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

FAERY DOGS AND FAERY CATTLE
the faery herdswoman might be heard uttering the following
lines in enumerating her herd :
" Crooked one, dun one,
Little wing grizzled,
Black cow, white cow,
Little bull, black-headed,
My milch kine have come home,
O dear ! that the herdsman would come " ^
!
This strange species of cattle, resembling so little the
cattle of ordinary origin, have been found on the strand at
Luskentyre, in Harris, Scorribreac, in Skye, on the Isle of
Tiree, and also on the Island of Berneray, in the Sound of
Harris. They are believed to feed not on grass, but on seaweed
under the sea, where they usually live.
A Small, Red Cow.
One night toward the close of the eighteenth century,
when a certain Dugald Campbell was tending the cows
belonging to the farm of Baile-phuil, on the coast of Tiree.
a small, red cow came among the herd. The Baile-phuil
cows immediately proceeded to set about it with their horns.
When it fled, they followed it. Dugald joined in the pursuit,
during which, as he himself testified, the little, red cow at
one moment seemed to be quite near him, and at another
moment very far off. The chase was brought to an abrupt
end when the little, red cow entered the face of a rock, and
thus disappeared from view, never to be seen again by
human eye.
In relating this incident, Dugald Campbell insisted that he
had the greatest difficulty in preventing the Baile-phuil cows
from following the intruder into the face of the rock.
Sea-Cows at Luskentyre.
Several generations ago a herd of cows came ashore at
Nisabost, which then formed part of the farm of Lusken-
tyre, in South Harris. In order to prevent their return to
1 J. G. Campbell's Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland.
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