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

477
LVII.
THE TAIL.
TolJ about thirty years ago by John Campbell, piper to his pajjil,
J. F. Campbell.
T^HERE was a shepherd once who went out to the
■*- hill to look after his sheep. It was misty and
cold, and he had much trouble to find them. At last
he had them all but one ; and after much searching he
found that one too in a peat hag half drowned ; so he
took off his plaid, and bent down and took hold of the
sheep's tail, and he pulled ! The sheep was heavy
with water, and he could not lift her, so he took off
his coat and be jjulled ! ! but it was too much for him,
so he spit on his hands, and took a good hold of the
tail and he pulled ! ! and the tail broke ! and if it had
not been for that this tale would have been a great
deal longer.
This may be compared with Grimm's Golden Key. I have
not given it in Gaelic, because, so far as I remember, the story
was never told twice in the same words ; and it can be told quite
as well in any language. It is very well known in many districts
in various shapes. I have a second version, which is called —
2. Ursgeal a' Ghamhna dhuinn, an aill leibh as a thoiseach e,
The tale of the Brown Stirk. Do you wish from the beginning ?
It has nothing but a beginning; for the stirk fell over a rock
and left his tail in the herdsman's hands ; and the story comes
to an untimely end with the Gaelic proverbial phrase — had the