History of the Clan MacLean from its first settlement at Duard Castle, in the Isle of Mull, to the present period

336 History of the Clan MacLean.
strument governed him. Having neglected to comply with the terms of the-
bargain, he reminded me of it a few days afterward.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
LEGENDS OF MULL.
The legends of Mull are many, and all are interesting ; but it is designed
here to give only a few of the most characteristic. Of the many relating to
Allan nan Sop (.see i^age 88), the following is given as an example : The wife
of Maclan was fair and vain ; Allan was handsome and cunning. He, 3,1-
though the enemy of her husband, won her affections. She agreed to admit
him to Mingarry castle upon a certain night to murder her husband, on con-
dition that he would marry her. Allan accordingly entered the castle at night
and murdered the old chief. Maclan, however, left an only son, and MacLean
insisted upon the woman putting to death the son, who alone seemed to stand
in the way of his subjecting the district to his own sway. The woman agreed
to this, and accompanied by Allan reached the wild precipice to throw her
child over into the ocean, which foamed below. The mother took the child in
her arms and twice swung it in the air to cast it from her, but not doing so,
she was asked why she delayed. " The child," replied the unfortunate woman,
" smiles in my face whenever I attempt it." " Turn, then, your face away,
and look not at its smiles," was Allans reply. The woman did so, and the
child was hurled over the rock. No sooner had she accomplished the deed
than Allan turned upon her and said : "Away home, woman ! You who could
thus murder your husband and child misht murder me."
A story is told of a feud * between Allan MacDonald of Clanranald — •
better known as Allan MacRuari — and the lord of Duard, probably Hector
Odhar, ninth chief. The feuds between the MacLeans and the MacDonalds
did not break out until the time of Hector Mor, twelfth chief of MacLean.
Allan MacRuari was executed in 1509. Still it is possible that the chief of
MacLean and Allan had become bitter foes, as narrated in certain documents.
Allan was the dread and terror of all the neighboring clans, and at one time
* Partly recorded in History of Clanranald, pp. 8'2-84; MacKenzie's i/j.si'o/v/ of the Mac-
Donalds, p. 375; MauCallums History of tlie Ancient Scots, p. 207.