Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2

THE TALE OF SCIRE MO CHE.VLAG. 377
And tliougli tliey were pounded and -wounded, it
Tvas no matter, tliey were pleased, because the man who
was lost was found, and after the payment they made
a feast for the one who had found the man who was
lost.
The tenants of Sgire mo Chealag had a loch on
Avhich they used to put fish, and so it was that they
needs must drain the loch, to get fresh fish for the
feast ; and when the loch was drained, there was not a
single fish found on the loch but one great eeL Then
they said, —
" This is the monster that ate our fish." Then
they caught her, and they went away with her to drown
her in the sea. And when he saw this he went home ;
and on the way he saw four men putting a cow up to
the top of a house that she might eat the grass that
was growing on the house-top. Then he saw that the
people of Sgire mo Chealag were men without intelli-
gence ; but said he, " "What reward will you give me,
and I will bring the grass down Ì "
He went and he cut the grass, and he gave it to
the cow, and went on before liim.
Then he saw a man coming with a cow in a cart,
and the people of the town had found out that the man
had stolen the cow, and that mod a court should be
held upon him, and so they did ; and the justice they
did was to put the horse to death for carrying the cow.
And to shew you that this tale is true, it was this
that made Iain Lorn the bard say : —
" As law of ages that are not
As was Sgire mo Cheallag,
When doomed they the garron in mote.