Old Skye Tales: Traditions, Reflections and Memories

by William MacKenzie, Alasdair Maclean (Editor)

There is a tradition that an infant son of the chief fell from a window of the castle, and was dashed to death on the rocks below. The enraged chief, with bitter rage in his heart, vented his rage on the unfortunate nurse. She was placed in a leaky boat, with no oars, and cast adrift in the stormy waters of the Minch. It is said, however, that she was rescued and hidden until the chief left the castle. The agonized shrieks of the terrified nurse haunted his daily and nightly hours. That, combined with the spectral ghost of Donald Gorm Mor, forced the departure of the chief to Mogstad...

Mackenzie's Old Skye Tales is an extraordinary compilation of lore, legend, tradition, and incident from the Isle of Skye, collected and written by a man of considerable intelligence and observation. It is one of the most important sources for the history of the island. As well as containing a large amount of information of the geography of the island (particularly the north), there are also important sections on crofting, the church, as well as local superstitions, sayings, second sight, and even local characters of his time.

An entertaining and witty book, it as a marvelous resource for the historian, as well as a fascinating compendium for all those who love one of Scotland's most famous islands, and a great tribute to a man with all the born ability of the Gaelic seannachie or storyteller.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Scotland

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

Reviews

[Cormac Healy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essentially just a list of places in Skye and people who lived there in the 18th and 19th century. Not really sure why I bought it.
1.5/5

[Bab · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the oddest books I've read so far. I was mislead by the title and I thought it was some sort of record of the island folk's narrative/literary lore, but it's not anything of the sort at all. The summary should be more faithful, for this review's sake, and it shows how some original writings from the late 1920s and early 1930s have been edited into this book form, in four parts: 1) Wanderings in Trotternish; 2) Notable Trotternish families; 3) Ministerial history; and 4) Reflections and some old traditions.

I found the first section the most interesting, since it covers the landscape of the Trotternish (Skye island's north-east region) and some of its history, with the excuse of the author's own many walks across it. However, even already at this point, the text indulges in mentioning specific people that lived on those lands during the 18th and 19th centuries, and also specific deeds that occurred to them. The original spirit of the writings was a melancholic reminiscence of «good old times past», but it oozes out in a weird way when the time they were written happens to have become a «good old time past» itself, and the links with it are already extremely scarce. For instance, the author mentions people from Skye that fought at Waterloo, and in the South African Boer war in 1900, and even in the Great War - the 1st World War -, which he never knew would be belittled, in perspective, by WWII; and, in the same way, the fact that the only things we get to know about a certain fellow is that he was born with some surname in Skye and that he died, with or without issue, in a certain war more than a century ago, feels pretty uneasy and awkward as some person's full life résumé. That weird feeling explodes in full glory along the second section - where the only features that appear to be worth of note from these Very Notable Families (oldschool for VIPs) are some of their member's names, their birthplaces, whether they got married or not, whether they had issue (offspring) or not, and the year they died. -...and those were the notable ones!- In the same fashion, the ministerial history section tells something about some specific Skye church ministers since the late 1800s until the 1930s, while the reader wonders how many lives could be summarized in a single sentence - maybe even in a single word.

To provide one more summary, I'd say: don't take me wrong, I really liked this book, especially its most down-to-earth contents (folklore, legends, superstitions, anecdotes...), but I believe it should be taken as what it is: a lifelong schoolteacher in Skye's personal effort to render his beloved whole wide little corner of the world on paper. Poorly edited (or probably just unedited) in terms of contents, but in great style, by the way! Excellent prose, Pfr. William Mackenzie! Looking forward to tread on your land again.

[path · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was lured in by the main title, expecting ...tales, really. But this book really contains a multitude of reflections and memories, which are in the subtitle. And those might have been okay, but they were some of the most stream of consciousness, non-contextualized, and often ridiculously trivial memories and reflections I could imagine. Maybe they mean a great deal to the denizen of Skye. But to me, as someone who only visited Skye, not so much.

Here is an example of the kind of passage a reader might encounter. In the 1880's, the X family owned a farm in [small township 1]. Mr. X was married to Ms. Y, whose family was from [small township 2]. The Y family lived in [small township 2] for many generations. The youngest daughter of family Y had three sons: A, B, and C. A married so and so. B married so and so, and C married so and so, the daughter of family W. Great uncle W was the postmaster of [small township 3] and was often seen ferrying mail across the nearby loch. The loch near [small township 4] ... etc. Only about a page elapses in the book but by the end of the passage, the narrative has crossed families, towns, and has moved forward and backward in time to no apparent point. It feels like reading out of a registry of births, marriages, and deaths with an occasional tantalizing bit passing with only a brief notice.

The last chapter got a bit into some traditions, which was a little more interesting.

[Helena Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally only enjoyed the last chapter of this book as the title is pretty misleading lol

[Fem (Little Miss Booksniffer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very different to what I expected. Because of the name, I put 'Old Skye Tales' on my fairytale-shelf. And though it does delve into a few local legends, folktales, and songs, it's mostly a short, (then-)recent history of the island and its important inhabitants. It is very much MacKenzie's personal tour of Skye, and, apart from the endless genealogical lists, an enjoyable one.

But contents aside, I will forever cherish this book anyway. It will always be connected to my own travels to the Scottish island and the place where I bought it: at a small shop at the ferry harbour, staffed by a grey-bearded man and his talking parrot.

[SP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed the book and loved going to all the places where what was written about in the book actually took place. While some of the stories are very old and date back to the 19th century, they paint a lovely picture of the island and the life of its inhabitants.

[Emily Tenbruck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is misleading, thought it may have been folk lore and old tales. However, still an interesting read.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly what I thought it would be, as it read more like a genealogical summary than tales of this mystical area. Informative, but not really a page-turner.