Tales of Superhuman Powers: 55 Traditional Stories from Around the World by Csenge Virág Zalka

Author:Csenge Virág Zalka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2013-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

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Michael Scott

Ability: Telepathy, healing, fairy command

Source of power: White snake’s flesh

Origin: Scotland

Teachings: Bravery, creativity, curiosity, and politeness all go a long way.

Age group: 8+

Sources: Gibbings, W.W. (1889). Folk-Lore and Legends, Scotland. London: Gibbings.

Mackenzie, D.A. (1917). Wonder Tales of Scottish Myth and Legend. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.

Variants: The “thumb of knowledge” appears in many tales, as we have already seen in the case of Sir James Ramsay. In some cases like that of Taliesin, the person cheated out of the magical powers is angered and swears revenge, while in other cases (like in Finn MacCool’s), they accept their fate with resignation. The snake rolling as a wheel can be found in other folktales and fairy tales. One really good example can be found in Edmund Lenihan’s book Meeting the Other Crowd (see Sources for “Anne Jeffries and the Fairies”). Compare this to the tale of Sir James Ramsay, who also acquired powers through eating the flesh of a white snake.

Other famous wizards with similar stories are Don Juan de Salamanca, Doctor Faustus and Pietro Baillardo (later in this book).

Text: When Michael Scott was a young man, just like any other ordinary young man (or maybe a little bit braver), one day he set out on a journey to Edinburgh. Because walking alone was boring and the road was long, he decided to travel with two of his friends as companions.

One day after climbing a steep hill they sat down to rest for a while, and as they looked around they saw a very strange sight. Something that looked like a big white wheel was rolling towards them—up the hill! The two companions scampered away in fear and ran for their lives, but Michael stood his ground, armed with nothing but his walking stick, and waited. As the wheel got closer it turned out to be a great white snake with its tail in its mouth. Moving toward Michael it uncoiled itself, ready to spring; the young man swung his staff, and hit the beast with enough force to snap its body into three pieces.

Michael soon caught up to his companions, telling them what happened, and they continued their journey. As night fell, they came across a little hut where an old woman lived, and they asked for lodgings for the night. Telling stories by the fire, one of the companions recounted how Michael had killed a great white serpent. The old woman gave him a strange look.

“Are you sure the serpent is dead?” she asked Michael.

“Quite sure. I cut it into three pieces.”

“That means nothing. The white serpent has great powers. If its head can crawl to a stream of healing water nearby, it can reattach itself to the body, and it will not stop till it hunts you down and takes revenge. Even if you run to the end of the world, it will still find you. Only if a man reaches the stream before the head does would the serpent die.”

Now Michael was worried. “What should I do?”

“You need to go back to the mountain and bring me the middle part of the serpent.

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