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

CHAPTER TWO
Faery Music.
A CCORDING to some, who claim to be authorities on
ZA matters faerie, the bagpipes are the only musical
i V instrument known to the faeries of the Highlands
and Islands ; and it is believed that in olden times many of
the most celebrated pipers in Scotland learnt their art
originally from the Little People. Occasionally, however,
we hear of the proficiency with which certain faery folks are
able to play the clarsach, or Celtic harp. I know two or
three people among my own acquaintances who have listened
to faery harping, and who can remember fragments of the
melodies they heard.
Upon a time there lived on Mingulay, in the Outer
Hebrides, a certain FionnladJi Mac Iain 'ic Dhuibh-Shith,
Finlay, Son of Iain, Son of the Black Faery. Finlay was
renowned throughout the Isles for his fair countenance ; and,
forby, he had a faery sweetheart. One day, while he was
searching for sheep among the mists enshrouding Beinn a
Phi, out of the mists there stepped a faery who delighted his
ears with strains of faery music.^ From Miss Annie
Johnstone, Castlebay, in the faery-haunted Isle of Barra, I
received the following piece of music heard by Finlay on
this occasion :
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