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

!
The Rescue of an Heir.
the peat-fire flame
And this brings to mind the next folk-tale.
To the west of Mull lies a group of small islands called
the Treshnish Isles. These islands, though remote and
seldom visited by humans, are not without interest. Two
of them—to wit, Carnburg Mor and Carnburg Beag—were
fortified in olden times. About the year, 1695, w^hen
Martin Martin toured the Hebrides, the stronghold on
Carnburg Mor was considered impregnable. It was held by
a " small garrison of the standing forces " ; and there is a
tradition in the Highlands that, at the time of the
Reformation, the numberless books of the monastery library
of lona were transferred to Carnburg Mor, and there
secreted
discovery
in the ground, where perhaps they still await
The story is told of a bitter dissension that at one time
arose between MacLaine of Lochbuie and the Chief of the
MacLeans of Duart. In the hope of ensuring that
MacLaine of Lochbuie would have no heir, the Chief
banished him to Carnburg Mor, and kept him thereon in
close confinement, with no one to look after him but an old
woman. Not many months had elapsed when it was
discovered that the old woman was with child. This
incensed MacLean of Duart, who instantly ordered her
removal to Mull, and her retention there in close captivity
until after the birth of her child. When her time drew
near, the Chief gave instructions to the mid-wife that, if
the child were a male, he was to be killed. His anxiety
was greatly relieved, therefore, when the mid-wife
announced that a female child had been born, whose life he
could have no purpose in taking.
But an hour or so later the woman gave birth to another
child—a son and heir ! Secretly, and in the dead of night,
this child was smuggled away to a cave among the
mountains of Mull. There it was protected from all harm
by a man and his six stalwart sons, who were loyal partisans
of the MacLaines of Lochbuie.
In course of time it became bruited about that, somewhere
in concealment on the Island of Mull, there was a baby heir
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