The cows were in all respects like ordinary Highland cattle but were thought to live under the sea on the seaweed called meillich. They were called fairy cows, cro sith, and the good cattle of Luskentyre were said to descend from them. Campbell comments that it is more probable the superiority of the stock was the origin of the fairy cattle story. He says similar cows were said to have come ashore in Bernera in Uist, and at a rock in Skye, where earth from a graveyard was thought most effective in keeping them. On the evening they came ashore a voice called them by name from the sea.
The story is a version of a widespread Hebridean tradition of sea-cattle and is recorded here as the folklore of one named beach.
Comments