A Fetlar field ploughed by magical horses, summoned from the...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1955.93.4
Original Tape ID
Summary
A Fetlar field ploughed by magical horses, summoned from the sea.
Long ago in Fetlar a man was about to spend a day ploughing a great field of barley with two heavy horses when one of them died in the stable. He told his servant that no horse on Fetlar would be a match for his horse. The servant offered to get him a yoke of horses if he gave her a bushel of barley, and offered to plough the field for him too! The farmer insisted on coming with the servant for the horses and she led him to the high Banks [cliffs] of the Clingera. She said something and a thick mist descended. She whistled and two great silver-grey horses appeared. The farmer could not catch them, but the girl quickly had them yoked, and ploughed the field in two and a half hours. No one saw the feat, but the farmer sowed the field and the servant harrowed it. The servant returned the horses, saying mysterious words that summoned the mist, into which they disappeared. She whistled and the mist cleared. The field grew a great crop of bere [a type of barley].
Recording Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Yell
Island - Yell
Village/Place - Arisdale
Item Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Fetlar
Island - Fetlar
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good