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

THE PEAT-FTRE FLAME
that during the Norse occupation of the Western Highlands
and Islands, some eight or ten centuries ago, there lived on
Eilean Maolrubha a maiden of noble birth, who had plighted
her troth with a Viking prince. However, the prince's
prolonged absence from Loch Maree on various warlike
enterprises caused the maiden to feel that he no longer cared
for her. So as to test her lover, she decided that, when
again his galley was reported to be making for the shore at
Loch Ewe (this being the sea-shore nearest to the Loch of
Maree), her handmaidens would row her out to meet the
galley, while she herself would pretend to be a corpse
stretched out at the bottom of the boat. The handmaidens,
as they neared the galley, began to moan and wail, so as to
lend appropriate colour to the deception. The prince,
overcome with grief, now cried out to the rowers of the boat
for an explanation of the tragedy that seemingly had
befallen his betrothed. The maiden was then assured that
the prince loved her more than she had imagined ; but, as
she was on the point of discarding her pretence, he thrust
a dirk into his heart, and fell dead.
Remorse now covered the maiden :
her ruse had caused
the death of her lover. Plucking the dirk out of his corpse,
she instantly buried it deep in her own heart. Thus died
both maiden and Viking prince. They were buried side by
side on the island known as Eilean Maolrubha, in Loch
Maree, and in a grave that to this very day is marked by two
ancient stones, situated quite close to one another, each of
them bearing a cross, rudely fashioned.
A Viking Tale of Raasay.
On the Island of Raasay there is a loch which is believed
to have received the name of Loch Storab through the
following incident. Some time during the dominance of
the Northmen, Storab, son of the King of Norway, a
fugitive for some reason unexplained, found himself in
hiding on an islet in this loch. When the people of Raasay
discovered his hiding-place, they resolved to dislodge him.
Storab was a man of giant stature and of giant accomplishments
: he was able to leap between the islet and the shore
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