woman at a window. She called out to him to go to a back door that was on the castle. He did so and went in, she came to meet him, and took him to a fine room. There was food set before him, and among the food half a cheese. It was now dusk and a light was lighted. When he sat to his meat she took away the light. He now thought of those he had left behind, and he put the half cheese in his knapsack, and he waited for whatever might happen. In a while she returned with the light, and he said to her, "I have been left waiting for whatever may happen and listening to what may be heard; it was a curious thing of you to do to take away the light."

"There are few people who could not find their mouth, whether it be dark or light," said she, "but it cannot be that the little stranger ate the big cheese." She searched up and down but could not find it. The cheese was in the knapsack. When she found this out she called to have him caught and thrown among the big dogs. He was there picking the bones, which he might catch among them, and which he no sooner caught than they were taken from him. Next day his two other companions whom he had left behind in the shelter of the hillock saw the red dog again. Away after it one of them went, and he was not long following it when he saw a fine castle down before him, and he turned his face towards where it was. When he reached it there was not a door to be seen, and he was nearly becoming giddy gomg round and round it when he observed a fine looking woman at a window. She made signs to him to go to a narrow door that was on the castle. He went in, she bade him welcome and showed him in to a wide room. Meat was put before him, and among the meat was placed a quarter of mutton. When he went to take the food she took with her the light in the same way as had been done to his companion. He now thought

of the one he had left behind him, and put the quarter of mutton in his knapsack, and remained where he was, waiting and listening. After some time had passed she returned with the light, and he asked why she had done such a senseless thing as leaving him in the dark.

"There are few," she said, "who would not find the way to their mouth, be it dark or light; but it cannot be that the little stranger has eaten the big quarter of mutton."

She sought it as she had previously done, but could not find it here or there. The quarter of mutton was in the knapsack, and, in the same way as was done to the other, he was thrown among the big dogs. He was there along with his companion, picking

the bones that he might snatch, and they could only acquit themselves as best they could, they had neither more nor less of any other livelihood.

Next day the third one of them, waiting at the side of the hillock for the return of his comrades, saw the big red dog coming with speed, and he knew that a house was not far off. He set out after it, and he was not long following when he saw a fine castle in a hollow down below. When he reached there was no door to be seen. He was going round it when he observed, in the same way as the others had done, a handsome woman at a window. She beckoned to him to go to a low door that was on the castle. He did this, and when he went in she made him welcome. Eatables were set before him, and among them a large loaf of wheaten bread. When he went to the table she took away the light, but he had no one to remember, and on her return every thing was right and there was nothing done to him. When night came he laid down, but could not get a wink of sleep. Next morning he said to her-"What men are those making music and merriment that did not let me rest or sleep all night?" She said to him-"I am in the same way for a year and a day, those who are at that work are the Awisks (Dwarfs or Pigmies)." "Are you only here a year and a day?" he asked. "I am not more," she said, "I am the daughter of a king in the kingdom of coldness. The Awisks stole me away and left me here."

At any rate the next night he tried to sleep as he had previously done. The music and merriment began. The room next to him was full of them as it was before, and he could not get a wink of sleep When he was tired listening to them and his patience was exhausted, and he could not endure any longer, he went where they were to see what they were about, or if they meant to stop their noisy merriment at all. On seeing him in the door they all laughed in his face. "What are you laughing at?" he said. "It is that your own head will be a football to us for the rest of this night." He laughed in their faces. "What are you

laughing at yourself?" they said. He said, that was that he would take the man of them who had the biggest head and the slenderest legs and lay about amongst them with it till there was nothing of it left but the shank. He began on them and he put out every one that there was from the first to the last, and emptied the room of them, and he was alone in peace and quietness. In a while the same noisy work began. He went down where they were and did as before, he took hold of the one with the biggest head and slenderest legs and attacked them with him until he

wore him to the shank, and they were put out and the place was empty.

The king's daughter got away, but promised him to come back with her father and her attendant maids to be married to him. He said to her that he was going away from there, but that he would wait in the house nearest the castle till she came back and fulfilled her promise. She went away, and he left the castle and went to an Elfin woman's house, which proved to be the one nearest the castle. One day when he was taking a drink at the well he heard a stirring noise coming about the place, but he was seeing nothing. The Elfin woman saw the king and his daughter and her attendant maidens coming in an eddy wind, and without sign or warning she came behind him and put a druidic pin at the back of his head. He then slept so soundly that all the people in the world could not rouse him till the druidic pin was withdrawn from the back of his head. When the king came to him he found him in a heavy slumber, and he began to shake him and roll him about, but the more the king shook him the sounder he slept.

"There is no saying what sort of a man that is," the king said to his daughter, "when he cannot be wakened at all." The king came three times in this way and failed to waken him. Then the Elfin woman plucked the druidic pin from the back of his head, and when be awoke he returned to the castle again. He then traversed the castle upwards and downwards; he found his lost companions.

"Are you going with me?" he said to them, "to the Kingdom of Coldness."

"We are not," they said. "We are well enough where we are."

He now looked towards him and from him, and saw nothing more suitable that he could take with him than three curry combs. He put these in his pocket and went away, then he took to travelling and ever going on. Towards dusk he saw a bothy at the roadside, which he went into, and in which he found a big lump-headed old grey man sitting on a boulder of rock, and comb ing his beard with a big bunch of heather. He said to the carle"Is that not a rough comb that you have?" "I have not a smoother," the old man said. Perhaps," he said, "I have got a better one myself." He put his hand into his pocket and gave the old man one of the combs he had himself. 66 Well," said the old man then, "I know the object of your journey and travel. You are going in search of your sweetheart, the daughter of a king in the Kingdom of Coldness. You will stay to-night with myself, and

He

your success will be none the less because of it to-morrow." did this, and next day when he was ready to go, the old man said to him-"I have a brother who can better direct you on your journey, he is a year and a day's journey from this, but I will give you a pair of shoes that will take you there in one day, and when you reach, if you turn them in this direction, they will be back here before sundown."

He went, and was progressing at full speed, and when the evening was coming on (lit. bending down), he saw a hut at the roadside, in which there was a big growling grey man sitting at the fire on the stump of a tree, with a big bunch of pine wood combing his beard. The traveller turned the point of the shoes homewards, and had no sooner done this than they disappeared. He said to the old man, "That is a coarse comb you have there." "I have none smoother," the old man replied. "I believe that I have better than that myself," said he, putting his hand in his pocket and giving the old man another of the curry combs. "Well do I know the purpose of your journey and travel," this one said. "You are going to get the daughter of a king in the Kingdom of Coldness, but you will pass this night with myself, and your journey to-morrow will be none the worse of it."

Next day when he was ready to go, the old carle said to him— "There is a house of another brother of mine that you must reach, but there is a year and a day's distance between this and my brother's house, and if he will not ferry you across, there is no one living on earth who can do it. I will give you a ball of thread, and you will go on throwing it ahead of you, and it will take you to where he is in one day. When you reach you will turn it backwards, and I will have it before sundown."

He went away, and was going on at full speed, all the time throwing the ball before him, unwinding and winding it. At sundown he looked back the way he came, and he did not see the ball any more.

There was a little hut at the roadside. He went in and found a huge recluse of a grey man stretched on an old oaken settle, combing his beard with a bunch of hawthorn. The wayfarer said to the old man, "Is not that a rough comb you have there?" "I have none smoother," said the grey recluse to him. "I cannot but think I have better than that myself," said he, handing him the last of the combs he had in his hand.

"Well I know the meaning of your journey and travel," said the grey carle to him. "You are going to the Kingdom of Coldness in search of a daughter of a king. You were last night with my next

oldest (middle) brother, and the previous night with my eldest brother. You will pass this night with me, and your journey tomorrow will not be the worse of it."

Next day the grey man said to him-"There is a distance of seven days and seven years from this place, which you have to traverse, but I will give you a staff which will take you a mile in a minute, but it is the eagle that must take you over the ferry, and I will get it for you." He gave a whistle, and in a moment every bird in the air was round about him but the eagle. He now asked his visitor to stand at a distance from him and keep his hands to his ears, and hold his head in case it should split with the hardness of the whistle that he would have to give before the eagle would come. "You will get food for you to give it on the way so that it may not devour yourself. When you reach the Kingdom of Coldness you will have to destroy a great giant, who defends the daughter of the king. The way in which you will do it is by keeping the cold edge of the sword to his spinal marrow.” The eagle came, and they went away together, and it put him ashore on dry land in the Kingdom of Coldness. When he reached, the king heard the fluttering they made round the royal residence, and looked out. When he saw who it was, he asked him in. "I will not go in," he said, "till I get a fair combat with the big giant who guards your daughter." He got what he asked, and he killed the giant. The daughter saw him, and she called out to her father" O father, that is the soldier who took me from among the Awisks."

There was now a great merry joyous marriage feast made that lasted seven days and seven years, and the soldier remained in that Kingdom till the end of his days.

26th FEBRUARY, 1890.

The paper for this evening was by the Rev. John Sinclair, Rannoch, entitled, "Some Letters from the pen of Ewen Maclachlan, Old Aberdeen, with Notes." Mr Sinclair's paper was as follows:

:

SOME LETTERS FROM THE PEN OF EWEN MACLACHLAN,

OLD ABERDEEN.

On the 10th day of June, 1888, John Mackenzie, meal dealer, Beauly, breathed his last at the advanced age of 81; and, on the 12th of the same month, a long procession of sorrowing friends.