Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 5, 1897

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
own son amongst them. He seized him by the
coat and said, " What brings you here, Donal ? "
"What but the boc/idainn" ( poverty) said
Donal.
Tiien Seoc I'nish turned back on his thin
red mare, and told the boy to go on.
The father would not let the boy go. Seoc
Uiiish said, " You will have to break the egg on
yuur son's head." AVell, they put the egg on
the son's head, and the father fired, and his aim
was so true that he smashed the egg with the
peilear. " What," said Seoc Uuish, %vould
you have done if you had killed your son I "
" The next bullet — I have them in my pocket —
would have gone into your own heart," said
Donal. Well, he got the boy away, and he
must have had a good nerve to do as he did.
The William Tell story of the apple, which
we are told, is taken from much older sources,
and is therefore a legend only, and to be regarded
as such rather than vif a matter of history, has a
strong resemblance to this tale, which belongs
to the time of the end of last century.
The explanation of the coincidence may be that
the reciter had heard the tale of Tell in his
youth, and had confounded the two stories, or
that it was a customary thing to place eggs
or apples to be lired at on the heads of relatives
of culprits.
Donald's Ghost Stokv.
"Did you ever see a ghost, Donald, or any
strange appearance that you could not make
out ? " I asked.
" no ! the only thing that ever put fear on
me was what I saw one night comir.g over the
hill from Portree. It is about fifteen j-ears ago,
and myself and my sister had come over as far
as Glen 'ic Askull. Well, it was the mouth of
night, and we saw a bright shining mass of fiie,
and it came near us and went past us, and my
sister with the fright she gri|ipit a hold of me
and cried, ' Leave it alone, Donal ! you have no
business with it, and it has no business with
you ; leave it alone ! ' So I left it alone, and it
went near a hou.se that was there and then went
out, and when we got home, we heard that there
was a sick girl in the house. "Well, she died
after that. And that's the only thing I ever
saw that put the fear of death on me."
Gkneral Macleoo kills a 'Black Kinc;."
Donald told yet another story of (ieneral
Macleod of Macleod, in India, of his killing a
" Black King." A " bull's head " was brought
in a dish at dinner as a signal for slaughter, and
the horn and sword of the " Riijh duhh" arc at
Dunvegan yet.
This is evifleiitly a jimibling of the clan
traditions with an Indian story. The Uential
distinguished him.self greatly in the Indian w ars.
Bringing in a " bull's head " in a dish for the
table was practised in Argyleshire (see Lord
Lome's Highland Tales), and also at Dunvegan
Castle on the occasion of the slaughter of the
Campbells by " Ian Dubh." The " horn "
probably refers to the ancient Celtic drinking
horn, now preserved in the castle, and the whole
story is e\'idently founded on a Highland feudal
tale, set in an eastern setting, with the General
as hero.
The above tales vn^y not be of importance in
themselves, but they show how necessary it is
to make such collections without delay, as
everywhere the power of recollecting old things
is rapidly dying out amongst the peoi)le, and
with the present generation of old persons nmst
vanish entirely away. They have the merit, in
any case, of being genuine productions of the
people, and not the elaborations of a certain
class of Highlander who overestimates the
refinement of his ancestors.
skvp Loc'Kii.vuT Bogle.
ONLY A LOUT.
A Tkue Tale of Sltthekl.indsiiiiie Life.
By ROUIXA FlXIiLATEK.
[Continued from pcKjf 19.)
rT3|HEY came at length in the early morning;
V^ Major Forest, the clergyman, Mr.
'^J^ Horstield, — the factor, a man in life's
prime, — and a young groom leading a horse
with a side saddle, so confident was her father
of his fugitive daughters return with him.
Harry stood pale and for once upright, at the
door of his hut, while Major Forest advanced
and called out to him, "Bring forth my
daughter out here you abominable clown, or I
will shoot you where you stand."
Without moving, Harry replied, "Your
daughter is at liberty to do as she wills, but if
she says she will x^refer to stay with me, it is
only over my dead body you will recover her. '
Lena now came forward, pale as death, and
tearful. "Oh! father, why have you come
after me ? It is too late now to return," and
she burst into an agony of tears. "I have
long ago made my choice, blame him not, he
is good and true."
"Do not say so," said JMr. Horsfield, the
factor, coming forward, "this is but the foolish
escapade of a romantic school-girl. Come,
dear, come back with your father, and I for
one will forget this folly and marry you at
ouce,^or I love every hair of your dear head.