Two Hebridean Losers Harrow Hell c. 1600 February 13, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Trip away today so a brief post about a rather unusual denouement to a life, Scottish Highland style. Allan was a villainous magician. In fact, we have come across him in the past roasting cats. When Allan was dying on his home island of Mull (in the 1600s though we are in a legendary past and the tale was written out in 1824) then his friends came to worry about the fate of his soul: Allan had, after all, trafficked with the devil. Allan, however, had issues, shall we say and was not scared in the slightest. In fact, he announced that he intended to conquer hell!
When Allan was on his death bed and his pious friends advised him to beware of the wiles of Satan, he replied, that if Lachain Oer (who was then dead) and himself were to have the use of their arms, they would dethrone Satan, and take up the best berths in his dominions.
Nor was this just the ravings of a dying man, for his old partner in crime Lachain came back from the dead to help. Beach absolutely loves the way that the author takes for granted that a reasonable numbers of the mourners will possess second sight, almost as a fashion accessory in what follows.
When Allan’s funeral-procession approached the church-yard, the second-sighted present saw Lachain Oer at some distance in full armour, at the head of a party in sable attire, and the smell of sulphur was perceived by all the people.
Lachain had come back from hell hence the sulphur. The success of their project seems not to have been limited, given that evil has hardly vanished from the world since the 1600s. Or possibly Allain and Lachain took over and proved even more talented than to Beelzebub. As to the origin of the legend that is easily accounted for, though full credit to the good folk of Mull for making a few scratches on stone into this epic.
Allan’s figure, in full armour, is cut on the stone which covers his grave
There was presumably a need to explain the knight and at that point they decided to bring Lucifer in. The more Beach thinks about it the more he suspects the cat account from Mull was actually an attempt to explain some holes in a rock and a placename recalling a wild cat. Who knows if even Lachain was a real person? If it wasn’t for Allan’s grave… Other accounts of hell being invaded: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
