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

THE LORE OF KIRK AND KIRKYARD
weary in body but happy in spirit. There her father,
careworn and bent, awaited her homecoming. A night's
sorrow and anxiety had made a decrepit man of him, since
never again did he expect to see his Mairi in the flesh.
" God be merciful to me, a sinner ! " he exclaimed, as
Mairi entered the door, and placed upon the table the skull
that, in a fit of temper, he had provoked her to remove from
the Abbey at dead of night.
Before the sun had risen far above the eastern hills,
Eachunn and Mairi were again in one another's keeping,
for the brogues of love had found the feet for which they
were designed. By the end of the week Glen Barr was
celebrating a wedding, the like of which it never since has
witnessed.
Not much more is there for me to tell you. But, in
concluding this story, I should add that the skull was duly
returned to Saddell Abbey. There it lies before the high
altar that is now a memorial to the local lads who, in the
Great War, were sacrificed for our transgressions.
Origin of the Reel o' Tulloch.
Let us draw this chapter to a conclusion with a folk-tale
describing how the famous Reel o' Tulloch came into
existence.
One cold Sabbath morning, the minister of the Church of
Tullich elected to remain by his own fireside, rather than
face the inclemency of the day, and the extreme discomfort
of his church. The congregation, however, had assembled
in the usual way. As time wore on, and no minister put
in his appearance, its members gradually became restless
with the cold. Soon they were clapping their hands and
stamping their feet. The younger members began to play
about; and before long both young and old were joining in
strange, unseemly merriment. A collection was then taken,
which enabled the revellers to obtain from somewhere or
other a cask of good ale. The ale gave the company both
warmth and spirit. A local musician then produced his
fiddle, and thereupon improvised an air that ever since has
been known as the Reel o' Tulloch. To this reel the entire
congregation danced.
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