THE ISLAND OF COLONSAY 39 



pay for wishes as they drink, and hope for their ful- 

 filment. Many of the fairy tales still current in the 

 island may be found in a delightful little book, Summer 

 in the Hebrides, printed in 1887, in which the authoress, 

 Mrs. Murray, describes her experiences of six seasons 

 spent on Oronsay. I take this opportunity to ac- 

 knowledge my debt to this volume, which the authoress 

 kindly presented to me, of which I have made use to 

 refresh my memory of names and scenes. The stories, 

 taken down from the mouths of cailleach and boat- 

 men, are variants of the folk-lore of many lands, and 

 offer an interesting study to the archaeologist. 



For instance there is a familiar ring about the tale 

 of the humpbacked man who lived at Balnahard, and 

 left his home on Hogmanay to buy stores for the new 

 year at Scalasaig. Passing a green knowe overlooking 

 Killoran bay he suddenly came upon the fairies dancing 

 on the hillside to a measure, the tune of which went 

 to the words, " Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs- 

 day, Friday, Saturday." There was something wrong 

 with the dance, and the little revellers were evidently 

 disconcerted ; they were out of time and tune. The 

 mistake flashed upon him suddenly ; he called out 

 " Wednesday " at the proper moment and set them 

 right. The fairies took up the correction, sang the 

 song right and trod the measure correctly. The 

 hillock then opened and the fairies disappeared, 

 taking the man down with them to their sub- 



O 



terranean home where, to reward his kindness, they 

 removed his hump, and sent him back to earth 

 loosed from his infirmity. Another humpback on the 

 island heard of the good fortune of his fellow-sufferer, 

 and went out in search of the fairies on the next anni- 



