Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland / Collected Entirely from Oral Sources

Chapter 130: THE NINE CHILDREN AT SUNART.

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About This Book

A collection of oral traditions from the Scottish Highlands and Islands, recorded and arranged thematically to present popular beliefs about fairies, changelings, banshees, tutelary beings, witchcraft, and related customs. The material combines narrative tales and descriptive entries that show regional variants, accounts of sightings and interactions, and practical measures for protection or repair. Gaelic expressions are translated with emphasis on literal meaning and authentic usage, and the compiler relied solely on spoken testimony gathered across multiple districts to preserve the vernacular form of these folk beliefs.

THE NINE CHILDREN AT SUNART.

A number of children went on a Sunday to amuse themselves in the neighbourhood of the ‘Loch of Disaster’ (Loch na Dunach) in this district. They fell in with a horse, caught it, and in their thoughtless sport mounted it. Its back got longer till they were all mounted, except one, who had a Bible in his pocket. He touched the horse with his finger, and had to cut it off to save himself. The horse rushed into the lake, and the children, nine in number, were never more seen. The liver of one of them came ashore next day.

This tale is widely spread, and is obviously a pious fraud to keep children from wandering on Sundays to play in lonely places, and from meddling with any horse they may find.