Folk Tales of Scotland by William Montgomerie

is dark,’ said the old man, ‘and take a sleeping cock with you. You’ll find your son.’

    So that night the smith, with a sleeping cock in his arms, went out into the darkness. When he got to the hill of the fairies, he saw a light and heard sounds of piping, dancing and other
merriment. Boldly he approached the entrance to the fairies’ cave and went in. There he saw his son working at a forge. The fairies saw him and asked him what he wanted.
    ‘I want my son,’ said he, ‘and I’ll not go away without him!’
    The fairies roared with laughter. This wakened the cock. It leapt up on the smith’s shoulder, clapped its wings and crowed loud and long.
    Now fairies cannot bear the crowing of a cock, for when they hear it the power of magic leaves them. Mad with anger, these fairies seized the smith and his son and threw them out of the green
hill, into the darkness.
    For a year and a day the lad did no work and seldom spoke. One day he was sitting by the fire watching the smith finish a sword he was making for a chief. It was to be a very special sword.
    ‘That’s not the way to make it,’ said the lad.
    Taking the tools from his father, he set to work and made a sword, the like of which had never been seen before in the country.
    From that day, the lad worked constantly with his father. The fame of the special sword and the skill that had made it, spread far and wide. It kept the smith and his son busy and made them
wealthy. They were never again troubled by the fairies.

T HE G AEL AND THE L ONDON B AILLIE ’ S D AUGHTER
    NCE a young Gael fell in love with a lady he saw in a dream. He told his father about
her.
    ‘I will marry no one else,’ said he, ‘though I have to search the whole world for her.’
    ‘Go, if you must,’ said his father, ‘and I’ll give you a hundred pounds to take with you. When it is spent, come home, and I’ll give you another hundred.’
    So the lad took the hundred pounds, and went to France, to Spain, and all over the world, but he could not find her anywhere. By the time he arrived in London, he had spent his money, his
clothes were worn, and he did not know what he was going to do for a night’s lodging. As he wandered along the streets, he told his story to an old woman, who offered to help him.
    ‘I’m from the Highlands of Scotland, too,’ she said, ‘and I’d be pleased to give you hospitality.’
    She took him to her house, gave him some clean clothes, a good supper and a comfortable bed to lie on.
    ‘Go out into the city,’ she said next day, ‘and maybe you’ll meet the one you’re looking for.’
    The lad was walking along a city street when he saw a beautiful young woman at a window. He knew at once that she was the one he had seenin his dream, but he was too shabby
to approach her. So he went back to the old woman and told her everything.
    ‘That was the London Baillie’s daughter. I was her nurse, so perhaps I can help you. I’ll give you fine Highland clothes. When you see her walking along the High Street, you
must tread on her gown. When she turns round, speak to her.’
    The lad thanked her, and did this. He went out, saw the beautiful young woman, and stepped on the edge of her gown. At once she turned round.
    ‘I ask your pardon,’ he said, bowing.
    ‘It was not your fault,’ she said, ‘the gown is too long. You are a stranger here. Will you not come home and dine with us?’
    As they dined, he told her his story, and how he had seen her in a dream, and had searched for her ever since.
    ‘I saw you in a dream on the same night,’ she said.
    ‘Will you marry me?’ said he.
    ‘Come back here in a year and a day. In this city the Baillie, my father, must put my hand in yours before we can marry.’
    So the lad returned to Scotland, and told his father all that had happened. When the year was nearly spent, he set off for London. His father had given him another hundred pounds and some good
oatmeal bannocks.
    On the road he met a