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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
of the faeries' evening meal. And, as she was making off
with it, she heard a voice saying
" Silent wife, silent wife,
That came on us from the land of chase,
Thou man on the surface of the Brugh,
Loose the Black, and slip the Fierce."
No distance had she travelled with the kettle before two
angry dogs came bounding after her. And she thrust her
hand into the kettle, and threw out to them a quarter of
what it contained. But the dogs followed on ; and, ere she
arrived home, she had given them the entire contents of the
kettle in her endeavour to pacify them.
Jealous, to be sure, were the dogs of the township of
Sandray when they perceived that the herd's wife was
feeding the Dogs of Peace.
But never again came the Banshee to seek the kettle.
And this reminds me of another faery tale told of Pabbay,
the Island lying between Sandray and Mingulay.
A Faery's Desire.
Came a famishing Woman of Peace to the door of a man
living on Pabbay; " and she had the hunger of motherhood
on her." Food she was given; and there she tarried the
night. Turning to her host as she was leaving on the
morrow, she said : " The desire is with me that hereafter
none of the people of this Island may go in childbed."
And from that moment—so the story has it—no one
dwelling on Pabbay ever died in childbed.
The Faery Cup of Raasay,
Luran was not the only one to make off with a faery cup.
A certain Ewen chanced to pass by a faery establishment on
the Island of Raasay, when its indwellers were making
merry within. They intercepted Ewen in his passing, and
persuaded him to enter and join in their revelry. Ewen
was beside himself when the faeries put a faery drinkingcup
in his hand, and proceeded to drink to his wellbeing.
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