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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
the relatives of the corpse lying below, and so weirdly
commemorated, deemed it desirable that particulars of his
"
life or death or kindred should remain unknown !
Suffice it to say that in my own case curiosity, which
might have tempted me to explore matters more deeply, was
kept in check by my recollection of the strange curse of
which I had been told the previous evening, and by the fact
that my friend shuddered when I suggested that someone
ought to take courage and turn the slab over, so that the
world might know whether the other side of it gave any clue
likely to lead to the solving of this mystery.
A Minister and Chief at Variance.
All the windows admitting light to the Parish Church of
Barra are on one side of the edifice ; and local lore tells
that this originated in the following manner. Upon a time
the minister at Cuier and the Chief of the MacNeils of
Barra were at variance as to where the glebe ought to be
granted. The minister insisted on having the glebe as near
as possible to the manse at Cuier, where it now is. But
the Chief, feeling that Cuier was rather close to his own
private sanctuary of Eoligarry, offered to grant a glebe
elsewhere on the island. Owing to the fact that the
alternative site suggested by the Chief was frequently
inundated in time of heavy rain by the burns overflowing
their banks, the minister flatly declined to accept the offer.
Eventually MacNeil recognised that the only solution of
the difficulty was to submit to the minister's demand for
the glebe at Cuier. Now, in respect of the relative
shallowness of the soil at Cuier and similar agrestic
disadvantages, the minister thought himself entitled to a
more extensive glebe than would have been his due, had he
elected to accept one elsewhere.
Angry, indeed, was MacNeil of Barra when he realised
that, even on the question of extent, the minister had
outwitted him. And, therefore, in his capacity as laird, he
determined to exercise his prerogative in affairs connected
with the building of the proposed Parish Church of Barra.
Wherefore he ordered that all the windows be on the north-
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