Tales of the glen

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As well as ùraisgean, glaistigean, na daoine sìthe and many other supernatural creatures, in many parts of the country of the Gael they believed in the creature known as the tarbh-uisge – water bull.

The tarbh-uisge wasn’t often seen; he was only small. He was the shape of a bull, very slippery, and they were always black.

There was a tarbh-uisge in Glencoe who had his watery home in the depths of Loch Triachatan, next to a part of the glen known as Achtriochtan. At night, he would come out of the water to eat grass, and he would eat much more than any normal beast. He would make an awful mess of the corn, or anything else growing in the glen, if he could get near it.

200 years ago, before the people were removed and the sheep put in their place, the old-style black Highland cattle were to be seen grazing on every side of the glen. When they would calve in April, they would often have a calf that wasn’t quite right – perhaps they were weak or had splay hooves, a split in their ear or missing the tip of an ear; sometimes no ears at all. It was said that these were the offspring of the tarbh-uisge of Loch Triachatan.

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There was a bana-bhuidseach or a witch called Corrag, who lived in the time of the Glencoe Massacre. She had foreseen what was to come but no one heeded her warning. The evening before the massacre, she fled to the hills and stayed there all night. When she returned to the village the next day, she found it deserted and still smouldering, a scene of carnage. She went to where the chief had been slain and found his broadsword. Taking it down the loch, the Caolas Mhic Phàdraig – the Ballachulish Narrows – she threw it into the water and made the following prophecy:

‘The men of the glen have suffered enough. No more shall die by the sword, so long as this sword remains under the water, undisturbed by the hand of man.’

In the years that followed, not one man from the glen lost his life in battle. None died at Culloden; none were killed at the Battle of Waterloo or the Thin Red Line; and none died in the Victorian wars. One man died in the Boer War, but he was killed by cholera rather than by enemy action.

The First World War? Not a single casualty throughout 1914 and 1915. However, in June 1916 a dredger was brought in to make the loch accessible to bigger ships as part of the war effort. On the night of 30 June 1916, the captain of the dredger walked into the old hotel carrying the handle of a large broadsword that had come up in the dredging basket. The men of the village were horrified and rowed out into the middle of the loch to return it to its watery resting place.

The very next morning, 1 July 1916, seven men from the glen were killed on the Western Front.

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One day Fionn and his men were out hunting in the mountain and they gathered a big pile of deer. It was the custom of the Gael in those times to dig a pit and roast the meat in the ground. And this was done, as usual, up at a place called Ruighe na Coinneimh, where hunters always gather after a great hunt in this part of the country.

A shower of hailstones started falling, and Fionn was asked how he would share out each of the stones that fell on his plaid if they were made of gold. Fionn shared them out equally, so that everyone present would get their share, but he failed to remember that there were two of the Fiantaichean: Raoine and Ailde, who were not in the company.

When the two who were not present heard of this, they left in a huff to enter the service of Earragan, the king of Scandinavia, for a year and a day. Ailde took a shining to King Earragan’s wife, and they escaped to their old master Fionn MacCool, who according to the Cothrom na Fèinne, the fair play of the Fiantaichean, had to take them back.

Now, the king of Scandinavia was furious, and he sailed through Caolas ‘ic Phàdruig, the Strait of Padraig, now renamed the Ballachulish Narrows, with 40 longships, looking for Fionn’s head. It is said that most of the Fiantaichean were out in the hunting mountain at this time, and therefore Fionn and a small number of his people ascended to the top of a peak, known as Sgorr nam Fiannaidh – the peak of the Fiantaichean– where they made deep trenches that would be inaccessible to the Vikings.

Finally, a battle was fought between 120 of the Scandinavian king’s best men and 120 of the Fiantaichean at a place called Achnacon. More of the Fiantaichean joined and the battle went on for a full nine days. By the last day of the battle, most of the Vikings were slaughtered – and the king of Scandinavia himself was killed by one of Fionn’s commanders, Goll mac Morna.

The Vikings escaped over to Laroch, where the Ballachulish village now lies, and many of them were killed in the river. It is said that there were only 2 of the 40 longships that came from Scandinavia that made it back home.

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The ancestors of the Druimeanaich, the Drummonds of Perth, were the first to rule over the lands of Glencoe, which they kept as hunting grounds. Eunraig, son of Dùghall, son of Neachdan of Drumalbane received the rights to these lands, and as well as his tribute, he had to fight under the banners of the Druimeanaich when they were called to battle. Eunraig was also obliged to give food and a bed to the chief and his attendants when they were in the glen, and to accompany them as far as the Pass of Glencoe upon leaving.

Eunraig was the first person to raise smoke from a fire as a farmer in Glencoe. Now, there is a stone in Carnoch (Glencoe Village) very close to where he had his house. And it is said, when he would go riding, he would stand on top of this stone so it would be easy to mount his horse. They gave this stone the name Clach Eunraig (Eunraig’s Stone). Eunraig’s family grew in size and settled around both sides of Loch Leven and were known as Clann Eunraig (the children of Eunraig).

When the Gaels and their language were being suppressed, Gaelic names were changed to sound less Gaelic – and the beautiful Highland name MacEunraig was changed to become Henderson. There are Henderson descendants of Eunraig spread out all over the world, but sadly there are hardly any of Eunraig, son of Dùghall, son of Neachdan’s people in the land of the Carnoch today.

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It was a custom of MacIain of Glencoe, as well as many other chieftains of the Gàidhealtachd, to go on a creach– a cattle raid. This was one of the ways that young men would learn how to be fully fledged warriors. This is a story of when MacIain went on a raid to Glen Duror.

Now, a man of the Clann ’ic Sholla – the MacColls – who was a master of the bow and arrow, lived in Achindarroch. He was known as Iain Cam Mac Sholla – Crooked Iain MacColl. It was said that he could launch an arrow from 100 yards to strike within 6 inches of his target.

When he saw MacIain and his clan had lifted cattle in Glen Duror without leaving a single animal in the glen, he took his bow and arrows and went on his own to lie in wait, at a hill called Monadh na Coigrich.

As MacIain and his men would pass below, driving the cattle of Glen Duror, Iain Cam cried: ‘MacIain! Let the beasts return.’ MacIain answered: ‘What? On your behalf, you crooked thief?’ Iain Cam replied: ‘Not at all. For your own sake. You’ll see, it’ll be better for you to let them go back.’ MacIain said: ‘No way! I won’t. I’ll not return them on your behalf, you crooked thief.’

So, Iain Mac Sholla put an arrow in his bow and launched it at MacIain. The arrow struck between his two legs and tore his kilt between his two thighs. ‘Will you return the beasts now?’, said Iain Cam. ‘I still won’t’, replied MacIain. Iain Cam launched the next arrow, which went over MacIain’s shoulder, and then said: ‘If you don’t let the beasts return, I’ll put the next arrow between the both of those, regardless of what happens to me as a result.’

‘Let the beasts return, or he will have my life’, ordered MacIain to his men. And so, they let the cattle go and headed homeward to Glencoe without their creach.