Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 1

INTRODUCTION. XXV
starts the old man on liis elbow, — " Och ! och ! that's a
fairy arrow, I have seen that ; och ! och ! no fairy arrow
will ever hit the man who has that — no fire will ever
burn the house where that is. That's lucky, well !
well !" and the old man sinks down on his bed of fern.
But the elf shot has hit the mark, and started a train of
thought, which leads at last to a wild weird story ; but
before that story can be written, the whole tribe decamp, '
and are lost for a time.
The first difficulty, then, was the nature of the
people who knew the stories ; and the second, the want
of men able and willing to write Gaelic. It was easy
to write English versions of tales heard in Gaelic, but
I wanted the Gaelic as it was told, and I had neither
time nor ability to write it down myself. I therefore
sought out two men on whom I could rely, to collect
and write for me, and the largest share of this book
has been collected and written by them. One is Mr.
Hector Urquhart, gamekeeper at Ardldnglas on Loch
Fyne ; the other, Mr. Hector MacLean, schoolmaster
at Ballygrant in Islay, who has superintended the print-
ing of the Gaelic. They entered into the spirit of the
work at once, and they have executed their share of
it with the greatest fidelity. But wliile these are my
chief aids, I am largely indebted to many others for
written Gaehc ; for example, to one of my earliest
friends, Mrs. MacTavish ; to the Eev. Mr. MacLauchlan
of Edinburgh ; to Alexander Eraser, Esq. of Mauld,
near Beaulay ; to many of the schoolmasters on the
estate of Sir Kenneth ]\IacKenzie ; to Mr. Donald
Torrie, Benbecula ; and to many others, including
John Dewar, a self-educated man of advanced age,
whose contribution does him the greatest credit.
The next step was to spend a summer holiday in
studying the actual condition of tliis popular lore,
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