Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/61

 More Folklore form the Hebrides. 49

coloured is the best. A man or beast standing are (in relation to a sick person) a sign of recovery ; lying down, of continued illness. A bird on the wing is a good sign if coming towards you. A skylark, ptarmigan, dove, or widgeon is always good ; a crow, raven, or stone-chat bad. A ptarmigan seen by a sailor means safety from drowning. A cat is bad except for a Macintosh, a Macpherson, or any other of the clan Chattan (whose cognisance it is). A calf and lamb are good, and if facing you very good. " A pig is a sign of a Campbell coming, which is never good except for a Campbell." A horse signifies land, and is lucky ; dun horse is best, and signifies a farmer ; a grey horse means the sea, and foretells a sailor; a red horse, the grave, i.e. death ; a black horse, sadness ; and a yellow horse, a Mackenzie.

There is a fragment of an old raiim or song in South Uist.

" I rose early in the morning, yesterday, I plucked yarrow for the horoscope for thy tale, In the hope that I might see the desire of my heart.

[literally, the secret of my creel\. Ochone ! there was seen her hack towards meP

This, it is said, refers to the story of a certam bard whose fate deserves to be related as a warning to those tempted to extravagance in this direction. He fell in love with a girl in Stornoway who married another, and by means of the frith he was constantly calling up her image. Every Wednesday he composed a song to her, till he pined away and became so small that his father used to carry him in a creel on his back. It was whispered that the one he con- jured up was the devil.

There is a special gift which exists in certain families which may perhaps be described as a capacity for casting the frith by spontaneous rather than empirical methods. The following are among the signs by which they are able to presage the common events of life for themselves and others. We have personally met with several instances — in

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