Ossian Collection > Peat-fire flame

THE GLAISTIG
Glaistig to swear on hot iron that never again would she
interfere with any living person in Lochaber as long as the
moon shone by night, and the sun by day. On doing as
she was bidden, she burnt her hand to the bone. Out
through the window she fled with a great shrieking — out
through the mists of dawn — to a hillock nearby. There
she ejected three squirts of blood from her veins ; and with
each of them she pronounced a curse on the head of Big
Kennedy and on his seed forever.
And they say in Lochaber that, ever since this incident,
the vegetation growing on this hillock has maintained the
appearance of having been discoloured by the Glaistig's
blood.
The Glaistig of Ardnadrochaid.
Not far from Craignure, on the Isle of Mull, is a place
called Ardnadrochaid, where lived a family named Lamont.
Now these Lamonts were served by a Glaistig who assumed
the form of a dog. One day there came across the Sound
of Mull from Morven a band of cattle-rievers, intent on
' lifting ' such beasts belonging to the Lamonts as their craft
could hold. But the Glaistig of Ardnadrochaid observed
their landing, and immediately proceeded to drive the live-
stock to the hills. At a spot still known as the Heroes'
Hollow, where the rievers overtook the herd, the Glaistig
struck each animal in turn, transforming it into a grey
stone, so as to prevent its falling into the rievers' hands.
These stones are to be seen in the Heroes' Hollow to this
day ; and their number testifies to the magnitude of the herd
then owned by the Lamonts.
After this occurrence, the Glaistig pined away and died,
though the family showed her every kindness and
consideration, and frequently sought to console her for the
loss of her cattle. The Lamonts buried her with due
reverence down by the Sound of Mull, and in a patch of
ground where in olden times it was customary to inter
unbaptised children.
The Glaistig of Ardnadrochaid was by no means the only
member of her species on the vast Island of Mull. The
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