He shouted again for the cup, or for battle. They sent out twice eight hundred men, and in three hours Diarmid had killed them all.
He shouted again for the cup, or for battle, and they sent out twice nine hundred heroes, and in four hours Diarmid left no man of them alive.
‘Where has this man come from?’ said the King. ‘He has brought my kingdom to ruin. If it is this hero’s pleasure, let him tell me where he comes from!’
‘It is this hero’s pleasure,’ shouted Diarmid. ‘I am one of the Feinne. I am Diarmid.’
‘Why didn’t you send a message to say who you were?’ said King Mag. ‘I would not have spent my realm on you, for you would have killed every one of my men. This was written in the books of prophecy, seven years before you were born. What do you want?’
‘The cup of healing from your own hand,’ said Diarmid, and the King of the Plain of Wonder gave him the cup, and offered him a ship. But Diarmid said he had a ferry of his own, and departed with the cup. He suddenly realised that he had forgotten the little red man, and had possibly offended him. But the little man again lifted him over the river.
‘I know that you are going to cure the daughter of the King under the Waves. She is the girl you love best in the world. You will go to a well you will find in that direction. By the side of the well you will find a bottle. Fill the bottle with water from the well and take it with you. When you have reached the Princess’s room, you will put some water in the cup, and a clot of blood in the water, which she will drink. You will do this a second time, and a third time, and she will be well. But when that happens she will be the girl you love least in all the world.
‘I am the messenger of the other world. I helped you because your heart is warm to do good to someone else. You will take no reward of gold or silver from the King under the Waves, but the King will send a ship to take you where you came from.’
Diarmid did everything the little red man had said. He cured the Princess with the three clots of blood in the water in the cup given him by the King of the Plain of Wonder. But he lost his love for the Princess. He refused the King’s reward for curing the Princess, and he refused to marry the Princess. All he took was a ship to carry him home to the Feinne, who were very pleased that he had returned.
GLOSSARY
AIN own
ALOOR! alas! alack! (Orkney)
ASSIPATTLE one who is loath to leave the fireside to do any work (Orkney)
BAIRN child
BANE bone
BANNOCK oatcake
BARQUE three-masted sailing ship
BEN (1) mountain; (2) the ‘front room’ of a but and ben, a two-roomed cottage
BICKER bowl or dish
BIDE dwell
BOGLE hobgoblin
BONNACH STONE a stone, usually round, on which bannocks were baked before a fire
BRAE hillside
BRAW handsome, beautiful
BREE water in which food has been cooked or preserved
BROSE oatmeal or peasemeal mixed with boiling water
BUDDO (a term of endearment)
BURD (poetic) woman or lady
BURN stream
BUT kitchen or outer room
BYRE cow-house
CANNILY cautiously
CARLE man
CARLIN an old woman
CLEW a ball of yarn
CLOGGIRS goose-grass
COG, COGIE a wooden vessel for milk etc.
COLLOP portion
CORRIE hollow on a mountain side
CREEL basket
CROFT small piece of land adjoining a house
DEIL devil
DIRK dagger
DOO dove, pigeon
ETIN a giant
FIN-FOLK mythical sea-folk
FULLING-WATER water in which cloth is fulled (milled) and cleansed with soap and fuller’s earth
GIEN given
GILLIE man-servant, boy
GIRNAL chest for meal, salt etc.
GLOAMING twilight
GRUAGACH a kind of brownie with long hair and beard
HALY WATTER holy water
HECKLE a comb for dressing flax and hemp
HILDA-LAND Fairy-land
HOODIE carrion crow
HYN-HALLOW Holy Island, between Rousay and Orkney mainland
ILKA each
INARY a woman’s name
KITCHEN (vb) to season, give a relish to food
KNOCKING STONE stone-mortar, or flat stone
KNOWE knoll, small hill
KYE cattle
LAIRD squire
LAMMAS the beginning of August
LAP-BOARD a board laid across the lap for working on used by tailors, etc.
MALISON curse
MIDDEN dunghill
MIND remember
MIXTER-MAXTER confused, jumbled
MOOR-STONE a granite standing stone
ODIN STONE a stone sacred to the Norse god Odin; there is one in Shapinsay
PARLEY BOAT a small boat of a particular rig
PEAT-HAG a hole from which peat has been cut; a heap of peat
PEERIE small
ST CRISPIN saint of shoemakers
SASSENACH Saxon, foreigner
SELKIE seal
SHINTY game played with stick and ball in the Highlands
SKIRL a shrill cry
SMIDDY smithy, smith’s workshop
SPEY-WIFE fortune-teller
SPEIR ask, enquire
SPORRAN purse
STANE stone
STRATH a wide valley
THRAFT OR FORETHRAFT front rowing seat across (athwart) a boat
TOCHER dowry
URUISG water hobgoblin
WARLOCK wizard
WAULKING treading cloth
WHIN gorse
WHUPPITY STOORIE a brownie
WIDDERSHINS anti-clockwise
WITHIES willow branches
YILL ale
STORY SOURCES
THE WELL AT THE WORLD’S END Popular Tales of the West Highlands, orally collected with a translation by J. F. Campbell (3 vols., Alexander Gardner, Paisley and London, 1890-93), II, xxxiii, p. 140.
RASHIE COAT Popular Rhymes of Scotland, collected from tradition by Robert Chambers (2nd ed., Chambers, Edinburgh and London, 1870), p. 66.
PRINCE IAIN ‘Mac Iain Direach’ in Campbell, II, xlvi, p. 344.
THE FLEA AND THE LOUSE County Folklore, III, printed extract no. 5 (Orkney and Shetland Islands), collected by G. F. Black (Folklore Society Publications 49, London, 1903, reprinted 1967), p, 226.
WHUPPITY STOORIE Chambers, p. 72.
THE FAIRY-WIFE AND THE COOKING-POT Campbell, II, xxvi, p. 52.
THE MAIDEN FAIR AND THE FOUNTAIN FAIRY ‘The Paddo’ in Chambers, p. 57.
THE TALE OF THE SOLDIER Campbell, II, xlii, p. 290.
THE FECKLESS ONES Campbell, II, xlviii, p. 388.
PIPPETY PEW ‘The Milk-White Doo’ in Chambers, p. 49.
THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY Chambers, p. 95.
ROBIN REIDBREIST AND THE WRAN Oral source: from the recitation of Mrs Begg, youngest sister of Robert Burns. She believed her brother made it.
THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS Campbell, I, ii, p. 25.
THE GOOD HOUSEWIFE Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, Argyllshire series, edited by Lord Archibald Campbell (5 vols., David Nutt, London, 1889-95); V, Clan Traditional and Popular Tales, collected from oral sources by the Rev. J. G. Campbell, p. 83.
THE KING OF LOCHLIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS Campbell, I, xvi, p. 344.
THE WIFE AND HER BUSH OF BERRIES Chambers, p. 57.
BROWNIE THE COW Oral source.
HOW THE COCK GOT THE BETTER OF HER FOX Campbell, III, lxiii, p. 105.
THE SMITH AND THE FAIRIES Campbell, II, xxvill, p. 57.
THE GAEL AND THE LONDON BAILLIE’S DAUGHTER Campbell, I, xvii, p. 289.
THE WEE BANNOCK Chambers, p. 82.
THE BROWN BEAR OF THE GREEN GLEN Campbell, I, ix, p. 168.
FATHER WREN A
ND HIS TWELVE SONS Waifs and Strays, V, p. 120.
MALLY WHUPPIE Campbell, I, xvii, p, 259.
THE WHITE PET Campbell, I, xl, p. 199
BIG FOX AND LITTLE FOX Oral source.
THE TALE OF THE HOODIE Campbell, I, iii, p. 64.
THE STOOR WORM W. Traill Dennison in Scottish Antiquary, V (1891), p. 130.
THE MERMAID ‘The Sea Maiden’ in Campbell, I, iv, p. 72.
THE WINNING OF HYN-HALLOW W. Traill Dennison in Scottish Antiquary, VII (1892), p. 117.
THE GOODMAN OF WASTNESS W. Traill Dennison in ibid., p. 173,
TAM SCOTT AND THE FIN-MAN W. Traill Dennison in op. cit., VIII (1893), p. 51.
FARQUHAR THE HEALER Campbell, II, xlvii, p. 377.
JOHNNIE CROY AND THE MERMAID W. Traill Dennison in Scottish Antiquary, VI (1892), p. 118.
THE WIDOW’S SON Campbell, II, xliv, p. 307.
OSCAR AND THE GIANT Campbell, I, lxxx, p. 311
FINN AND THE YOUNG HERO’S CHILDREN Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, III: Folk and Hero Tales, edited, translated and annotated by the Rev. J. MacDougall, p. 1.
FINN AND THE GREY DOG ibid., p. 17.
FINN IN THE HOUSE OF THE YELLOW FIELD ibid., p. 56.
GREEN KIRTLE ‘The Fair Gruagach’ in Campbell, II, li, p. 424.
THE LAST OF THE PICTS Chambers, p. 80.
MURCHAG AND MIONACHAG Campbell, I, viii, p. 161.
PEERIE FOOL County Folklore, III, p. 222
THE HEN Campbell, III, lxiv, p. 106.
THE YOUNG KING ‘The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh’ in Campbell, I, i, p. 1.
THE RED ETIN Chambers, p. 87.
THE EAGLE AND THE WREN Waifs and Strays, V, p. 120.
IAIN THE SOLDIER’S SON Campbell, III, i, p. 9.
THE LEGEND OF LOCH MAREE Waifs and Strays, V, p. 74.
DIARMID AND GRAINNE Campbell, III, lx, p. 49.
CHILDE ROWLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, with contributions from R. Jamieson, H. Weber, and Sir Walter Scott (James Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1814), p. 398.
CUCHULAINN AND THE TWO GIANTS Oral source.
DAUGHTER OF THE KING UNDER THE WAVES Campbell, III, lxxxvi, p. 421.
INDEX
Battle of the Birds, The, ref 1
Big Fox and Little Fox, ref 1
Black Bull of Norroway, The, ref 1
Brown Bear of the Green Glen, The, ref 1
Brownie the Cow, ref 1
Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower Came, ref 1
Cuchulainn and the Two Giants, ref 1
Daughter of the King Under the Waves, ref 1
Diarmid and Grainne, ref 1
Eagle and the Wren, The, ref 1
Fairy-Wife and the Cooking-Pot, The, ref 1
Farquhar the Healer, ref 1
Father Wren and His Twelve Sons, ref 1
Feckless Ones, The, ref 1,
Finn and the Grey Dog, ref 1
Finn and the Young Hero’s Children, ref 1
Finn in the House of the Yellow Field, ref 1
Flea and the Louse, The, ref 1
Gael and the London Baillie’s Daughter, The, ref 1
Good Housewife, The, ref 1
Goodman of Wastness, The, ref 1
Green Kirtle, ref 1
Hen, The, ref 1
How the Cock got the Better of the Fox, ref 1
Iain the Soldier’s Son, ref 1
Johnnie Croy and the Mermaid, ref 1
King of Lochlin’s Three Daughters, The, ref 1
Last of the Picts, The, ref 1
Legend of Loch Maree, The, ref 1
Maiden Fair and the Fountain Fairy, The, ref 1
Mally Whuppie, ref 1
Mermaid, The, ref 1
Murchag and Mionachag, ref 1
Oscar and the Giant, ref 1
Peerie Fool, ref 1
Pippety Pew, ref 1
Prince Iain, ref 1
Rashie Coat, ref 1
Red Etin, The, ref 1
Robin Reidbreist and the Wran, ref 1
Smith and the Fairies, The, ref 1
Stoor Worm, The, ref 1
Tale of the Hoodie, The, ref 1
Tale of the Soldier, The, ref 1
Tam Scott and the Fin-Man, ref 1
Wee Bannock, The, ref 1
Well at the World’s End, The, ref 1
White Pet, The, ref 1
Whuppity Stoorie, ref 1
Widow’s Son, The, ref 1
Wife and Her Bush of Berries, The, ref 1
Winning of Hyn-Hallow, The, ref 1
Young King, The, ref 1
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