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

Cave of Gold.
THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
Accessible to none but the most nimble-footed wanderer
are the steeps of Crogary Mor, in North Uist ; and known
only to those who are familiar with the ageless rocks
forming its summit is the entrance to the Cave of Gold.
Hidden away in the secret depths of this cave there is of
precious metal, they say, the fill of seven cow-hides. And
one day, while staying at the little farm of Ahmhor, in the
shadow of Crogary Mor, I set out in the hope of locating
this celebrated cavern. But so engrossed did I become in
the prospect to be viewed from the summit of the Crogary,
that I omitted to search for the Cave. Stretching away to
the south and east, the welter of lochs and lochans was
relieved to some extent by the comparatively low peaks of
the North Lee and the South Lee, and by the Minch beyond.
To the westward, the Monach Isles and the Haskeirs
sparkled like gems in a sea of emerald. To the northward
lay the Sound of Harris, with its wonderful array of islands
of every shape and size— Shillay, Pabbay, Boreray, Lingay,
Berneray, Killegray, Ensay, and more than a hundred
other. Behind them towered the lofty Mountains of
Harris. Small wonder, then, that I was forgetting all about
the Cave of Gold !
Cave of the Little Old Woman of the Red Fell.
On Soay Isle, one of the St. Kilda group, is a cave called
Tigh Dugan, Duncan's House. There used to be a tradition
among the St. Kildans that Duncan was the name of one of
two rascals who plotted to rid Hirta (the name of the
largest island, and the one on which the natives lived) of
all its people by setting fire to the village church, during
worship. Their design was frustrated by the Little Old
Woman of the Red Fell (Ruaival) who, on the arrival of a
boat from Scotland, advised the crew of their wicked intent.
One of the villains was placed on Stac an Armin, hard by
Boreray of St. Kilda, from which he was observed to leap
to his death into the sea. The other was imprisoned on
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