8 Donald A. Mackenzie — Scottish Pork Taboo 



Mr. R. Blakeborough in his Wit, Character, Folk-lore and 

 Custofns of the North Riding of Yorkshire, writes (p. 141) : 

 " If whilst a fisherman was baiting his nets anyone mentioned 

 anything- in connection with a pig, or dakky, as it was called, 

 the worst of luck would be looked for." 



About the time Captain Burt was writing his letters from 

 the North of Scotland and Aberdeen was exporting to Holland 

 pickled pork for victualling East India ships (24, 198), a 

 Dumfriess-shire village was greatly stirred bv the appearance 

 of a pig. The following narrative is given by Mr. Robert 

 Henderson (13, 15 et seq.) : — 



" Within the last century (probably about ninetv years 

 ago) a person in the parish of Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, 

 called the * Gudeman o' the Brow,' received a young swine 

 as a present from some distant part ; which, from all the 

 information I could get, seems to have been the first ever 

 seen in that part of the country. 'J^his pig having strayed 

 across the Lochar into the adjoining parish of Carlavroc, 

 a woman who was herding cattle on the marsh, by the sea- 

 side, was very much alarmed at the sight of a living creature 

 that she had never seen nor heard of before, approaching 

 her straight from the shore as if it had come out of the sea, 

 and ran home to the village of Blackshaw screaming. As 

 she ran it ran snorking and grunting after her, seeming- 

 ^lad it had met with a companion. She arrived at the 

 village so exhausted and terrified, that before she could get 

 her story told she fainted away. By the time she came to 

 herself a crowd of people had collected to see what was the 

 matter, when she told them that ' There was a diel (devil) 

 came out of the sea with two horns in his head (most likely 

 the swine had pricked ears) and chased her, roaring and 

 gaping all the wav at her heels, and she was sure it was not 

 far off.' 



A man, called Will's Tom, an old schoolmaster, said if 

 he could see it he would ' cunger the diel,' and got a bible 

 and an old sword. 



It immediately started up at his back and gave a loud 

 grumph, which put him into such a frioht that his hair 

 stood upright in his head, and he was obliged to be carried 

 from the field half dead. 



The whole crowd ran, some one w^ay and some another ; 

 some reached the housetops, and others shut themselves in 

 barns and byres. At last one on the housetop called out 

 it was ' the Gudeman o' the Brow's grumphy,'' he having 



