Water Horse of Loch na Mna (Raasay)
Further searching around on the internet has revealed that the ‘true’ location of the Water Horse of Raasay (my ‘monster’ blog post for this month) was Loch na Mna, or The Woman’s Loch. I have decided to leave Loch Arnish in my altered version, but it is interesting to know the story behind the other location.
The Mysterious Animals of Ireland site contains the following passages:
According to a tradition found on the Scottish island of Raasay at least one of the quasi-mythical Kelpie met its fate at the hands of a vengeful blacksmith. The story was replayed to one Dr. Samuel Johnson during his tour of the Hebrides in 1773 (Costello):
‘He (their guide) said, there was a wild beast in (Loch na Mna), a sea-horse, which came and devoured a man’s daughter; upon which the man lighted a great fire, and had a sow roasted on it, the smell of which attracted the monster. In the fire was put a spit. The man lay concealed behind a low wall of loose stones, which extended from the fire over the summit of the hill, till it reached the side of the loch. The monster came, and the man with a red hot spit destroyed it. Malcolm (the guide) showed me the little hiding place, and the row of stones. He did not laugh when he told me this story.’
A more detailed version of this story was published in McKay’s More West Highland Tales, Vol.II. According to McKay the man was a smith whose daughter disappeared while herding cattle. The next morning her heart and lungs were found on the shore of the loch. They suspected the lake’s water-horse was responsible and devised a plan to destroy it. He assembled a forge near the loch and with his son crafted large iron hooks and kept them heated till they were red-hot. A sheep was roasted on the fire casting a tempting aroma across the water. Eventually from the lake rose the water-horse “like an ugly, shaggy yearling”. Once it seized the sheep-bait, the father and son sprung out and grappled it with the hooks, killing it. However, in the morning no remains were found of the beast except a heap of what appeared to be star-shine*.
(*Mysteries within mysteries= “Star-shine”, also called star-rot, is a Fortean phenomena pertaining to a gelatin type-substance sometimes found in fields and believed by peasants to have fallen from the sky.)
Another source is an entry in the Slaugh Aotrom LiveJournal. This adds the details that the smith’s name was Alastair, who afterwards became known as Alastair na Beisde. This account of the tale does not mention that the victim was the smith’s daughter, but rather notes that many women had been taken by the creature, one or two a year, until finally the creature took a woman known to the big smith and he finally decided to stop it. This entry does not mention that the smith built a forge behind the rocks - rather, that he built an entire cabin near the loch, in which he roasted a pig.
Loch na Mna is NG5738 on Geograph. The link leads to several fine pictures of it. It is a small fresh water corrie at the south of Raasay, with a large spur called Dun Caan at its northern end. It has a walking track leading along its western edge. The name ‘The Woman’s Loch’ may be related to the story of the depredations of the water horse who would lure women to their doom in its waters, or kill them elsewhere and devour them therein.
S. J. M.
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