Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands by Sorche Nic Leodhas

Author:Sorche Nic Leodhas
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497640122
Publisher: Open Road Media

The Daughter of the King Ron

MANY A STRANGE TALE is told of the isles of the Gaelic seas, but surely none so strange as that of the daughter of the great King Ron.

How many of the isles there are would be hard to say, for the counting of them would be an endless task. Some of them are great islands, with harbors and towns and people upon them, but many of them have little soil and mostly rock, and on some of these no man ever sets his foot, for where would be the use of it?

Upon these small, deserted isles the Ron delights to dwell, for the rocks are grand places for him to be sunning himself, and in the pools and the little bays around them are the fish he likes best to eat. There, too, the rocks slant down into the water, and there the young seals sport and play, slipping down the smooth gray rocks and into the cool green water with never a splash.

Now some of the seals are not like other seals, for they can change their shapes if they will, and become men and women for as long as it pleases them. Fishermen tell tales of going out into the misty dawn and seeing the likes of a great man, strong and powerful, walking upon the rocks, or of coming in with their catch after sundown with night drawing in and hearing the voice of a woman singing a strange, wild, sweet song across the waters.

But never could a fisherman come close enough to get what would be a good look at whoever was there, for the hurling waves and the cruel rocks in the water about the islands made a wall to guard them, and where the gate of it would be nobody could know.

It is from these strange ones that the seals choose their kings. Now there was once a great King Ron who had many sons but only one daughter and she the least one of the family, and at the time the tale begins she was of little age, for her childhood had not long been left behind her.

The name of the king was Ailean Mor, which means Great Rock, and a great rock he was, to be sure, both in size and in strength. His daughter’s name was Fionna, the Fair One, but her father had another name for her, for he called her Fearcharagh, the Best-Beloved. She was the apple of his eye and he kept her under that eye as best he could. But to be the King Ron has not the makings of an easy life, because the clans of the seals are many and spread over many seas, and each with its own chief, ruling in his own way. Often enough the Ron Mor had to be off and away, here and there, settling differences about fishing rights and such-like arguments. As he could not take his daughter with him, she just stayed at home.

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