THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT - CONCLUSION 217 



very favourable to the knowledge of these stories, 

 both in their Italian and Scottish form. That they 

 had at an early period become part of the romantic 

 heritage of Scotland seems very certain. An anony- 

 mous author supplies us with the Italian view of 

 the matter when he says that the great magician 

 taught the Scots his art to such a degree ' that 

 they will not take a step without some magical 

 practice/ and adds that he introduced into Scotland 

 the fashion of 'white hose, and gowns with the 

 sleeves sewed together.' 1 



Perhaps the best known of these Scottish tales 

 is that which relates how Michael Scot had a 

 particular spirit as his familiar, and describes the 

 difficulty he felt in discovering new tasks for his 

 supernatural servant. Sir Walter Scott says that 

 this story had made so deep an impression, that in 

 his day any ancient work of unknown origin was 

 ascribed by the country people either to Sir William 

 Wallace, Michael Scot, or the devil himself. 2 But, 

 as commonly told, the legend refers to certain 

 outstanding features of the country which are 

 natural and not artificial ; a fact which may pos- 

 sibly account for its persistence and survival in 

 this form and not in the others. Michael is said 

 to have commanded his spirit to divide Eildon 

 Hill into three. 3 The feat was accomplished in a 

 single night, but, the magician's instructions being 

 very precise, and the spirit finding one of the 

 peaks he had formed greater, and another less 

 than the mean, accommodated the matter very 



1 'Chiose anonime alia prima Cantica della Divina Commedia' ; 

 Torino, Salmi, 1865, p. 114. 



2 Lay of the Last Minstrel, Note W. 3 Ibid. Note Z. 



