234 A HUNDRED YEARS 



were in the bircli-woods that still cluster round the 

 southern end of that loch and extend up the sides of 

 the high ridge to the west . There are grassy glades, dense 

 thickets, and rocky fastnesses in these woods that look 

 just the very place for fairies. Loch a Druing is on the 

 north point, about two miles from the present Rudha 

 Reidh lighthouse. The Gille Dubh was so named from 

 the black colour of his hair. His dress, if dress it could 

 be called, was merely leaves of trees and green moss. 

 He was seen by very many people and on many occasions 

 during a period of more than forty years in the latter half 

 of the eighteenth century. He was, in fact, well known 

 to the people, and was generally regarded as a beneficent 

 fairy. He never spoke to anyone except to a little girl 

 named Jessie Macrae, whose home was at Loch a Druing. 

 She was lost in the woods one summer night. The 

 Gille Dubh came to her, treated her with great kindness, 

 and took her safely home again next morning. When 

 Jessie grew up she became the wife of John Mackenzie, 

 tenant of Loch a Druing farm, and grandfather of the 

 famous John Mackenzie who collected and edited the 

 Beauties of Gaelic Poetry. 



It was after this that Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch 

 invited Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Mackenzie of 

 Dundonnell, Mackenzie of Letterewe, and Mackenzie of 

 Kernsary, to join him in an expedition to repress the 

 Gille Dubh. These five lairds repaired to Loch a Druing 

 armed with guns, with which they hoped to shoot the 

 fairy. Most of them wore the Highland dress, with 

 dirks at their side. They were hospitably entertained 

 by John Mackenzie, the tenant. An ample supper was 



