Posting the Scottish Legends/Myths Characters

Well, I am reading a book called Scottish Folk-Tales and Legends retold by Barbara Ker Wilson. I am just writing some notes for myself.

1. The MacCodrum of the Seals:
There was a sea King and Queen, and they had beautiful sea-children, but one day the Queen died. A sea-witch took her place, and she was not as attentive and caring. She made a potion that turned the children into seals. Men said that seals came as messengers from the courts of the Norse kings of Lochlan. They linger in Isle of Lewis, Rona (Isle of the Seal), or in the Sound of Harris.
Roderic MacCodrum of the Clan of Donald saw the sea-children, and he took a golden brown skin that was lying around as a trophy. A beautiful woman approached his cottage and asked for the skin, and he said he didn't have it. She wasn't able to find it at that time, so she married him. Their children were known as MacCodrum of the Seals. One day, she found it though, and she returned to the sea. His clan never disturbed or harmed a seal to this day.

gait na mara- laughter of the waves
ceol mara- music of the sea

2. Thomas the Rhymer
Elcirdourne "lies in the shadow of Eildon Hills."There lived a Thomas Learmont who loved to play a lute. One day, he went to the Huntlie Bank and sat there for some time, and later, met the Queen of Elfland. He played her a tune, and she offered him a reward. He asked to kiss her lips, and he took the servitude of seven years. While he was in Elfland Thomas didn't utter a word, as he was instructed to. When his time finished, the Queen gave him an apple that, if eaten, made him speak only the truth. Thomas didn't agree to it at first, but he ate it. He prophesied, and most of them were rhymes. (murrain would not touch the cattle). Thomas became very popular, and he held yearly banquets in his Tower of Elcidourne. On one of the years, the messengers of the Queen came, and he went back to the Elf lands with them.
Path of Righteousness is steep, and narrow. Few dare to venture throught it.
Path of Wickedness is light, beautiful and easy.
Path to Elfland is "bonny road that winds between the green hedgerow."

Famous prophesies (I love these):
Predicted on March 18, 1285 while Alexander III, the great and wise king of Scotland is on the throne. On one of the days, he said that a great wind would blow at noon. At noon the king fell off his horse and died, and it WAS a great wind but of sorrow.

' As long as the Thorn Tree stands,
Ercildourne shall keep its lands"
The tree fell, and the merchants of Elcildourne became bankrupt and lost the common land.

There are two that are not yet fulfilled:

This is one is my favorite. Watch out for Judgement Day!
' When the cows o' Gowrie come to land,
The Judgement Day is near at hand.'
"The Cows of Gowrie are two boulders now lying beyond high-water mark off Ivergowrie, on the Firth of Tay...approach the land at the rate of an inch year."

'York was, London is, and Edinburgh shall be
The biggest and bonniest o' the three.'
How big is Edinburgh?

3. Lod, the Farmer's Son:
Lod was instructed with bringing a dish of oat porridge for a party of men, and Lod spilled it. He told his father about his unfortunate mishap, and his dad "disowned" him. Before Lod took off, the guy wanted a club. There were three clubs: the first two broke, and the third got bent. The lad took the third which was made of three stones and a half of iron. Lod traveled for some time, and later, became a king's cow herder. The king had a problem where some of the animals were disappearing, and naturally, a giant was eating them. Lod met the youngest brother and beheaded him. The next day, he met the older brother. The brother got the same treatment. Lod doesn't tell his king anything about the giants yet. The next day he beheads yet another bigger brother. After that, the three giants' mother visits the cow herder, and he parts her head from the body as well, but not before she tells him about the treasure in the cave. The next day, the princess is given to a three-headed giant in exchange for peace, and Lod, who fell in love with her, is enraged. A cook volunteers to slay the monster and bring her back only after the king agrees to let his daughter marry the cook. Lod reaches the cave and kills the giant, but the cook snatches the princess because her rescuer falls asleep from exhaustion. A wedding is issued, but Lod shows up and the truth is revealed. The princess gets married to the farmer's son, the king hears about Lod's beheadings, they get the treasure, and live happily ever after.

4. The Piper of Keil:
There lived a piper in Keil by the name of Alasdair, and he was very famous for his tunes. In Kintyre there was a labyrinth-like cave, and Little People lived there. They were faeries, and they danced, partied, and waited for their Queen. No one dared to enter their cave, because no trespasser ever came back. Well, Alasdair confidently mentions that he would play a tune as good as the Little People's, which shocks many. A farmer named Iain MacGraw tells Alasdair that he can't play a song that was as good as the faeries', and the piper gets cocky and says that he can walk into that cave, play tunes and come out alive and unscarred. The Little People and the Queen get mad, and the mistress lays the enchantment for the Keil's piper. Alasdair had a loyal dog, and somehow his dog knew of this spell, but he couldn't leave his master. Both of them entered the cave and moments later, the terrier came out hairless and scared, and ran away as fast he could. Alasdar was never seen again, but people can still hear 'The Nameless Tune' and the player's lament:
' I doubt, I doubt
I'll never win out.
Ochone! for my ageless sorrow.'

5. The Blue Cap:
A fisherman named Iain MacRae lived in Ardelve. In one winter day, he didn't fish because of the rough waves, and he went inside the woods to get a keel for his boat. The woods were between Totaig and Glenelg. Before the fisherman even started to look for it, a mist rose, and he got lost. Then he saw lights and drew nearer, and there was a shieling. Iain knocked but no one came out, even though they were there because of the lights. When he shouted how mannerless the owners were, an old lady opened the door, and grudgingly admitted him. He fell near the hearth near the three old women, and pretended to sleep. After some time, the old ladies, satisfied by his "sleeping", put on blue caps, shouted 'Carlisle' and disappeared. Iain was certainly shocked, and was very curious as to where the crones went. He put on the last blue cap and shouted the same word, and the fisherman appeared in a huge wine cellar. The surprised, old women left their drinking and cried, 'Kintail, Kintail, back again!' They vanished and Iain was left alone. He drank a bit here and there, and fell into deep sleep. Turns out the wine cellar was an English Bishop's. The servants came down and brought the shameless "thief" to the Lord Bishop. Iain was sentenced to a burning at a stake (wow). As a last request he asked for his blue cap, and then shouted the same phrase that the old ladies used when they did their disappearing act in the cellar. The fisherman was back to Scotland again, and a crofter released Iain from the stake. What do you know? The state was the keel MacRae was looking for, and Iain happily went to Ardelve.

6. How Michael Scot went to Rome:
Michael Scot is the famous wizard of Selkirk, known for his good deeds like splitting the Eildon Hills into two. In old days Scotland was ruled by a Pope from his palace from Rome. There was a feast called Shrove-tide which "regulated all the other feasts of the Church throughout the following twelve months. On Shrove-tide, Lent began; six weeks after it was Easter, and so on unto the end of the year." Michael was chosen to find out the date from the Pope, but because he was a busy man, he forgot "until all the feasts of the year were over at Candlemas." Since he was not an ordinary man, he went into a green paddock and looked for a filly that would take him to Rome. All of them rode magic, and had white stars on their foreheads as well as faery eyes. He chose the fourth based on her answer to his "How swiftly can you ride?". She was "as swift as the thought of a maiden between her two lovers." Michael Scot was admitted, and the Pope didn't believe the wizard's explanation that he came all the way from Scotland that fast. Michael showed his snow covered bonnet, and the Pope was satisfied. He told Michael that Shrove-tide would be on "The first Tuesday of the first moon of Spring..." The wizard was delighted to know how the holy figure determined the date, and he rode back to Scotland.

7. Tam Lin:
In this legend/myth a beautiful Janet who is a daughter of a lowland Earl, stumbles upon a rose garden and plucks a pale white rose. Then, a young man comes out and scolds her for doing so, but he smiles later and offers her a red one. He introduces himself as Tam Lin, a man who had to serve the Faery Queen and guard the roses of Carterhaugh. Tam Lin wants to be freed, and Janet wants to help. He tells her that "Tonight is Hallowe'en....faery folk ride abroad and I ride with them...When midnight comes, you must go to the cross-roads...I shall be among the third company, riding a milk-white steed, and wearing a gold circlet on my brow. Then run to me...throw your arms around me. And no matter what spells they cast upon me, hold me fast and do not let me go. That way you will win me back to earth." Janet does exactly as he instructed, and the Queen switched him between a lizard, a "slippery snake", and a "red-hot block of iron." Nonetheless, Janet holds him. The Elf Queen stops and utters my favorite lines:
"'The bonniest knight in all my company is lost to the world of mortals. Farewell, Tam Lin! Had I but known that an earthly woman would win you with her love, I would have taken out your heart of flesh and put in a heart of stone. And had I known that fair Janet was coming to Carterhaugh, I would have taken out your two grey eyes and put in two of wood.'" The company of the riders leaves, and the two lovers return to the grey castle of Janet's father.

8. The Secret of Heather-ale:
Long ago, there were Picts, or the original habitants of Scotland, and there was a legend stating that the Picts knew a secret to brewing heather-ale. The recipe was jealously guarded, and was passed through father to son, and so on. The Scots wanted to know the secret and they captured the latest guardians, who lived in Mull of Galloway. They pleaded, threatened, and cajoled, but the son and his father remained stoic. Finally, they started to torture, and the son cried in anguish. The old man told them to kill his son because he didn't want his descendant to hear and see the shame with parting the secret. Scots cheerfully obeyed, and waited for the secret. The old man told them off. He knew that his son would spill the beans, so the father had his son killed to keep his mouth shut. The kidnappers knew the old man would not crack, and they pushed him off a cliff. And so the secret was lost.

9. The Legend of Eilean Donan Castle:
There is an ancient belief in the Highlands and Hebrides that says supernatural powers will fall upon a child who, after comes out of the womb, is given his first drink from a raven's skull. (Raven is wisest of his kind.) A chieftain in Kintail does exactly that. His boy however does not have any signs of powers for some time, until the chieftain comes upon his Shamus and he hears birds flyaway. Shamus tells him that he can understand bird. He hears many things from the birds, and grows up with wisdom. One day though, his father throws him out because the birds tell Shamus that the lad's father would wait for his son upon that table. Shamus takes a ship to France, and there he reaches the King's palace. But there is something wrong. There are brown sparrows everywhere, and they are making so much noise. Shamus thinks he can help the king, and that he does. He tells the king to stop cutting down the poplars, because they are sparrows' homes. The cutting stops immediately, and the birds fly back to their nests. The French king gives Shamus a long galley in a great condition and some gold. Shamus visits many places, his knowledge grows and he gets richer. Shamus misses his people and his hometown though, and thus, he goes back. No one recognizes Shamus, but they recognizes his riches, and so they treat him as a nobleman. His father waits for him, and Shamus tells his chieftain to "receive me as your son again." The old man is overjoyed and gladly accepts. Shamus' travels reach the Scotland's king. The king commands Shamus to build a castle on Eilean Donan (opposite Totaig) as a watch-post and a stronghold against the Norse invaders.

Whooo. Done. The same lessons are spoken, written, and etc. throughout different cultures: Don't be too proud/boastful, love conquers all, and you can't escape destiny.

Let's see the Tam Lin reminded me of...I will remember later.

The Legend of Eilean Donan Castle reminded me of Oedipus the King.