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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
To this the grey goat replied :
" Here am I, a grey goat, harried,
Seeking three kindly kidlings,
And the grey-breasted buck.
And the buck lad."
Then answered the russet-dog from within :
" Well, then, by the earth that is beneath,
By the ether overhead,
By the sun that goes down,
I have never seen thy set of kids."
Not a bird in the flocks about the Barra Isles did the grey
goat fail to question as to the fate of her three kids; and
not a bird could assist her in her sorry plight. However,
one day, while she was searching the seashore, a straw broke
a leg of the hapless grey goat; and she hirpled home to
find—
" Three kindly kidlings grey.
Grey-breasted,
With backs grey-backed.
And the buck grey-headed."
In course of time the grey goat went to the abode of
the russet-dog for an explanation of his practices ; but
Master Reynard slyly repudiated her imputations in the
following terms :
" By the blackthorn and the briar.
By the sun beneath my feet.
By the sun that has gone down.
Never have I seen thy set of kids."
And never thereafter did the russet-dog put trouble upon
the grey goat.
A Keg of Butter.
About a century ago, there lived on the Isle of Vatersay
(one of the Barra Isles) an octogenarian named Neil
MacNeil, who used to recite a story in which a russet-dog
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