Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/693

Rh carrying a string of fish, but he could give no explanation of how he got them. It was as much a mystery to him as to his wife. All he knew was that he found himself on his way home with the fish in his hand. His wife determined to watch him, and she was rewarded by seeing him coming out of a cave in a cliff on the sea-shore. She shouted to him, and to her horror she saw him fall over the cliff, where he was instantly killed. By the look on his face when she shouted she discovered the truth, namely, that he was a somnambulist, and in some state of trance he caught the fish and was quite unaware of the means when he awoke from his trance.

(3) Before the establishment of banks in the islands, the lairds had to send their money to Inverness. One of these gentlemen wished to withdraw some money, but could not go himself. No one would undertake to go, for robbers were numerous, probably broken clans who had no other means of existing. At length Donald Ruadh, his fool, offered. The laird offered him a horse, but Donald preferred his own, which understood all he said to it. In the interval which elapsed before his departure his wife noticed him picking up and treasuring odd scraps of paper, but as he was a fool, she said nothing. At length he set out on his journey, and on his way to the place where the ferry boat would carry him to the mainland, he met a man, who questioned him closely as to his errand. In his simplicity, Donald told him all. Having transacted his business, he set off for home with a large sum of money in his wallet. Having crossed the ferry safely, on his way back, he was stopped by a man on horseback, who demanded the wealth he was carrying. In great consternation Donald agreed to give up the money, but asked the robber to fire into his plaid which he placed on a bush, making it appear as if he had been assaulted and made a fight for it. The robber agreed to this reasonable condition, and used up his bullets by firing into the plaid. Donald then seized his plaid, and, throwing the wallet into the river near by, said, "There's your money, take it, and go." While the robber ran to rescue the wallet, Donald leaped on the man's horse, and, calling on his own to follow, rode away. It was in vain for the robber to try to overtake him, so he got