Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/695

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Folklore of the Isle of Skye.
385

But the conditions of service were peculiar. She must stay alone in the house and exhibit no alarm if she saw anything out of the ordinary. The girl consented to undertake the place, and accordingly went to the house and was left alone. Soon the apparition of a man appeared, who spoke and told her that he was her employer's father. He then proceeded to tell her that a large sum of money was concealed in a place which he told her how to find. Further he said, that thanks to her bravery he was enabled to speak and get rid of his secret, and that one so courageous was the only wife for his son. This marriage eventually took place, and the well-to-do girl, who had so scorned her poor companion, became her servant.

(7) A young man, after being betrothed to a girl in the island, went to America. Thither, after a good interval of time and having some small savings, his betrothed followed him, in order to be married. On arrival in America, the girl fell among robbers, and all her money was taken from her. In her destitution, she asked shelter at a small cottage. An old woman, who opened the door to her, told her that she was afraid to let her in, as the house was but a den of robbers. However, the girl prevailed, and the old woman managed to conceal her when the robbers were heard returning. To the girl's horror, among the latter was her lover. When the whole party were asleep, the girl took away his breeches, and in the pockets found her own money. Cured of the desire for matrimony, she returned to Skye.

(8) A girl in Raasay (which is the small island stretching across the entrance to Portree Bay) was in love with a keeper, who does not seem to have returned her affection. She resorted to the usual wise man for a charm. He told her that the first time she met the keeper, she was, without saying a word, to go up and kiss him. She did so, but it must have been dusk, for, to her distress, she found she had kissed Macgillichallum (MacLeod of Raasay). The charm worked, however, and Macgillichallum insisted upon making her his wife, first, however, in some way divorcing the lady to whom he was already married. Both wives had sons, and on the death of Macgillichallum, the son of the first wife drove away the island Hagar and her son