Uysden Mor and the Yellow Hornless Goat

There was once a valiant man named Uisdean Mòr who lived near Làidheann Linn. He once roamed the northern parts of Ross-shire. Since this man was a warrior and carried weapons wherever he went, he loved most of all to wander through the most dangerous places that others feared. He had a passion for battling all kinds of monsters.

In Gairloch, there is a heather-covered mountain called Tom Buidhe, down the slope of which runs a small stream. Almost everyone who traveled that road sooner or later encountered a huge, hairy, and bearded goat that tormented passersby, killing some and frightening others to the point of heartbreak. The Yellow Hornless Goat that lived on Tom Buidhe in Gairloch was very famous.

Uisdean Mòr heard about the monster and decided to go and fight it, undeterred by the danger and without hesitation.

He set out quite early and, arriving at the foot of the mountain, entered the house of a weaver who lived there at the time, on the Torasdail Hills—he was called the Weaver with Yellow Legs. When Uisdean entered, the weaver was sitting at his loom. Uisdean and the weaver struck up a conversation.

"Are you heading to Tom Buidhe?" asked the weaver.

"Indeed, I am," replied Uisdean.

"Aren't you afraid of encountering the Yellow Goat?"

"No, I'm not afraid," said Uisdean.

"What weapon will you try against her first?"

"I'll see what my sword can do to her."

"What if your sword won't leave its sheath?" asked the weaver.

"If it won't, I'll aim my gun at her and try that," replied Uisdean.

"What," asked the weaver, "if your gun doesn't spark?"

"If it doesn't," replied Uisdean, "I'll see what Catrìona, my grandmother's sister, can do to the Goat."

And for every weapon Uisdean mentioned, the weaver cast a spell; only the knife he couldn't enchant, because Uisdean referred to the knife as Catrìona, his grandmother's sister.

Having said this, Uisdean hurried to Tom Buidhe with a cheerful, brisk step and arrived at the stream as dusk was falling. Upon reaching the stream, he heard something resembling the bleating of a goat; this greatly surprised him. Nevertheless, he hurried to the ford to meet the monster.

"Are you calling your kid, hairy one?" asked Uisdean.

"If so, I've already found it," replied the goat.

"Not yet, it can't be that you've already found it," said Uisdean.

As they spoke, they drew closer to each other. Uisden yanked his sword, but it refused to leave its sheath. And his gun wouldn't spark! Then the goat seized him and brought him to his knees, saying:

"Uisdean Mòr, you won't leave here alive."

"You vile, dull beast of the streams," replied Uisdean, "you don't know much about this!"

"Where is Catrìona, your grandmother's sister, eh, Nimble Hand?" said the goat, thinking it had defeated him.

"Good luck to you, and thank you! Your memory is better!" replied Uisdean, drawing his knife, and he struck the creature a fatal blow in the stomach with the steel blade. Instantly, the goat vanished.

Uisdean, looking around, returned to the weaver's dwelling. He entered resolutely and unwaveringly and demanded to know where the master of the house was. He was told that the weaver lay ill in bed.

"I must see him!" said Uisdean, and, brushing aside all obstacles, he reached the weaver's bed.

But the weaver wasn't in bed, and when Uisdean struck a light, he found him lying under the loom, bleeding profusely. He ordered the weaver to show him his wounds immediately. The weaver did so, and when Uisdean saw the wound made by the knife in his belly, he was convinced that the weaver and the goat were one and the same being.

"Since it was you who caused so much harm on Tom Buidhe, you won't take another step," Uisdean declared. And instead of applying any salve to his wound, he dealt the weaver a fatal blow, killing him under his own loom, and then went on his way.

And from that day on, no one on Tom Buidhe has perished from the goat or any other monster.

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Uysden Mor and the Yellow Hornless Goat

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