Belief in njuggles; a Fetlar man met a njuggle and gave up h...

Original Track ID

SA1973.61.B1a; SA1973.61.B1b

Original Tape ID

SA1973.061

Summary

Belief in njuggles; a Fetlar man met a njuggle and gave up his girlfried, never daring to go to her house again.

Even at the end of the nineteenth century there was a belief in njuggles [water horses]. There are various lochs called 'Nuggles Water' on the map of Shetland. The njuggle was a giant horse that came out of the loch and it was nothing unusual for people to meet these creatures if they passed a loch at night. But they were said not to harm human beings.

One story was of a Laurenson man from Aith who left his home on Saturday night to visit a girl in North Dale. As he passed the Peerie [little] Loch, a njuggle with eyes the size of a fivepence pot came out and circled him, snorting. When he reached the footpath called the Snugga, he stopped and decided this was a bad omen. He turned tail and made for home. When folk asked him what ailed him, he said he was misfürded [run into bad luck]. He never went to see the girl again. There are many more njuggle stories on Fetlar but this is the only one concerning a Laurenson.

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good