The version usually quoted has the chief asking the 'man of the black cap' what he says as his proud ship cleaves the brine, and the skipper replying that his speedy ship takes the shortest way and he will follow line by line. This exchange does not appear in Campbell's 1900 collection, which records the Blue Men as spirits in the Stream and tells the bound-man tale instead. It is treated here as a later development of the tradition, since it could not be traced to a first-hand recording. The Minch has strong tidal races and many wrecks, which is the setting in which the stories sit.
The record is placed at the Shiants because that is where the tradition anchors it.
Comments