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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
to earth ? " asked the warrior of the old woman, whom he
found by his grave when he came back from his mysterious
journey.
" If thou wilt answer me three questions, I will do so,"
replied the old woman, who by this
about her wandering cattle.
time had forgotten all
And the first question she put to him was :
thou been ?
" Where hast
"
To this he answered that on each Hallowe'en he and all
his countrymen, wheresoever buried, had the privilege of
returning to Lochlann for an hour or two.
" Who art thou, and what is thy name ? " him.
she then asked
" My name is Til. I am a son of the King of Norway
but off the coast of Skye my warriors and I were drowned
during a storm. My body was washed ashore here ; and I
was interred in the grave to which I now seek to return."
And to this day the place is called Pooltiel.
Now, the natives of that part of Skye known as Glendale
believe that the body of Til, Mac Righ Lochlainn, Til, Son
of the King of Norway, came ashore at a point near the head
of Loch Pooltiel, and that ultimately his remains were
committed to earth in their burying-ground of Cille
Chomgain, the Cell of Saint Comgan. Indeed, some say
that Til was the very first person to have been buried here.
And there is an elder-tree of unknown antiquity in that same
burying-ground, under which the folks of Skye say that Til
lies ; and to the present time it is taboo for anyone to injure
that tree in any way.
Some years ago this elder-tree was damaged accidentally,
while a grave was being dug quite close to it; and this
greatly perturbed the folks of Glendale and Pooltiel.
It is supposed in western Skye that, before the drowning
of Til, the Norse warrior-prince. Loch Pooltiel was termed
Loch a' Chiiain, Loch of the Ocean. And another
reminiscence of the connection between Glendale and
Norway is perpetuated in the name, Lochlannach, which is
still the name given locally to a crag in the neighbourhood
of Loch Pooltiel.
And the third and last question that the old woman asked
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