Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Title - Maggie Moloch, a witch, took revenge on a miller's daughter...
Contributors - Bella Higgins
Reporters - Hamish Henderson
Item Person - Moloch, Maggie

Summary - Maggie Moloch, a witch, took revenge on a miller's daughter for ill-treating her son, but later brought good fortune to a farm.

The daughter of the miller at Glen Fincastle was to be married. On the night before the wedding there was no oatmeal for the wedding feast. Her father wouldn't go near the mill between sunset and sunrise, so the girl went by herself to make oatmeal. While she was grinding the meal, she had a bucket of water boiling. A man appeared and told her that it would cost her dear, starting the mill at that time of night. He asked her name; she said it was Mise Mi Fhein (Me Myself). He threatened her, and she poured the bucket of boiling water over him. He ran off, roaring. His mother (or perhaps his wife), Maggie Moloch, heard him and asked who did it, but when he said Mise Mi Fhein, there was nothing she could do about it. However, when the woman was married and living in Speyside she told the other women at a spinning ceilidh her story. A voice at the door said, "Ay, an it was you that killed my man ..." and split her [head] with a three-legged stool.

Maggie Moloch, who was a witch, left after that and went to another farm where the servant girls were good to her and she to them. When some of the servants were paid off Maggie left too. After that, all the work was in vain, and the mistress of the house had to get all the old servants back before things returned to normal.


Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:07:24
Date Recorded - 1955.08
Language - English, Scots
Genre - Story
Collection - School of Scottish Studies

Track ID - 2317
Original Tape ID - SA1955.151
Original Track ID - SA1955.151.A8a; SA1955.151.A8b
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R



Recording Location:
  County - Perthshire
  Parish - Blairgowrie
  Village - Blairgowrie


Item Location:
  County - Perthshire
  Parish - Blair Atholl
  Village - Glen Fincastle

Item Notes - The language is English with Scots in quoted speech.

Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/2317/1


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