236 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



" Awed, then, I'll tell ye the hale truth. Ye'll 

 hae heard o' Thomas the Rymer, him that in days 

 long gaen by lived at Erlston,* and was taen awa' by 

 the fairies, and is wi' them at this day ; we hae Sir 

 Walter's word for it. Black Meg of Darn wick lived 

 wi' this Thomas, who, ye ken, was an enchanter ; 

 and Meg learned some awfu' words of him, and also 

 power as a witch. Ae time she was seen sitting upon 

 ane of the towers, aboon the Elfin glen, in the shape 

 of a raven ; at anither, she came doon to the Tweed 

 at the gloamin' in the likeness of a lang-craiged 

 heron, flapping her muckle wings, and uttering 

 driedfu' shrieks ; and again she was a cormorant, 

 perched upon a blastit tree on the moor. I have seen 

 her mysel' mair than ance." 



" Seen her, man ! why you said she lived with 

 Thomas the Rymer ; and it is some centuries since 

 he was taken away by the fairies." 



" Aweel, aweel, that may be ; but as sure as deid 

 I aince saw her in her ain proper shape ; and she 

 had a long neb, and a muckle mouth, and a red 

 petticoat on, and she held a leister under her oxter, 

 as if she war gaen to the burning ; and wha kens 

 but she may live till this day ? for her deid body was 

 never found, nor the corpse-light f seen. There are 

 three towers on the muir a long way aboon the Elfin 

 glen ; ye'll hae seen them yoursel' ; and Meg used 

 to live in ane of these towers by turns : no one kent 

 in which she was, and nobody cared to speer. At 



* Formerly Ercildoun. 



f When a dead body was lost, it was supposed that a light ap- 

 peared over it at night, to indicate its position. 



