A circumstance took place in the parish of Strath, which was, it is said, the means of abolishing this abominable rule. About the beginning of the seventeenth century a farmer, of the name of Mackinnon, was gathered to his fathers in the parish, and after his interment the laird's messenger visited the afflicted widow, and, as usual, demanded the best horse on her little farm. Her husband having been a kinsman of the laird, and expecting, in her distress, to receive some sympathy from her chief, and at all events, some relaxation of that rule which had been all along so resistlessly put in force, she showed much reluctance to part with the animal. Seeing this, the officer became more and more determined to have it. The widow, in the same manner, became more and more determined in her refusal, and appealed to him in vain to submit the case to the decision of her chief. The officer was inexorable, and becoming incensed at the woman's pertinacity he turned from words to blows, and inflicted some severe wounds on the helpless female to the effusion of blood. She, however, retaliated, and through desperation, assuming more courage, addressed her little son, a boy of four, that stood weeping by her side, and said to him in her own emphatic vernacular:-- "Cha mhac mar an t-athair thu, a' Lachlainn Oig, Mar diol thu le fuil droch caithreamh do mhàthar; 'S mar smàil thu gu bàs, le diòghaltas air chòir, Am borb-fhear fiadhaich so, am mòrtair gu'n nàr!" _Literally translated:--_ "Thou art not a son like the father, my young Lachlan, Unless thou requite with blood the ill-treatment of thy mother; And unless thou dash to death, with due revenge, This fierce and savage fellow--this bare-faced murderer!" The mother's charge to her boy cannot be said to be tempered with much Christian feeling or principle, yet it was according to the generally cherished practices of the system under which she lived. Then it was that might was right, and revenge bravery. But to return to the subject--the widow's cries and tears, excitement and eloquence, were all in vain. The officer made off with the horse and delivered it to his chief.