The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Scenes oj Lono- A^o, 169
little entertaining. She had a rich fund of lore, and could
quote rhymes and adages appropriate to every occasion.
The airs which she sang were all plaintive. Perhaps this
was due in part to the nature of her employment ; for,
whether speaking or singing, her spinning went on steadily,
except when she had to give a touch to the pirn or band ;
but it is a noteworthy fact that Highlanders have generally
a predilection for mournful music, in so much that they
have scarce even a dance tune that is not charged with an
exquisite pathos.
Ishbal had numerous legends with reference to the
M'Indruis of Inverbeltane and the M'Brides of Duncairn.
She had much to say of the Feinne who still slumbered
deep in the caves of Corrie Goblin, and who would one day
awake in the full vigour and bloom of youth ; and of the
fairies who inhabited the green knowes, and danced gaily
on the moonlit sward or in the kiln. And darker stories
could she tell of witches, and of the awful water-kelpies that
haunted every stagnant and reedy lake and the still black
pools of the river.
In the course of these gruesome tales of demon power,
occasionally a devout ejaculation might be heard from
individual listeners, who thus deprecated malign influence
from themselves.
Then, who like Ishbal could sing those weird Gaelic
hymns, where the terrors of the Last Judgment are
pourtrayed in language of great power and vivid colouring,
and where the changing face of nature is described in order
to impart lessons of eternal truth? Such was Ishbal
M'Indrui and the Spinning Garret.
In the midst of the diversions and pastimes of the Winter
Night came a period of more frequent occurrence than any
which I have yet celebrated. That is to say—The time of
going to sleep, when the shepherds called for their dogs and
withdrew, and the fires in but and ben were allowed to
smoulder into ashes.
T. S.