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THE WATER-HORSE AND KINDRED MONSTERS
water-horse haunting a loch in the Morven district of
Argyll, where the liver of one of its victims came ashore
the day after nine children had been carried off by this evil
creature. The story goes that some children, nine in
number, were playing by a loch near Sunart, in Morven,
when they came upon a horse that appeared so docile as to
tempt all of them to mount it at the same tirne. Into the
loch with its nine young riders dashed the horse. Not one
of the children was ever seen again, though a child's liver
was washed ashore the following day.
This tale, with local variations, is often told to children
throughout the Highland countryside, so as to restrain them
from getting too close to, or from interfering with, horses.
Loch Arkaig's Water-horse.
Loch Arkaig, that historic and romantic sheet of fresh
water in Prince Charlie's Country, is not without its record
of a water-horse. As recently as 1857 it was seen. In
that year. Lord Malmesbury wrote in his Memoirs: " My
stalker, John Stuart at Achnacarry, has seen it twice, and
both times at sunrise in summer, when there was not a ripple
on the water. The creature was basking on the surface ; he
saw only the head and hind-quarters, proving that its back
was hollow, which is not the shape of any fish, or of a seal.
Its head resembled that of a horse. The Highlanders are
very superstitious about this creature. They believe that
there is never more than one in existence at the same time."
The Fate of John MacInnes in Glen Elg.
Associated with a lochan near a place called Suardalan,
in Glen Elg, is the following story of a water-horse, that
was told to me by Mrs MacTaggart during a happy and
memorable sojourn with her and her family at the Old
Manse of Glen Elg, a few years ago. One day a local man
named John MacInnes noticed by the edge of the lochan
what he took to be a fine horse. For some reason or other,
he entjuired of a sage in the district whether he might
appropriate the animal for his own use. The sage replied
that he thought MacInnes should take the horse with him,
77
water-horse haunting a loch in the Morven district of
Argyll, where the liver of one of its victims came ashore
the day after nine children had been carried off by this evil
creature. The story goes that some children, nine in
number, were playing by a loch near Sunart, in Morven,
when they came upon a horse that appeared so docile as to
tempt all of them to mount it at the same tirne. Into the
loch with its nine young riders dashed the horse. Not one
of the children was ever seen again, though a child's liver
was washed ashore the following day.
This tale, with local variations, is often told to children
throughout the Highland countryside, so as to restrain them
from getting too close to, or from interfering with, horses.
Loch Arkaig's Water-horse.
Loch Arkaig, that historic and romantic sheet of fresh
water in Prince Charlie's Country, is not without its record
of a water-horse. As recently as 1857 it was seen. In
that year. Lord Malmesbury wrote in his Memoirs: " My
stalker, John Stuart at Achnacarry, has seen it twice, and
both times at sunrise in summer, when there was not a ripple
on the water. The creature was basking on the surface ; he
saw only the head and hind-quarters, proving that its back
was hollow, which is not the shape of any fish, or of a seal.
Its head resembled that of a horse. The Highlanders are
very superstitious about this creature. They believe that
there is never more than one in existence at the same time."
The Fate of John MacInnes in Glen Elg.
Associated with a lochan near a place called Suardalan,
in Glen Elg, is the following story of a water-horse, that
was told to me by Mrs MacTaggart during a happy and
memorable sojourn with her and her family at the Old
Manse of Glen Elg, a few years ago. One day a local man
named John MacInnes noticed by the edge of the lochan
what he took to be a fine horse. For some reason or other,
he entjuired of a sage in the district whether he might
appropriate the animal for his own use. The sage replied
that he thought MacInnes should take the horse with him,
77
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Early Gaelic Book Collections > Ossian Collection > Peat-fire flame > (113) |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/81147415 |
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Description | Selected books from the Ossian Collection of 327 volumes, originally assembled by J. Norman Methven of Perth. Different editions and translations of James MacPherson's epic poem 'Ossian', some with a map of the 'Kingdom of Connor'. Also secondary material relating to Ossianic poetry and the Ossian controversy. |
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Description | Selected items from five 'Special and Named Printed Collections'. Includes books in Gaelic and other Celtic languages, works about the Gaels, their languages, literature, culture and history. |
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