The peat-fire flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
if he felt he could give an undertaking that he would put
a blessing on the creature, and that under no circumstances
would he ever attempt to mount it.
John Maclnnes accordingly took the horse with him ; and
it worked well to its new owner. A day came, however,
when the animal seemed so docile that Maclnnes, footweary
with walking continually between the ploughing-field
and his home, decided that he would mount the horse,
contrary to the stipulation he had made with the sage. And
no sooner had he done so than the creature reverted to
its real form—that of the dreaded water-horse ! With
Maclnnes astraddle, it went whinnying into the lochan.
And that was the last the Glen Elg folks saw of John
Maclnnes.
The Dragging of Loch nan Dubhrachan.
Perhaps the most memorable incident connected with the
water-horse in the Highlands of Scotland was the dragging
of a loch in Skye with a view to capturing this evil monster.
Between Knock and Isle Oronsay, in the Sleat of Skye, is
a loch called Loch nan Dubhrachan. So persistent in the
neighbourhood were stories of the manner in which " a
beast " inhabiting this loch sought to waylay islanders, who
dared to pass by at night-time, that eventually it was decided
to drag the loch with a large net. This was actually carried
out in the year, 1870. But the animal astutely evaded
capture. During the dragging operations, however, the net
became entangled with some object under water. This so
terrified both spectators and those engaged in dragging the
net on opposite sides of the loch that they all fled to their
homes, convinced that at long last they had proved the
existence of the water-horse.
In 1932 I visited an old man named John MacRae, who
lived in a cottage by the steading, within earshot of the Old
Manse of Glen Elg, and who, as a boy at Isle Oronsay,
witnessed the attempt to capture this water-horse. So noisy
in spate was the burn at the end of John MacRae's cottage
that at times I used to find conversation with him quite an
undertaking, even when the door was closed. But I
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