Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/49



But the fierce, warlike Norsemen came from time to time in greater numbers, and were more than a match for the Picts, who, worn out in their vain struggle and weakened by frequent losses, at last yielded to the conquerors. Whether they were absorbed with the incomers, or left the islands to seek a home elsewhere, or were totally extirpated, it is impossible to tell. Tradition points to the last theory. It is said that a few were spared to teach the art of brewing an intoxicating beer from heather, but rather than divulge the secret they let themselves be slain. But we can scarcely believe that the Norsemen put to death the women and children. After the din of war had ceased, the new settlers would probably get glimpses in the early morning or grey moonlight of the earth house dwellers still surviving in their midst, clinging to their old haunts with that tenacious love of home and offspring that characterises the human race; and probably those of us who pride ourselves