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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
Truly, this is a ghost tale, and a tale of the " second
sight."
A Ghost Story from Kintyre.
In the days that are gone, two Kintyre gentlemen
quarrelled over the ownership of a small estate near the
Moyle. For a long time they fought each other with words
but in the end they fought with swords, and one of them
was slain. Although the victor seized the estate, it troubled
him greatly that, search as he might, he could not find the
title-deeds anywhere. One night his son, a merry lad,
returning home late from a tryst, saw an angry-looking
ghost standing at the front door.
" Who are you ? " asked the lad.
" I am the ghost of the man whom your father slew, so
as to rob me of my estate."
" By your leave, gentleman," said the lad, " this is the
proudest moment of my life. My father has told me again
and again that you were the very finest swordsman he had
ever met, and that, if only your sword had been equal to
your skill, he would have been the ghost, and yoii the laird."
The ghost was so pleased with the lad's address and
courtesy that, there and then, he told him where he might
find the title-deeds.
The Inquisitive Ghost.
There was once a ghost in the Isle of Eigg, a wizened, old
carlin, who haunted an eerie spot on the king's highway, and
asked the passers-by unmannerly questions. One night she
met a simple lad from the crofting township.
" Whence have you come? " asked the carlin.
" From my father's house," answered the simple lad.
" And where is your father's house ? "
" Where my grandfather built it," answered the simple
lad.
" And where did your grandfather build it? "
" Where mv father is now staying," replied the simple lad.
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