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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
mother of the power of speech. And she heard one faery
say to the other : " We must give to this child the gift of
the tongue, for he has drunk of the milk of the cow that
ate the motltan." The old folks of Hirta used to affirm
that, when this child came to man's estate, he possessed
unusual fluency, and could out-talk a dozen persons on the
Island without betraying the least indication of fatigue
a doubtful blessing from the point of view of those who
had to live with him ! Of
—
the occult powers of the plant
known as the mothan, I have given some account elsewhere
in this volume.
The Faery Flag.
At Dunvegan Castle, in the Isle of Skye, may be seen
the famous Faery Flag, one of the most fascinating relics of
Faerie in the country. According to one version of its
origin, we are told that late on an autumn evening a faery,
clad in green, entered the Castle and found her way to what
since has been termed the Faery Room. There she
discovered the baby heir to MacLeod, asleep in his cradle.
You may imagine how surprised MacLeod's nurse was
when she looked up to find a strange, little woman seated
beside the cradle, and rocking it gently. The faery visitor
raised the child in her arms, and wrapped him up in the
Faery Flag, crooning the while the Taladh na Mna Sithc,
the Lullaby of the Faery Woman — " Behold my child,
limbed like the kid or fawn, smiting horses, grasping the
accoutrements of the shod horses, the spirited steeds, ino
leanahh hheag, my little child. . . Oh ! that I could behold
thy team of horses; men following them, serving women
returning home, and the Catanaich sowing the corn. . . .
Oh ! not of Clan Kenneth (MacKenzie) art thou ! Oh ! not
of Clan Conn. Descendant of a race more esteemed—that
of Clan Leod of the swords and armour, whose fathers'
native land was Lochlann." Thus runs an extract from a
free translation of the faery woman's croon made by my
late and venerated friend, Francis Tolmie.
Spellbound and motionless during the singing of it sat
the nurse of the infant heir; and so impressed upon her
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