Matheson Collection > Popular tales of the west Highlands > Volume 1

26 WEST HIGHLAND TALES.
Didst thou see my likeness Ì say that thou sawest it.
But be sure that thou meetest me to-morrow morning
here, in this place." The king's son got good and [right
good treatment this night. Meat of each meat, drink
of each drink, warm water to his feet, and a soft bed
for his limbs.
On the next day the raven gave him the same sight
over seven Bens, and seven Glens, and seven Mountain
moors. They saw a bothy far off, but, though far off,
they were soon there. He got good treatment this
night, as before — plenty of meat and drink, and warm
water to his feet, and a soft bed to his limbs — and on
the next day it was the same thing.
On the third morning, instead of seeing the raven as
at the other times, who should meet him but the hand-
somest lad he ever saw, with a bundle in his hand.
The king's son asked this lad ii he had seen a big black
raven. Said the lad to him, " Thou wilt never see the
raven again, for I am that raven. I was put under
spells ; it was meeting thee that loosed me, and for
that thou art getting this bundle. Now," said the lad,
"thou wilt turn back on the self-same steps, and thou
wilt lie a night in each house, as thou wert before ; but
thy lot is not to lose the bundle which I gave thee, till
thou art in the place where thou wouldst most wish to
dwell."
The king's son turned his back to the lad, and his
face to his father's house ; and he got lodging from the
raven's sisters, just as he got it when going forward.
When he was nearing his father's house he was going
through a close wood. It seemed to him that the
bundle was growing heavy, and he thought he would
look what was in it.
When he loosed the bundle, it was not without