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

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
the kitchen table; and the hearths were as dead fires had
left them. Never agam was the Brownie seen at
Rothiemurchus, though his secret and invisible visits
thereafter were said to account for the mysterious
disappearance of milk and cream from the dairy. But they
say that you may still hear him at his work in the interior
of a mound nearby, if you place your ear to it; and there
is a belief that in time he will tire of his dudgeon, and
revert to his former beneficences.
The mound, on which stood the original home of the
Grants, shows signs of its having been the site of a
pre-historic structure ; and maybe the tradition of some
primitive metal-worker dwelling on this site survives in the
story of the Brownie who, of nights, tinkered the pots and
pans.
In 1843 there was born at Rothiemurchus a babv peculiar
in features, with hair unusually long and dark. When an
old woman residing in the district came to the Doune to see
the new-born child, she exclaimed at first sight of it : " Eh,
sirs ! it's the brounie come back again !
A Brownie in the Northern Isles.
Just as in the Highlands and Western Isles, every family
of substance in the Orkneys and Shetlands had its Brownie
until fairly recent times. Indeed, some families in the
Northern Isles claim to have them still ! An ancient
inhabitant of these Isles, who once brewed ale, and at times
read his Bible, was told by a woman in the family that the
Brownie was greatly displeased at his reading that particular
book. But the brewer of ale went on with his reading,
notwithstanding. He was determined not to be put off by
the Brownie, nor to discontinue his libation of ale. So,
it turned out thereafter that all his brewings were a
failure.
A Faery-sprite of Good Works.
Akin to the Brownie was the faery-sprite known as the
loireag, who supervised the waulking of the cloth in the
Isles, and was invisibly present at every process connected
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