Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/257

 Rh (Ouar Hoo).

Such an animal was killed in Assynt by the man who told me the story. It had a white spot on the forehead, and one on each side of the muzzle, with one under each shoulder, and a large white place on the breast. It is always the seventh in the hole, and said to be the king, and that the others cater for it. The skin is much larger than that of the other otters, and is a profitable thing to have; for, owing to some superstition on the part of ship captains here, they are afraid to let the skin go out of the ship, if it has once been in it, and so any one taking a skin to a ship to sell it may name his own price. It is very fierce, and called in Gaelic Ouar Hoo. It is supposed to be invulnerable, except in the breast, but my friend shot it in the hind quarter.

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It is not uncommon in Sutherland, and has been sometimes but not often killed. It never rests by day or by night, and besides running along the ground has a revolving motion peculiar to itself, turning over and over through an ivory ring, which is loose in its body. This is formed from its own slime, and sometimes drops off, in which case the snake makes another, and the finder of the ring is safe against all disasters and enchantments. Another great serpent has been seen by the natives, the last was nine feet long, and covered with hair; it had a mane, and was a bodily manifestation of the Evil One.—(Widow Mary Calder, pauper, aged 70.)

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One day the wolf and the fox were out together, and they stole a dish of crowdie. Now the wolf was the biggest beast of the two, and he had a long tail like a greyhound, and great teeth. The fox was afraid of him, and did not dare to say a word when the wolf ate the most of the crowdie, and left only a little in the bottom of the dish for him. But he determined to punish him for it: so, the next night, when they were out together, the fox said, "I smell a very nice