3rd April, 2024 in Folklore

Folk tales from the Scottish coastline

By Tom Muir

When it comes to folk tales in Scotland we find that the sea plays a very important role, and it’s hardly surprising. The coastline is over 11,600 miles long, taking in all the islands, both large and small. The sea dominated the lives of so many, and the old tales reflected the wonders and the dangers of this.

Tom Muir author of Scottish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea has selected thirty-five tales from around Scotland. Some are familiar, some less so. Here you will find an array of supernatural creatures and places, from haunted castles to Tir-nan-og, the isle of the forever young. You will learn how the kind heart of a young fisherman who threw back a beautiful fish got him into trouble, but ended in his salvation from the devil. How a Caithness man was wooed by a mermaid but he was foolish with her gifts, which led to a terrible fate. And of the Cromarty man who captured a mermaid:

‘She struggled, but he held her tight, firmly pinned to the rock. Then her body relaxed, and she looked at him and spoke. Her voice, although as sweet as a songbird, had a cold chill to it that made the blood freeze in his veins. He knew the answer that he must give to win what he desired.

“Man, what with me?”

“Wishes three!”’

We meet the selkie folk, seal people who can take off their skin and dance by the light of the moon. Some are hapless victims, when a selkie maiden has her seal skin stolen and is forced to live on land with the man who possesses it, as told in this Orkney story:

‘But there was a great sadness on her. She would often slip away and sit by the shore. As she stared longingly at the waves, a large selkie’s head would break the surface of the sea and gaze at her. Then the tears would roll down her lovely face once again.’

But other selkie stories have a darker side and they can take a terrible revenge on those who hurt them. Witches too can bring death, while the evil Nucklavee is the most terrifying of all the uncanny beasts that hunt humans!

Pirates appear in some stories, but suffer the consequences of their actions. One Dutch pirate steals the bell from the Bell Rock, but regrets his actions after a year. Another wealthy laird acts as a privateer, raiding enemy ships during wartime before returning to his fine castle by the shore. He falls in love with a beautiful woman, but their love was doomed from the start. as the story says:

‘The Captain had no right to give his heart to Catriona, for it was not his to give. He already had a love, and one who would never give him up. For, you see, the Captain’s first love was the sea. He was devoted to her, and no earthly love was strong enough to break that bond.’

The devil is also to be found, loitering along the coast, looking for a fool to trick. There are stories about the devil gaining the promise of the soul of greedy lairds, whose lands lie on the coast. Sometimes he take other forms, like the twelve black demon cats, led by a larger one as red as fire, who trap a West Highland fisherman in his storehouse and insist on singing a funeral song for him, for a price:

‘The big red one turned to him and said with a purr, “Come along now, Murdo. You must pay for the fine cumha that the cats have sung for you.”
“Pay for it!” said Murdo, “Why should I be paying for that? I don’t need a cumha, what with me not being dead and all. Anyway, what do I have to pay for it with?”
“That I couldn’t tell you,” said the red cat, “but I know that singing gives you an appetite. You had better pay them, Murdo, for I can see the light of hunger in their eyes. Be quick about it, man!”’

The great sea monster of Orkney legend, the Stoor Worm, makes an appearance, but is slain by the most unlikely hero. While this is a well known story, this retelling is based on an alternative version, collected in the 19th century. A Shetland story warns of the dangers of stealing from the dead, when a man takes the boots from a drowned seaman. There is also to be found a remarkable wonder-tale about how Jeermit the Healer, one of Fin McCool’s band of warrior poets, travels to Land-under-Waves to save the princess.

There is humour, mixed with wisdom, in tales like how Jack fought and overcame Death, as he was on his way to take Jack’s mother. As nothing will die they can’t get anything to eat, neither animal or vegetable, as Jack comes to realise:

“Why was I such a fool?” he said. “I have ruined the world. People are suffering because of me. I wish I had never done it. I didn’t know just how important Death is. People fear him, but he is a good person who helps sufferers to leave this world of pain.”

And finally I close the book with a story of how I became a storyteller, which is a true story – of course. I slipped and banged my head in a boat, which drifted off to sea, and I awoke to find I’d changed:

‘I stopped and thought to myself, “I need a smoke,” so I put my hand to the chest-pocket of my old denim work jacket.
My hand felt something there. A lump. A large, soft, warm lump. I was confused, and I moved my hand to the other side … and there was another one.’