Folklore of the Scottish Highlands by Anne Ross

Author:Anne Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780750952453
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

According to Carmichael, some men observed this injunction so closely that they kept their beasts indoors all day on those ominous occasions, only letting them out at nightfall, lest the Evil Eye should fall on them. Only the eye of their owner was permitted to rest on them.

There were many antidotes for this form of witchcraft, and Carmichael was given an interesting example of this by a man who was a stonemason. One Spring, his father was busy with the ploughing when a man from the other side of the loch came across to see if he could get some oat seed. He was given this, and went home the way that he had come. He was very grateful for the favour that he had received. On the instant that he turned away, the man’s mare apparently fell down dead. The mason’s father ran into the house shouting that the man to whom he had been so generous had put the ‘Eye’ on his horse. The man was then followed so that he could repair the serious damage he had caused. The offender was one of the unfortunates who could not prevent his power, and he was extremely distressed about the occurrence. He explained his powerlessness over his unfortunate faculty. He then went three times sunwise round the mare, singing a rune of aiding and praying to the Trinity to undo the damage that the Eye had done to the animal. As soon as he had finished this ritual, the mare lifted her head and rose up alive and fit. The man with the ‘Eye’ said again how the episode had distressed him, but that he had no means of averting it.

There are innumerable fascinating charms for the Evil Eye in the Highlands. According to one woman, a native of Bonar Bridge, in order to counteract the ‘Eye’ one must rise early in the morning and go to a boundary stream over which the living and the dead have passed — a very magical point. One must then lift a small palmful of water from the lower side of the bridge, in the name of the Trinity. Next one must retrace one’s steps with the palmful of water in a wooden bowl, and sprinkle the sacred liquid on the backbone of the animal on which the Evil Eye has rested. All must be performed in the name of Christianity. Next the water in the bowl must be sprinkled behind the fire-flag again in the name of the Trinity. According to this informant, to follow the procedure closely would be certain to bring about complete healing in the stricken animal and destroy the force of the Evil Eye:

Thy strait be on the fire-flags,

Thine ailment on the wicked woman.

A moving incantation, a splendid blend of pagan magic and Christian faith was collected by Carmichael in the island of Barra. Three mouthfuls of water in which a silver coin had been placed must be drunk by the victim, the first mouthful in the

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