within a few miles of Dingwall, still larger and more ponderous,
which was thrown by a person of the same family, and which still
bears the marks of a gigantic finger and thumb.' [122]
Perhaps we may find the mythological descendants of these Titans,
and also of the Druids, in the so-called 'Great Men' once dreaded
by Highlanders. The natives of South Uist believed that a valley,
called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side
of the island, was haunted by these Great Men, and that if any one
entered the valley without formally resigning themselves to the
conduct of those beings, they would infallibly become mad. Martin,
having remonstrated with the people against this superstition, was told
of a woman's having come out of the valley a lunatic because she had
not uttered the spell of three sentences. They also told him of voices
heard in the air. The Brownie ('a tall man with very long brown hair'),
who has cow's milk poured out for him on a hill in the same region,
probably of this giant tribe, might easily have been demonised at
the time when the Druids were giving St. Columba so much trouble,
and trying to retain their influence over the people by professing
supernatural powers. [123]
The man of the smaller stature, making up for his inferiority by
invention, perhaps first forged the sword, the coat of mail, and the
shield, and so confronted the giant with success. The god with the
Hammer might thus supersede the god of the Flint Spear. Magic art
seemed to have rendered invulnerable the man from whom the arrow
rebounded.
It would appear from King Olaf Tryggvason's Saga that nine hundred
years ago the Icelanders and the Danes reciprocally regarded each
other as giants and dwarfs. The Icelanders indited lampoons against
the Danes which allude to their diminutive size:--
The gallant Harald in the field
Between his legs lets drop his shield,
Into a pony he was changed, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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