Matheson Collection > Folk tales and fairy lore in Gaelic and English

THE MAIDENS.
There once lived in Callart a gentleman who was a
very famous deer - hunter. He had a greyhound the
equal of which was not then to be found in Lochaber;
but, like his master, he was growing old and losing
his speed.
One day in autumn the gentleman, followed by his
old greyhound, ascended the hill above Kinloch More
to chase the deer. He reached the corries they used
to frequent; but though he saw herd after herd of them
and followed them all day long, he never got near
enough to shoot an arrow, or to slip the dog after them.
At length, when the sun was going down in the west,
he came upon a fine full-grown stag all by himself, and
he slipped the dog in pursuit of him. The dog
stretched away with all his might, and at first was gain-
ing on the stag; but as soon as the stag laid his antlers
down over his shoulders, and lifted his nostrils in the
air, the dog began to fall behind, and soon lost sight
of him altogether.
Wearied and vexed, the gentleman sat down on a
green hillock in a deep glen between two lofty moun-
tains. He was not long there when two maidens of
fairest form and mien stood before him, one of them
holding a noble dog in a leash. The other was the
first to speak, and she said: "You are tired, hunter
of the deer," said she, "and vexed because the old
dog has allowed the big stag to escape." " I am tired,