Folk Tales of Scotland (30 page)

There was a soldier in the same town who had three sons, and on New Year’s Day they were playing at shinty when the youngest son said they should play on the Knight of Greenock’s
lawn. His brothers said the Knight would not be pleased for their play would remind him of his daughters.

‘Let that be as it may,’ said Iain the youngest son, ‘but we should play there all the same. I don’t care whether the Knight is pleased or not.’ So they played.

The Knight looked out of a window and saw them playing.

‘Bring those lads here,’ said he. ‘I’ll punish them for playing shinty on my lawn and reminding me of my daughters.’ So they were brought before him.

‘Why did you play shinty on my ground, reminding me of my lost children? You must suffer for this.’

‘There’s no need to punish us,’ said Iain the youngest son. ‘Build us a ship, and whether your daughters are leeward or windward, or under the four brown shores of the
sea, we’ll find them before the end of a year and a day, and we’ll bring them back to Greenock.’

‘Though you’re the youngest, your head holds the best counsel,’ said the Knight. ‘Let us make the ship!’

So shipwrights were brought and a ship was built in seven days. Food and drink necessary for the journey were put on board. Her bows were
turned to the sea, her stern to
the land, then they sailed away. In seven days they reached a white sandy beach. They went ashore, and found six men and ten, with a foreman, blasting the face of the cliff.

‘What place is this?’ asked the captain.

‘This is where the three daughters of the Knight of Greenock are to marry three giants,’ said the foreman.

‘How can we reach them?’ asked the three sons.

‘There’s only one way up the face of the cliff, and that’s in a creel.’

The eldest son got into a creel, but when he was half-way up the cliff, a stumpy black raven flew down, clawed at him and beat him with its wings till the lad was almost blind, and he had to
come down.

The second son went into the creel, and halfway up the black raven clawed at him and beat him with its wings, till he too had to come down.

Last of all, Iain went into the creel, and half-way up the black raven clawed and beat him about the face. But Iain would not give in.

‘Pull me up quickly before I’m blinded,’ he shouted. At the top of the cliff he stepped out of the creel.

‘Give me a quid of tobacco,’ said the raven.

‘That’s a high price for nothing,’ said Iain.

‘Never mind that,’ said the raven. ‘I’ll be a good friend to you. Now, go to the big giant’s house, and you’ll see the Knight’s eldest daughter.
She’ll be sewing, her thimble wet with tears.’

Iain walked on till he came to the giant’s house, and he went in. The Knight’s daughter was sewing, her thimble wet with tears.

‘What brought you here?’ said she.

‘What brought you here?’ said Iain.

‘I was brought here against my will,’ said she.

‘I know that,’ said Iain. ‘Where is the giant?’

‘He’s on the hunting hill.’

‘How can I bring him home?’

‘Shake that chain outside the house. But there’s no one to leeward, or
to windward, within the four brown shores of the sea, who will fight with him except
young Iain the soldier’s son, from Albainn. He’s only sixteen and too young to fight the giant.’

‘There are many in Albainn as strong as Iain the soldier’s son,’ said Iain.

Then he went outside and hauled at the chain. But he could not move it and fell on his knees. He got up, pulled on the chain a second time and broke a link of it. The giant heard it on the
hunting hill.

‘Aha!’ said he. ‘Who could move my chain but young Iain the soldier’s son, but he’s only sixteen and too young yet.’

The giant strung a dead deer on a willow branch and strode home.

‘Are you Iain the soldier’s son from Albainn?’

‘No!’ said Iain. ‘There are many as strong in Albainn as Iain the soldier’s son.’

‘I’ve heard that,’ said the giant. ‘How would you like to try your strength?’

‘In a wrestle,’ said Iain.

Then they seized each other, and hugged each other, and the giant pulled Iain down on his knee. The giant seemed stronger than Iain. But the soldier’s son would not give in. They twisted
and pulled till Iain kicked the giant’s ankle and threw him to the ground on his back.

‘Help me, raven!’ called Iain. And the stumpy black raven came, clawed the giant’s face, and beat his wings on the giant’s ears, deafening him.

‘Cut off the giant’s head!’ said the raven.

‘I can’t,’ said Iain. ‘I’ve no sword, not even a knife.’

‘Put your hand under my right wing!’ said the raven. ‘You’ll find a sharp little knife I use for gathering rose-buds. Cut his head off with that.’

Iain did as he was told, and cut off the giant’s head.

‘Now Iain, when you return to the eldest daughter of the Knight, she’ll ask you not to go farther. Don’t listen to her! Go on till you come to the second giant’s house.
There you’ll find the Knight’s middle daughter. Before you go, give me a quid of tobacco!’

‘You’ve earned it,’ said Iain. ‘I’ll give you half of all I have.’

‘You will not,’ said the raven. ‘But wash yourself in warm water. Rub your skin with the balsam you’ll find in a dish above the door. Go to bed, and by tomorrow
you’ll be ready to go to the house where the Knight’s second daughter stays.’

‘Don’t go farther into more danger,’ said the eldest daughter when Iain went into the house. ‘There’s plenty of gold and silver here. We’ll take it with us
and go home.’

‘I’ll take the road before me,’ said Iain. ‘But first I must have a night’s rest.’

Early next morning, before the girl woke up, Iain went on his way till he reached the house of the Knight’s second daughter. Exactly the same thing happened here, and he killed the second
giant.

‘Don’t go farther into more danger!’ said the second daughter. ‘There’s plenty of gold and silver here. We’ll take it with us and go home.’

‘I’ll take the road before me,’ said Iain, and went on till he reached the house of the Knight’s youngest daughter.

The same thing happened to him here as before, and he killed the third giant.

‘Now,’ said the raven, ‘rest as you did last night. In the morning you’ll find the Knight of Greenock’s three daughters waiting for you. They’ll have with
them the gold and silver from the giants. Your task will be to take them back to the cliff. There you must go down first and let them down in the creel after you. And now you can give me a quid of
tobacco.’

‘You well deserve it,’ said Iain. ‘Here, take all of it!’

‘I’ll only take a quid of your tobacco, but no more!’ said the raven. ‘It’s a long time to May-day!’

‘I’ll not be here till May-day,’ said Iain.

‘You know what’s behind you, but you don’t know what’s before you,’ said the raven.

In the morning, there were the three daughters waiting for Iain. They fetched donkeys, and loaded the giants’ gold and silver on to their backs.
At last Iain, the
three daughters and the donkeys reached the edge of the cliff. The creel was there, but instead of going first as the raven had told him, Iain lowered the three girls down the cliff, one by one.
Each of them was wearing a gold cap, covered in diamonds, and made in Rome, the like of which was not to be found in the whole world. But as he lowered the youngest daughter down in the creel, Iain
took her cap and kept it.

When they had all reached the bottom of the cliff, the three girls forgot to help Iain down the cliff, and they hurried on board the ship and sailed home to Greenock. There was no one left to
pull the rope and Iain was alone on the cliff top, unable to get down. Then the raven came flying and perched on the ground beside him.

‘You didn’t take my advice, Iain,’ said he. ‘But now you must go to the giant’s house and sleep there tonight. I can’t stay and keep you company, but you can
give me a quid of tobacco.’

‘I’ll do that,’ said Iain, and gave him the tobacco.

Next morning the raven came to Iain and told him to go into the giant’s stable.

‘There’s a horse there that can gallop on sea and land. She may help you,’ said the raven.

Together they went to the stable, which was chiselled out of rock with a heavy stone door. This door was slamming back and forward, from early morning till night, and from night to day.

‘Watch me!’ said the raven.

He gave a hop and a jump into the stable, but the swinging door caught his wing and knocked a feather out of it, and he shrieked with pain.

Iain took a run back, and a run forward, and jumped. But the door caught his behind and tore off half his buttocks. Iain cried out and fell senseless on the ground. The raven lifted him and
carried him on his wings to the giant’s house, and laid him face down on a bench. Then he flew off to fetch herbs. He made an ointment which he rubbed into Iain’s
wounds, and looked after him. In ten days Iain had recovered and then the raven left him, after asking for a quid of tobacco.

Iain wandered through the hills and in a glen he saw three heroes lying on their backs, each with a spear on his chest, and each of them sound asleep and sweating. Iain lifted the spear off each
hero, and they awoke and stood up.

‘You are young Iain, the soldier’s son from Albainn,’ said one of them. ‘We now put a spell on you to go with us through the southern end of the island.’

Iain went with the three heroes. A slender smoke was coming from a cave and they went to see what was there. One hero went into the cave, and saw a hag sitting there. Her smallest tooth would
have made a knitting needle, a walking stick, or a poker for stirring the embers. Her long fingernails twisted about her elbows, and her hoary hair tumbled about her toes. She was not very
beautiful.

She seized a magic club, struck the hero and turned him to stone. The others wondered why he didn’t return, so the second hero went into the cave, and the same thing happened to him. The
third hero went in and didn’t come out, so Iain went into the cave after them. There a great red-headed cat attacked him with a barrowful of red peat-ash. He kicked her away with the toe of
his boot, and again the raven came to help him.

‘The heroes are under spells,’ said the raven. ‘To take the spells off them, you must go to the island of the Big Women of Jura, take a bottle of living water from the island,
come back and rub the heroes with it. The spells will then vanish and the heroes will come alive. You see, you did not do as I told you and you’ve brought more trouble on yourself. After a
good night’s rest, you’ll feed and water the mare. Sea and land are all one to her. When you reach the island of the Big Women, sixteen stable lads will meet you. They’ll all be
for feeding the mare, and stabling her, but don’t let them. Say you’ll do that yourself. Every one of the sixteen lads will turn the key in the stable door. But you will put a turn for
every turn that they put in the key. And now you’ll give me a quid of tobacco.’

‘I’ll do that,’ said Iain.

Next morning, Iain saddled the mare and rode away. He turned her head to the sea and her tail to the shore, and soon they reached the island of the Six Big Women.
Everything happened as the raven had said. The mare warned him to drink only water and whey in the house of the Big Women, and not to go to sleep. Iain did as he was told, but the Six Big Women
drank till they fell asleep.

When Iain left the room, he heard sweet music. In another room he heard even sweeter music. Beside a stair he heard the sweetest music ever heard, and then he fell asleep. The mare broke out of
her stable and kicked him awake.

‘You didn’t take my advice,’ she said, ‘and now there’s no knowing whether you can straighten things out, or not.’

Iain was very sorry. He seized the Sword of Light in a corner of the room, and cut off the heads of the sixteen grooms. At the well he filled his bottle with living water, and returned. The mare
met him, and he turned her head to the sea and her tail to the shore and rode to the other island, where the raven met him.

‘Stable the mare, and have a good night’s rest,’ said the raven. ‘Tomorrow go, bring the three heroes to life and slay the carlin you’ll meet in the cave. Try not
to be foolish this time, but do as I tell you!’

In the morning Iain went to the cave, and there he met the carlin.

‘Bad health to you!’ said Iain. He sprinkled the three heroes with living water from his bottle, and they came to life and stood up. Iain killed the carlin and took the heroes home
to the south end of the island. The raven flew to meet him.

‘Now you can go home,’ said the raven, ‘and take with you the mare to whom land and sea are alike. Two of the Knight’s daughters are to marry your two brothers. Leave the
youngest daughter’s cap with me! You’ve only to think of me when you want it, and I’ll bring it to you. If anyone asks you where you come from, say, from behind you; and if anyone
asks you where you are going, say you’re going forward!’

Iain left the gold cap studded with diamonds with the raven, mounted the mare, turned her head to the sea and her tail to the land. He made no stop nor stay till he reached
the old church in Greenock. There was a grass meadow there, a well of water and a rushy knoll. Iain dismounted.

‘Now,’ said the mare, ‘take your sword and cut off my head! In me there’s a young girl under a spell, and the spell will not leave me till my head is off. I and the raven
were courting, he as a young lad and I as a young girl, when the giants laid spells on us, making a raven of him and a mare of me.’

So Iain drew his Sword of Light, and cut off the mare’s head. Then he turned and walked on and another carlin met him. He went into her house and she gave him a drink.

‘Where is your man?’ asked Iain.

‘He’s at the Knight of Greenock’s house, looking for gold and silver to make a cap for the youngest daughter, just like the caps of her two sisters.’

The carlin’s man came home. He was a goldsmith.

‘What’s your trade, lad?’ he asked Iain.

‘I’m a smith.’

‘That’s good,’ said the goldsmith. ‘You can help me make a cap for the Knight’s youngest daughter. She’s going to marry.’