
DIARMID AND GRAINNE
Campbell, III, lx, p. 49.
CHILDE ROWLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME
Illustrations of Northern Antiquities,
with contributions from R. Jamieson, H. Weber, and Sir Walter
Scott (James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1814), p. 398.
CUCHULAINN AND THE TWO GIANTS
Oral source.
DAUGHTER OF THE KING UNDER THE WAVES
Campbell, III, lxxxvi, p. 421.
NDEX
Battle of the Birds, The,
ref 1
Big Fox and Little Fox,
ref 1
Black Bull of Norroway, The,
ref 1
Brown Bear of the Green Glen, The,
ref 1
Brownie the Cow,
ref 1
Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower Came,
ref 1
Cuchulainn and the Two Giants,
ref 1
Daughter of the King Under the Waves,
ref 1
Diarmid and Grainne,
ref 1
Eagle and the Wren, The,
ref 1
Fairy-Wife and the Cooking-Pot, The,
ref 1
Farquhar the Healer,
ref 1
Father Wren and His Twelve Sons,
ref 1
Feckless Ones, The,
ref 1
,
Finn and the Grey Dog,
ref 1
Finn and the Young Hero’s Children,
ref 1
Finn in the House of the Yellow Field,
ref 1
Flea and the Louse, The,
ref 1
Gael and the London Baillie’s Daughter, The,
ref 1
Good Housewife, The,
ref 1
Goodman of Wastness, The,
ref 1
Green Kirtle,
ref 1
Hen, The,
ref 1
How the Cock got the Better of the Fox,
ref 1
Iain the Soldier’s Son,
ref 1
Johnnie Croy and the Mermaid,
ref 1
King of Lochlin’s Three Daughters, The,
ref 1
Last of the Picts, The,
ref 1
Legend of Loch Maree, The,
ref 1
Maiden Fair and the Fountain Fairy, The,
ref 1
Mally Whuppie,
ref 1
Mermaid, The,
ref 1
Murchag and Mionachag,
ref 1
Oscar and the Giant,
ref 1
Peerie Fool,
ref 1
Pippety Pew,
ref 1
Prince Iain,
ref 1
Rashie Coat,
ref 1
Red Etin, The,
ref 1
Robin Reidbreist and the Wran,
ref 1
Smith and the Fairies, The,
ref 1
Stoor Worm, The,
ref 1
Tale of the Hoodie, The,
ref 1
Tale of the Soldier, The,
ref 1
Tam Scott and the Fin-Man,
ref 1
Wee Bannock, The,
ref 1
Well at the World’s End, The,
ref 1
White Pet, The,
ref 1
Whuppity Stoorie,
ref 1
Widow’s Son, The,
ref 1
Wife and Her Bush of Berries, The,
ref 1
Winning of Hyn-Hallow, The,
ref 1
Young King, The,
ref 1