and provisions of all sorts. He was ignorant of the navigation of the Dornoch Firth, but he tried to enter it, in the hopes of some north-west passage. He ran his ship on the quicksands of the Gizzen Brigs, and there where she sank the fisherman can still see her topgallant, and her bargee, flying and fluttering in the waves. Her crew and her captain must be still alive, for in calm weather they may be heard praying and singing psalms to avert the judgment of the Last Day, when the master of the Rotterdam will be punished.
[This recalls the account of Vanderdecken's attempt to double the Cape, and the legend of the "Flying Dutchman." In Delabouche's poem of "Le Navire Inconnu," the crime of the captain is said to have been his traffic in slaves:—
"On raconte, mon fils,
Qu'un grand forfait s'expie
Dans les flancs habités
De ce navire impie."
The bells seem to refer the present story to a superstition about the buried cities, which finds expression in the next tale.]
iv.—The Buried Castle.
Once upon a time there was a strong castle which belonged to a very bad man, and in its court there was a well which supplied the soldiers when their wicked lord had to stand a siege. One night he gave a great ball, at which dancing was kept up to a very late hour. It was Sunday morning, yet the dancing was still going on, when a servant-girl came to tell the master that the well was overflowing. He told her rudely to empty it; but she soon came again, and said that the water came up very fast. He swore at her, and bade her return to her work. The water continued to rise, and to rush out till first the court was filled, and then the castle itself disappeared into the earth, leaving in its place a deep lake. On clear days the chimneys and gables can be seen, and a gentleman who used to fish in the lake frequently remarked them. One day a little mannikin started up from among the reeds of its shore and said to him, "Come no more! You must fish here no more, for there are more mouths here than
