Two celebrated ghosts existed, once on a time, in the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic,
a romantic place in the district of Strathdown, Banffshire. The
one was a male and the other a female. The male was called Fhuna
Mhoir Ben Baynac, after one of the mountains of Glenavon, where at one
time he resided; and the female was called Clashnichd Aulnaic, from
her having had her abode in Craig-Aulnaic. But although the great
ghost of Ben Baynac was bound by the common ties of nature and of honour
to protect and cherish his weaker companion, Clashnichd Aulnaic, yet
he often treated her in the most cruel and unfeeling manner. In
the dead of night, when the surrounding hamlets were buried in deep
repose, and when nothing else disturbed the solemn stillness of the
midnight scene, oft would the shrill shrieks of poor Clashnichd burst
upon the slumberer’s ears, and awake him to anything but pleasant
reflections.
But of all those who were incommoded by the noisy and unseemly quarrels
of these two ghosts, James Owre or Gray, the tenant of the farm of
Balbig
of Delnabo, was the greatest sufferer. From the proximity of his
abode to their haunts, it was the misfortune of himself and family to
be the nightly audience of Clashnichd’s cries and lamentations,
which they considered anything but agreeable entertainment.
One day as James Gray was on his rounds looking after his sheep,
he happened to fall in with Clashnichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, with whom
he entered into a long conversation. In the course of it he took
occasion to remonstrate with her on the very disagreeable disturbance
she caused himself and family by her wild and unearthly cries—cries
which, he said, few mortals could relish in the dreary hours of midnight.
Poor Clashnichd, by way of apology for her conduct, gave James Gray
a sad account of her usage, detailing at full length the series of cruelties
committed upon her by Ben Baynac. From this account, it appeared
that her living with the latter was by no means a matter of choice with
Clashnichd; on the contrary, it seemed that she had, for a long time,
lived apart with much comfort, residing in a snug dwelling, as already
mentioned, in the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic; but Ben Baynac having unfortunately
taken into his head to pay her a visit, took a fancy, not to herself,
but her dwelling, of which, in his own name and authority, he took immediate
possession, and soon after he expelled poor Clashnichd, with many stripes,
from her natural
inheritance.
Not satisfied with invading and depriving her of her just rights, he
was in the habit of following her into her private haunts, not with
the view of offering her any endearments, but for the purpose of inflicting
on her person every torment which his brain could invent.
Such a moving relation could not fail to affect the generous heart
of James Gray, who determined from that moment to risk life and limb
in order to vindicate the rights and avenge the wrongs of poor Clashnichd,
the ghost of Craig-Aulnaic. He, therefore, took good care to interrogate
his new
protégée touching the nature of her oppressor’s
constitution, whether he was of that
killable species of ghost
that could be shot with a silver sixpence, or if there was any other
weapon that could possibly accomplish his annihilation. Clashnichd
informed him that she had occasion to know that Ben Baynac was wholly
invulnerable to all the weapons of man, with the exception of a large
mole on his left breast, which was no doubt penetrable by silver or
steel; but that, from the specimens she had of his personal prowess
and strength, it were vain for mere man to attempt to combat him.
Confiding, however, in his expertness as an archer—for he was
allowed to be the best marksman of the age—James Gray told Clashnichd
he did not fear him with all his might,—that
he was a man;
and desired her, moreover, next time the ghost chose
to
repeat his incivilities to her, to apply to him, James Gray, for redress.
It was not long ere he had an opportunity of fulfilling his promises.
Ben Baynac having one night, in the want of better amusement, entertained
himself by inflicting an inhuman castigation on Clashnichd, she lost
no time in waiting on James Gray, with a full and particular account
of it. She found him smoking his
cutty, for it was night
when she came to him; but, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the
hour, James needed no great persuasion to induce him to proceed directly
along with Clashnichd to hold a communing with their friend, Ben Baynac,
the great ghost. Clashnichd was stout and sturdy, and understood
the knack of travelling much better than our women do. She expressed
a wish that, for the sake of expedition, James Gray would suffer her
to bear him along, a motion to which the latter agreed; and a few minutes
brought them close to the scene of Ben Baynac’s residence.
As they approached his haunt, he came forth to meet them, with looks
and gestures which did not at all indicate a cordial welcome.
It was a fine moonlight night, and they could easily observe his actions.
Poor Clashnichd was now sorely afraid of the great ghost. Apprehending
instant destruction from his fury, she exclaimed to James Gray that
they would be both dead people, and that immediately, unless James Gray
hit with an arrow the mole which covered Ben
p. 36Baynac’s
heart. This was not so difficult a task as James had hitherto
apprehended it. The mole was as large as a common bonnet, and
yet nowise disproportioned to the natural size of the ghost’s
body, for he certainly was a great and a mighty ghost. Ben Baynac
cried out to James Gray that he would soon make eagle’s meat of
him; and certain it is, such was his intention, had not the shepherd
so effectually stopped him from the execution of it. Raising his
bow to his eye when within a few yards of Ben Baynac, he took deliberate
aim; the arrow flew—it hit—a yell from Ben Baynac announced
the result. A hideous howl re-echoed from the surrounding mountains,
responsive to the groans of a thousand ghosts; and Ben Baynac, like
the smoke of a shot, vanished into air.
Clashnichd, the ghost of Aulnaic, now found herself emancipated from
the most abject state of slavery, and restored to freedom and liberty,
through the invincible courage of James Gray. Overpowered with
gratitude, she fell at his feet, and vowed to devote the whole of her
time and talents towards his service and prosperity.
Meanwhile,
being anxious to have her remaining goods and furniture removed to her
former dwelling, whence she had been so iniquitously expelled by Ben
Baynac, the great ghost, she requested of her new master the use of
his horses to remove them. James observing on the adjacent hill
a flock of deer, and wishing to have a
trial
of his new servant’s sagacity or expertness, told her those were
his horses—she was welcome to the use of them; desiring that when
she had done with them, she would inclose them in his stable.
Clashnichd then proceeded to make use of the horses, and James Gray
returned home to enjoy his night’s rest.
Scarce had he reached his arm-chair, and reclined his cheek on his
hand, to ruminate over the bold adventure of the night, when Clashnichd
entered, with her “breath in her throat,” and venting the
bitterest complaints at the unruliness of his horses, which had broken
one-half of her furniture, and caused her more trouble in the stabling
of them than their services were worth.
“Oh! they are stabled, then?” inquired James Gray.
Clashnichd replied in the affirmative. “Very well,”
rejoined James, “they shall be tame enough to-morrow.”
From this specimen of Clashnichd, the ghost of Craig-Aulnaic’s
expertness, it will be seen what a valuable acquisition her service
proved to James Gray and his young family. They were, however,
speedily deprived of her assistance by a most unfortunate accident.
From the sequel of the story, from which the foregoing is an extract,
it appears that poor Clashnichd was deeply addicted to propensities
which at that time rendered her kin so obnoxious to their human neighbours.
She was constantly in the habit of visiting her friends much oftener
than she was invited, and, in the course of such visits, was never very
scrupulous in making free with any eatables which fell within the circle
of her observation.
One day, while engaged on a foraging expedition of this description,
she happened to enter the Mill of Delnabo, which was inhabited in those
days by the miller’s family. She found his wife engaged
in roasting a large gridiron of fine savoury fish, the agreeable smell
proceeding from which perhaps occasioned her visit. With the usual
inquiries after the health of the miller and his family, Clashnichd
proceeded with the greatest familiarity and good-humour to make herself
comfortable at their expense. But the miller’s wife, enraged
at the loss of her fish, and not relishing such unwelcome familiarity,
punished the unfortunate Clashnichd rather too severely for her freedom.
It happened that there was at the time a large caldron of boiling water
suspended over the fire, and this caldron the enraged wife overturned
in Clashnichd’s bosom!
Scalded beyond recovery, she fled up the wilds of Craig-Aulnaic,
uttering the most melancholy lamentations, nor has she been ever heard
of since.