56 The Kelpie. 



Gin tent lie tak" 1 do nae shak' 

 His bridle frae mj- mow." 



At Maugie, in Aberdeenshire, a Kelpie was set to cart the stones 

 for the building of a water-mill ; and when the last load had been 

 carried he vanished with the words — 



" Sair back an' sair banes, 

 Cairtit a' Mill o' Maugie's stanes." 



Many are the tales that are told of encounters with the 

 Kelpie in the twilight, or when the mists are sweeping down from 

 the mountains; of narrow escapes from this wildly galloping 

 animal that suddenly appears before the solitary traveller, or as 

 suddenlv dashes upon him with shrill neighings and hideous 

 screams; and of the terrible fate of those who, having crossed his 

 path or come under his displeasure, ha^•e been trampled to death, 

 or carried off to his watery lair. Onl\- one or two typical legends 

 can be here given. 



One such is that of Loch Chrois, the Loch of Sorrow. Two 

 young lovers had wandered to the head of the loch, and sat 

 there heedless of the passage of the hours and the waning light. 

 Eventually, however, they realised that it was time to set out for 

 home. Catching sight at the moment of a horse grazing by the 

 side of the loch, and thinking it belonged to the clachan whence 

 they had come, the lad succeeded in capturing it. No sooner, 

 however, were both on its back than the animal set off at break- 

 neck speed towards the loch. In vain the lovers sought to slip 

 off : some invisible power seemed to hold them on. And with a 

 wild neighing that drowned their cries of terror, the Water-horse 

 dashed into the loch, whence mysterious vapours began to rise, 

 and disappeared beneath the waters with his prey. 



Legends almost identical, varying only in detail and local 

 colour, have been handed down with relation to Loch Pytoulish, 

 near Rothiemurchus, and a spot near Ardochy, on the Garry, 

 called Eilean-na-Cloinne — The Island of the Children. They 

 tell how a band of boys, returning in the early evening from an 

 afternoon in the woods, came upon a pretty pony grazing near 

 the Kelpie's Pool. On their approach it drew back towards the 

 water, and it was some time before they were able to surround it. 

 Then of a sudden, Avhile they were fondling it, off it dashed to 



