h the sad refrain, _Airidh mo
Dhubhaich_, which, being interpreted, means "Shieling of my Sorrow."

Let me give another tale, but of less sombre issue, culled from the
folk-lore of the same locality.

THE KILDONAN MIDWIFE.

A woman living at Kildonan, on the north shore of Little Loch Broom, and
exercising the useful profession of howdie, or midwife, had been
summoned to attend a case at Keppoch. She did not arrive at her
destination, although she left home after telling her neighbours where
she was going. It was on Christmas eve that Fair Sarah, as she was
called, left Kildonan, and for the space of an entire year, not a word,
good or bad, was heard of her. Search parties were organized, but all to
no purpose. Exactly twelve months after her disappearance--the next
Christmas eve, namely--back came the errant midwife to her home, not a
hair the worse for her long absence. She was immensely astonished to
find she had been so long away, her own impression being that only an
hour or two had elapsed. It was evident to all the natives of Kildonan
that Fair Sarah had been among the fairies, in whose company, as every
one knows, months and years slip past as quickly as hours and days.
Sarah was asked to speak out and tell her experiences. "It seems to me,"
said the flustered howdie, "that it was but last night that I left for
Keppoch. Just as I passed the White Knoll, between Strathmore and
Strathbeg, I came upon a company of little folk, who would have me with
them, right reason or none. I accepted their hospitality, and what
drinking, skipping, revelry, and glee my eyes beheld! At last I grew
sick of their cantrips and capers. Remembering I was a Christian and a
communicant, _I blessed myself in the name of the Glorious Trinity_,
with the result that I was unceremoniously bundled out of the place."

The White Knoll had long had the repute of harbouring fairies; Sarah's
experiences put the matter beyond all doubt. That worthy female
continued to ply her vocation for many years after, with unvarying
dexterity and signal success. She was certainly a more prosperous woman
after her year's excursion into Fairy-land.

THE MAGIC HERRING.

There is an interesting legend told of the device by which shoals of
herring were first induced to come into Loch Broom.

It seems that long ago (the precise date is unessential) the lochs round
the island of Lewis were invariably, at the herring season, visited by
magnificent shoals o