Celtic Myths

by Flame Tree Studio

  Now this went on every day for a week, with the man from Heisker growing silent and cold, so his wife felt afraid and begged him to take leave of that house.

  “We’ve had a good visit now, and it’s time for us to be making for home,” she said firmly to her husband, and with the last tiny shred of rational thought left in his mind, which longed for the tall, lithe girl, with hair as black as a raven’s back, he agreed.

  And so it was that their belongings were packed, and their big strong boat made good, and they arrived at the sea to leave. But as the first foot was set inside that big boat, a great black gale was brewed and flung at them, and they could go no further. There was nothing for it but to return to the house from which they’d come, and to that tall, lithe woman.

  And again the next morning they set out, but the mists drew around them then, cool and dark, and they could go no further. There was nothing for it but to return to the house from which they’d come, and to the cool dark eyes of that woman.

  But as they walked away from the coast, they met a wee old witch, with hair that was whiter than the down of a thistle, and a small wrinkled face that spoke of great wisdom. And she stopped them there, and beckoned them aside.

  “Well, my good folks,” she said, “you’ve a bit of trouble leaving this dark place.”

  They nodded, and listened intently.

  “It’s no wonder,” said the wee old witch, “seeing the kind of place you’ve been staying. What will you give to me for fine weather to go tomorrow?”

  “Anything, anything we’ll give to you,” said the wife earnestly, and looked to her husband, but his eyes were trained on the hill, on the house with the tall, lithe woman, with the cool dark eyes, and his face was rent by a longing such as she’d never seen before. “We’ll do anything,” she said again firmly.

  “A pound of snuff,” said the old witch. “And I’ll need to have a word with the skipper. Send him by this evening.” And with that she showed them to the door.

  So later that night the skipper of the big strong boat was sent to see the old witch, and there she handed him a rope with three big knots.

  “Here you are,” she said. “You take this aboard and you’ll have a good day for sailing tomorrow. It’ll not be long before you’re at Lewis harbour. Now if you haven’t enough wind, just open one of these knots. And then if that is not enough still, untie the second. But whatever you do, by God, don’t untie the third.”

  And so it happened that on that next morning, the day dawned clear and bright, with a fresh puff of wind to set them on their course. They loaded the boat, and without a backward glance, they headed to sea. And the man of the family let out a sigh of relief so long and frenzied that the others averted their eyes. His thoughts were once again pure, and the magic of that old witch had set him free. He called to the skipper.

  “Untie a knot,” he said grandly, “let’s get us home at once.” And so a knot was untied, and a swift breeze blew up that sent them cutting through the waves.

  “And again,” he cried, the wind cold on his body, his soul cleansed and clear. And another knot was untied, so that a great wind was let loose on the tiny ship, and they flew across the water now, the sails stretched to the limit.

  And the man of the family settled himself on deck, and with the sea air licking his face, he felt safe from all danger, and perhaps a little too confident. For he called out then, “Let’s test that old woman’s magic. What means that third knot?”

  And his crew cowered away from him, and his wife shook her head, but he insisted, and being the man of the family, and in charge of his boat and his own fate, he had his way and the knot was untied.

  What happened then is a story for the ears of the fearless only, for from the sea rose a sight that clamped shut the mouths of the men, and the wife and their children until their dying day. It was a shape, tall and lithe, with a face of sorts, from which shone cold dark eyes. And a hand was reached down, and the man of the family plucked from amongst them, and into the sea. And then the boat itself was lifted high above the waves, placed on the sands of Heisker from where she’d never move again.

  She’s still there, a warning to all who think that magic can be tested, and the land there has come to be called Port Eilein na Culaigh, or Port of the Island of the Boat.

  The Daughter of Duart

  There once was a man, MacLean of Duart, who sent his daughter to become a scholar. Now in those days, an education was a novelty for a lassie, but so highly did he think of his daughter that he found the money, and sent her away. And a long time she was away, too, for it was three or four years before her feet touched the MacLean soil once more.

  While she was gone, the man, MacLean of Duart, would sit himself in her room, and look around him. It was a fine room, it was, for so highly did he think of his daughter that he found the money to buy her everything she ever wanted. There were books a plenty, but since MacLean of Duart could not read, they meant nothing to them, with their drawings of cats, and circles, and great long poems. There were pictures, too, on the walls of that room, and a soft cover on the bed, that made it look just so. For she was a clever girl, and she knew how to make a room feel warm.

  MacLean of Duart was lonely without his daughter, but he carried on working his land, and the day came again when she returned home to him there. And so it was that he took his daughter on his arm, and led her up into the hills, where the clouds quivered around them, and the air shone bright and blue. Then they looked around them, at all the beauty of the land, and he turned to her, his eyes alight with pride and joy, and he said to his daughter, “How much have you learned?”

  And his daughter stopped, and she looked about, across the mossy hills to the sea beyond, and there she pointed to a tall ship, which fought a course away from them against the waves.

  “There,” she said, “that ship. I have learned enough to bring it to shore.”

  And her father laughed warmly, and taking her arm again, he said, “Well, then, lass, bring her in.”

  The ship turned then, and made its way across the waters towards them. And it kept on coming, as the water grew shallow and the sands rose up to meet it, and then the rocks were there, thrusting their way through the waves as the prow of the ship drew nigh. And that ship kept on coming until it was about to be wrecked on the rocks.

  MacLean of Duart looked at his daughter then, and he said with a soft voice, “Save them now, lass. Why don’t you save them now.”

  And his daughter shrugged her shoulders, and she smiled an easy smile, then said, “But I can’t. I don’t know how to do that.”

  There was silence then, filled by the crash of the ship upon the rocks. He turned to her then, did MacLean of Duart, and he laid down her arm. He looked at his daughter with new eyes, and he said to her, “Well, then. If that is the education I have bought you, if that is what you have learned, then I would rather your room than your company.”

  He strode home, and built a great fire. And when his daughter came in after him, he cut her to bits and burnt her there, saying, as he poked the flames, “I will never have your sort in the same place as myself.”

  And he went to her room, and gathered together her books, and her pictures, and threw them on the fire. Then he took her soft cover from her bed and put that on, too, till there was no trace of the girl who was his daughter. For MacLean of Duart thought so highly of his daughter that he could not allow her to practise the education she’d gathered, for he would have nothing to do with black magic, and she had mastered the art.

  The Cauldron

  The little island of Sandray juts firmly through the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, which spits and surges around it. No human lives there, although sheep graze calmly on the succulent green grass, freshened by the moist salt air, and kept company by the fairy folk who live in a verdant knoll. But once upon a time there were men and women on the island of Sandray, an
d one was a herder’s wife, called Mairearad, who kept a tiny cottage on the northernmost tip.

  She had in her possession a large copper cauldron, blackened with age and with use. One day, as she wiped it clean of the evening meal, she was visited by a Woman of Peace, a fairy woman who tiptoed quietly into the cottage and asked to take away the cauldron for a short time. Now this was an older fairy, with a nature that was gentle and kind, and she presented little danger to Mairearad. She had a wizened fairy face, and features as tiny as the markings of a butterfly, and she moved swiftly and silently, advising no one of her coming or going. Mairearad passed her the cauldron, and as the Woman of Peace retreated down the cottage path, towards the twin hills that marked the fairy’s Land of Light, she said to the fairy,

  “A smith is able to make

  Cold iron hot with a coal;

  The due of the kettle is bones,

  And to bring it back again whole.”

  And so it was that the cauldron was returned that evening, left quietly on the cottage doorstop, filled with juicy bones.

  The Woman of Peace came again, later that day, and without saying a word, indicated the cauldron. And as days turned into years, an unspoken relationship developed between the two women, fairy and mortal. Mairearad would loan her cauldron, and in exchange she would have it filled with delicious bones. She never forgot to whisper, as the fairy drew out of sight,

  “A smith is able to make

  Cold iron hot with a coal;

  The due of the kettle is bones,

  And to bring it back again whole.”

  Then one day, Mairearad had to leave her cottage for a day, to travel to Castlebay, across the sea on Barra.

  She said to her husband before she left, “When the Woman of Peace comes to the doorstep, you must let her take the cauldron, but do not forget to say to her what I always say.”

  And so her husband worked his field, as he always did, and as he returned for his midday meal he met with a curious sight, for scurrying along the path in front of him was a wee woman, her face gnarled with age, her eyes bright and shrewd. Suddenly he felt an inexplicable fear, for most men have had fed to them as bairns the tales of fairies and the cruel tricks they play, their enchantments and their evil spells. He remembered them all now in a rush of tortuous thought, and pushed past the fairy woman to slam the cottage door. She knocked firmly, but he refused to answer, panting with terror on the other side of the door.

  At last there was silence, and then, a weird howl echoed around the cottage walls and there was a scrambling on the roof. Through the chimney was thrust the long brown arm of the fairy woman, and she reached straight down to the fire upon which the cauldron sat, and pulled it with a rush of air, through the cottage roof.

  Mairearad’s husband was still pressed against the door when she returned that evening, and she looked curiously at the empty hearth, remarking, “The Woman of Peace always returns the cauldron before darkness falls.”

  Then her husband hung his head in shame and told her how he’d barred the door, and when the fairy had taken the cauldron, he’d forgotten to ask for its return. Well Mairearad scolded her husband, and putting on her overcoat and boots, she left the cottage, lantern in hand.

  Darkness can play tricks as devilish as those of the fairies themselves, and it was not long before the dancing shadows, and whispering trees sent a shiver along the spine of the fierce wife Mairearad, but still she pressed on, safe in the knowledge that the Woman of Peace was her friend. She reached the threshold of the Land of Light and saw on a fire, just inside the door, her cauldron, filled as usual with tender bones. And so she grabbed it, and half-fearing where she was, began to ran, exciting the attention of the black fairy dogs that slept beside an old man who guarded the entrance.

  Up they jumped, and woke the old man, who cried out,

  “Silent woman, dumb woman,

  Who has come to us from the Land of the Dead

  Since you have not blessed the brugh –

  Unleash Black and let go Fierce.”

  And he let the dogs free to chase the terrified woman right back to the door of her cottage, baying and howling, spitting with determination and hunger. As she ran she dropped the tasty bones, buying herself a moment or two’s respite from the snarling dogs. For fairy dogs are faster than any dogs on earth, and will devour all human flesh that comes across their paths. Mairearad fled down the path, finally reaching her door and slamming it shut behind her. There she told her breathless story to her husband, and they held one another’s ears against the painful wailing of the hounds. Finally there was silence.

  Never again did the fairy Woman of Peace come to Mairearad’s cottage, nor did she borrow the cauldron. Mairearad and her husband missed the succulent bones, but never again did they trouble the fairy folk. They are long dead now, buried on the grassy verge on the island of Sandray, where the sheep graze calmly on the succulent green grass, freshened by the moist salt air, kept company by the fairy folk who live in a verdant knoll.

  The Horned Women

  A rich woman sat up late one night carding and preparing wool, while all the family and servants were asleep. Suddenly a knock was given at the door, and a voice called, “Open! open!”

  “Who is there?” said the woman of the house.

  “I am the Witch of one Horn,” was answered.

  The mistress, supposing that one of her neighbours had called and required assistance, opened the door, and a woman entered, having in her hand a pair of wool-carders, and bearing a horn on her forehead, as if growing there. She sat down by the fire in silence, and began to card the wool with violent haste. Suddenly she paused, and said aloud: “Where are the women? they delay too long.”

  Then a second knock came to the door, and a voice called as before,

  “Open! open!”

  The mistress felt herself obliged to rise and open to the call, and immediately a second witch entered, having two horns on her forehead, and in her hand a wheel for spinning wool.

  “Give me place,” she said; “I am the Witch of the two Horns,” and she began to spin as quick as lightning.

  And so the knocks went on, and the call was heard, and the witches entered, until at last twelve women sat round the fire – the first with one horn, the last with twelve horns.

  And they carded the thread, and turned their spinning-wheels, and wound and wove, all singing together an ancient rhyme, but no word did they speak to the mistress of the house. Strange to hear, and frightful to look upon, were these twelve women, with their horns and their wheels; and the mistress felt near to death, and she tried to rise that she might call for help, but she could not move, nor could she utter a word or a cry, for the spell of the witches was upon her.

  Then one of them called to her in Irish, and said, “Rise, woman, and make us a cake.”

  Then the mistress searched for a vessel to bring water from the well that she might mix the meal and make the cake, but she could find none.

  And they said to her, “Take a sieve and bring water in it.”

  And she took the sieve and went to the well; but the water poured from it, and she could fetch none for the cake, and she sat down by the well and wept.

  Then a voice came by her and said, “Take yellow clay and moss, and bind them together, and plaster the sieve so that it will hold.”

  This she did, and the sieve held the water for the cake; and the voice said again:

  “Return, and when thou comest to the north angle of the house, cry aloud three times and say, ‘The mountain of the Fenian women and the sky over it is all on fire.’”

  And she did so.

  When the witches inside heard the call, a great and terrible cry broke from their lips, and they rushed forth with wild lamentations and shrieks, and fled away to Slievenamon, where was their chief abode. But the Spirit of the Well bade the mistress of the hou
se to enter and prepare her home against the enchantments of the witches if they returned again.

  And first, to break their spells, she sprinkled the water in which she had washed her child’s feet, the feet-water, outside the door on the threshold; secondly, she took the cake which in her absence the witches had made of meal mixed with the blood drawn from the sleeping family, and she broke the cake in bits, and placed a bit in the mouth of each sleeper, and they were restored; and she took the cloth they had woven, and placed it half in and half out of the chest with the padlock; and lastly, she secured the door with a great crossbeam fastened in the jambs, so that the witches could not enter, and having done these things she waited.

  Not long were the witches in coming back, and they raged and called for vengeance.

  “Open! open!” they screamed; “open, feet-water!”

  “I cannot,” said the feet-water; “I am scattered on the ground, and my path is down to the Lough.”

  “Open, open, wood and trees and beam!” they cried to the door.

  “I cannot,” said the door, “for the beam is fixed in the jambs and I have no power to move.”

  “Open, open, cake that we have made and mingled with blood!” they cried again.

  “I cannot,” said the cake, “for I am broken and bruised, and my blood is on the lips of the sleeping children.”

  Then the witches rushed through the air with great cries, and fled back to Slievenamon, uttering strange curses on the Spirit of the Well, who had wished their ruin; but the woman and the house were left in peace, and a mantle dropped by one of the witches in her flight was kept hung up by the mistress in memory of that night; and this mantle was kept by the same family from generation to generation for five hundred years after.