The identification of the woman who broke the Sabbath was "when a man who had formerly been acquainted with her saw her in the midst of An Teine Mor. She had been turned into the teine mor, and she it is who runs about in marshy places at night, and there she must run as long as the world lasts." In the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness[1] the Rev. John MacRury of Snizort, Skye, says that the name an "An teine biorach" is applied to Will-o'-the-Wisp in Skye, "An teine mor" in Uist and Benbecula, and gives this story at length, in literary form and in Gaelic. It is to the effect that: There was a farmer in Benbecula, called as a nickname, for he was not a clergyman, Priest Callum. He was of the clan MacCarmac; and though Mr. MacRury knew one of his grandsons well, he never learned how he came by his title of "priest." Callum's wife was a witch. This pair had a daughter, who determined to gather rudh, a red dye, for her thread. She could not gather it during the day, as it was forbidden; so to keep the matter as hidden as possible she determined to go gathering it after twelve o'clock on Sunday night. When her mother heard her going out of the door, in spite of her expressed desire that she should not go, her mother said: 'You are now going, and your mother's curse on your head. I would the day were come which would see the sole of your foot.' Apparently her mother had her desire, for the daughter of Priest Callum was never again seen alive or dead, on sea or land, though part of her clothing was seen on the plain where she was gathering the rudh. A short time after this, the light called the great fire was seen, and apparently everyone believed that the daughter of Callum was the "Great Fire." Many thought that the appearance presented was that of fire in a basket, which gave rise to the belief that the fire was in the breast of the girl. "They further believed that she was to walk
- ↑ Vol. xix. p. 158.
