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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
done each year, and on the first night on which the cattle
were left out all night. On such occasions each crofter was
obliged to give the whole of the night's milk from one cow.
Once he had poured this milk into the cavity, it became
incumbent upon him to turn away immediately, and not look
back under any circumstances.
The Invisible Herdsman.
—
Brownies are also known to have taken upon themselves
the duties of the herdsman. When, as in olden times, arable
land was tilled and reaped in common throughout the Isles,
difhculty was often experienced, especially during the nighttime,
in keeping the cows away from the crops. There is a
tradition in the Island of Tiree, however, that the crofters
at the township of Baugh were relieved of this irksome
responsibility by the constant services of a Brownie who, in
an invisible capacity, acted as herdsman between the hours
of sunset and sunrise. No ordinary person ever cast eyes
on this Brownie, though many a vigil was instituted in the
expectation of ascertaining what he was like, and whence he
came. One endowed with the second-sight stayed out all
night with the cattle; and he declared in the morning that
he actually saw an impalpable creature herding the cattle
down to the machar by the shore when it looked as though
they were beginning to graze too near the crops. This he
took to be the Brownie herdsman, of whose existence everyone
had heard. The Brownie wore little or no clothing.
This moved the observer to pity—so much so, indeed, that
he offered the Brownie a pair of shoes and a pair of tiny
breeks. It was then that the Brownie divulged his name,
as he declined the offer with
" Shoes and breeks on Gunna,
And Gunna at the herding;
But may Gunna enjoy neither shoes nor breeks,
If he should herd the cattle any more."
With these words the Invincible Herdsman took his
departure; and ever since that incident the folks of Tiree
have been obliged to do their own herding of nights.
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