Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/312

 272 The Powers of Evil in the Outer Hebrides.

illness, and she always complained, and he always agreed that she was, as she said, worse. At last someone advised her to answer him differently, which she did, and when he replied " Good and evil must have a start," she began to get better.

This is the theory underlying the idea that the evil in- fluence, once put on the track, takes complete hold. There is an aphorism in Gaelic : " When a man is tried, he is tried completely." Acquaintance with death invites further visits. Thus, it is not lucky to own a boat that has carried a coffin. The Rev. A. Macdonald tells me that only a few months ago a woman in Eriskay died, and her relatives, who had two boats, carried the corpse across in a small one, quite unfit for such work in such weather, rather than use the boat that did service for fishing.

If a dog kill a sheep, the luck of the flock is lost to the owner, and the rest will follow by some means.

Also, if a person die who has been lucky in accumulating flocks and herds, the beasts will follow him shortly.

There is a mysterious entity called "the Aoine." All we knew of her is a proverb to the effect that " When the Aoine has got it in her mouth, the raven may as well start off to the hills ; " which we took to mean that she was loquacious. However^ I incline to think that there is another possible meaning, and one more gruesome. We heard of a man named M., now deceased, who knew the Raun or rhyme of the Aoine, and that he was liable to recite it if he saw a person bathing, who would then be instantly drowned ; and that in order to resist the impulse he would turn his back to the bather and fall down upon his face.

Another mysterious entity who appears only in a proverb is " Om," of whom it is said : " Om is most active in his morning." The phrase is used to anyone who wishes at night to put off doing something till next day.

•The Fuath or Evil Spirit is sometimes seen, and we