and the "plochan" out of his pocket; and the string tied the fat man, and the porridge-stick beat him, till he roared for mercy. Then the girl clapped her hands and laughed till her sides ached.
Next morning the mother sent for both the lovers. She told the boy that he was a rogue, and would come to be hung, as he deserved, and that he should never have her daughter; but she said to the old man that he might have the girl, and that the wedding should be that very evening.
But the stupid boy was determined not to be beat, so he came to the window quietly, and put the bee in. The bee stung the man in the face, so that he ran about, holding his hands to his head, and the girl sat opposite him and laughed till the tears ran down her face; and every time she looked at the fat old man's swelled nose, and eyes she began again. Her father heard the noise, and came in, when he saw her not able to speak for laughing. He was so delighted that he said no one should have her but the stupid boy that had made her laugh three times. So they were married next day, and lived happily all their lives after.—(D. R., forester, Loch Stack Lodge.)
[Of this story a very similar version is told in Argyllshire.]
xxviii.—The Master Thief.
[This was twenty or thirty years ago a common school-boy's tale. I have tried in vain to get it written down in Gaelic, but they tell it with all that is in the Norwegian version, and more besides, such as the theft of some rabbits (how performed I cannot hear), and that of a lot of calves. The master thief stole these for the robbers by imitating in the woods and upland pastures the cry of their milky mothers.]
xxix. — A Legend of Loch Spynie.
There was a gentleman in Morayshire, at one time, who had learnt witchcraft in the school of black art in Italy. On one occasion he ordered his coachman to drive him, in his carriage and four horses, across Loch Spynie, on the ice of one night's frost. Loch Spynie was very deep at that time. The wizard charged a pair of pistols in the
