John Spence

“ F the early inhabitants of Shetland the brochs and earth-houses are not the only memorials which have come down to us. The implements they used in peace or war are from time to time unearthed in field or moor, and their rubbish heaps, consisting chiefly of the shells of shellfish, are often seen by our shores. Their burial mounds, round which fanciful legends cluster, are frequently met with; and many tall, moss-grown standing-stones remain, mute yet eloquent witnesses of the mystery of the past. But of these rude monuments we are left with the poet to ask in vain:
“In what age wast raised? ”

“ It is very remarkable that while so much has come down to us from the mysterious people who first inhabited the islands, and of whose race and language we know so little, so few traces have survived of the Vikings, who stamped their impression in the place-names of every hill and dale, every rock and skerry, and whose language still forms the main element in the dialect of the islands. ”

“ Persons who were possessed of the Finnish art could perform feats by sea or water quite impossible to ordinary mortals. They could raise the wind like furies in order to wreck the crafts of their enemies, and change the storm into a calm. ”

“ The short prayer at supper-time has been answered—“da mooth o' da mamik” has been opened. It means that three ling are being hauled up hook after hook, and that the whole three are visible through the clear water to the eye of him that holds the huggie-staff.
Presently a smile of pleasure may be seen on the face of the man that hauls the line. He feels a heavy weight and knows it to be the nud o' a fish (i.e., a halibut, which is never named, but always spoken of as da fish or da glyed shield) . Nothing comes more welcome to the gunwale of the haf boat. ”

“ On leaving the land the boat was always turned with the sun—from east to west—never in the opposite direction, which was termed widdershins. The movements of witches were always made against the sun, and by whirling a wooden cap in water or a hand-mill on a bare looder (wooden bench on which the mill rested) , they were supposed to be able to raise the wind like Furies, and toss the sea in wild commotion capable of destroying anything afloat, from a cock boat to an armada. But to return to the fishermen. Their chief subject of conversation was the weather forecasts. ”

“ Even the earth dwelling of man might be termed a hadd or hiding-place. Hence the name would signify the Finns’ burrow or hiding-place. Earth houses have existed in the neighbourhood, remains of which may still be seen.
It is also worthy of note that there were, and even yet linger, numerous legends in Shetland which may be regarded as of Finnish origin, or at least associated in the minds of old Shetlanders with real or imaginary beings whom they called Finns. There were persons supposed to be descendants of Finns, who were accredited with extraordinary powers. ”

“ The last is used banteringly to persons who strongly advocate their own interests.
“The drukken man aye haes the drukken penny.”
“Ill news is like a fitless heathercow”—
Evil tidings travel fast, like a tuft of dry heather before the wind.
“Nae news is guid news”
is the expression of an anxious wife or sister awaiting the return of an absent breadwinner. Another old saying has it:
“There's hope frae the door, but nane frae the grave.”
“There's nae lee behint a lang-backed sea.”
This is a fisherman's proverb, and means that the rolling waves afford no shelter from the storm. ”

“ ARLY in the present century many superstitious beliefs and observances were common in Shetland which are now altogether forgotten, or only to be found lingering in some outlying districts. The old world ways of the Shetlanders have given place to a new order of things. Our domestic, social, and industrial life is conducted on different lines. Hence it is evident that even the remembrance of the times of our forefathers will pass away for ever with the present generation. ”

“ It will be readily understood that these small boats, going to such a distance from the land and having such a length of lines to haul by hand, would be frequently overtaken by a storm, and ran the risk of being overwhelmed in making the wild headlands of Shetland. Though accidents did occur, yet it is matter for surprise that they were not more frequent. This was not so much owing to the sea-worthiness of the boats themselves, as to the skill and dexterity with which they were handled, In old times they never used the sail except they could “lie course.” ”

“ Here and there were persons of artistic skill whose business it was to taat bed rugs with wool dyed in blue lit, skrottie, kurkalit, aald man, or yellowin' girs. The social disposition of the people led them to spend much of their time, especially the long winter evenings, in each other's houses, whiling away the time in telling stories of the sea, tales of adventures with trows and witches, stories of smugglers, wrecks, and press-gang, together with more rational affairs both general and domestic. ”

“ But more frequently these guileless maidens and their happy lovers tripped with lightsome lilt the old Shetland reels, such as “Nippin' Grund,” “Da Brunt Scones o' Voe,” “Da Scalloway Lasses,” “Shak'-'im-troose,” “Kale an' Knocked Corn,” etc.
There is a desire in the human mind to pry into the future, and even at the present day, in this land of Kirks and Bibles, you may see jolly lads in H.M. uniform and braw young lasses patronising the professional cup and card reader. ”

“ It is reasonable to suppose that the earlier migrations of the human race have been from east to west—hence we may infer that the people called Picts were Finnish adventurers from the Scandinavian peninsula, who migrated or were driven westward about the beginning of or shortly before the Christian era. And as Shetland is the nearest land to Norway, they probably colonised these islands first, and in time proceeded westward by way of the Orkneys to the mainland of Scotland. ”

“ The poor animal now jumps to its feet, while Maron proceeds to wave the leaf of holy writ over its back, at the same time muttering certain inaudible words in Norse. The fire-brand is placed in the tar pot and set at the cow's head, the smoke or sneuker of which excites a fit of coughing on the trembling animal. A cat is now brought on the scene, and set on the cow's neck, and dragged by the tail three times over the cow's back. Presently the old man arrives with the fairy crabs, and these are given in one dose all alive and kicking. ”

“ It is, however, in the polished celts or axes that the wonderful artistic skill of the Stone Age people is to be seen. In Shetland these finely formed, polished weapons have for ages been looked upon with a kind of superstitious regard, and treasured up from the idea that the possession of one brought luck to the family that possessed it. They were known as thunderbolts or battle-axes, and were generally believed to have fallen from the sky during a thunderstorm. ”

“ These were probably Pictish remains, and though perhaps of very little archæological interest, yet tell in unmistakable language that the Picts, like ourselves, looked upon the grave as a darksome journey, and, like us, felt the need of some provision for the great hereafter. ”

“ The ordinary rooster did not trouble himself to crow save at midnight and in the morning, but the swart bird of which we speak detected the vaam of any unseen presence, and announced the same by crowing at any hour. ”

“ They, however, were not always friendly with men. They sometimes set covetous eyes on sheep and cattle, and on women and children. When they wished to take a nice mert (fat cow) , they did not remove the animal to their own subterranean abodes, leaving no trace above ground; but the cow, to all appearance, was still in the possession of its owner, pining away under some unknown disease, and was said to be “elf-shot.”
A crofter in a certain parish had a cow supposed to be “hurt frae da grund,” and an old woman called Maron o' Nort'-a-Voe—a famous witch doctor—was sent for. ”

“ I have sometimes landed on parts of the coast now little frequented, and have been surprised to find a nicely formed cup hole, and could trace, by the wear on the stone, where the ancient craigsman had sat, where his feet had stood, and where his böddie had hung. These holes are not often met with on the low shores of our inland voes, because there the primitive boat of the period could fish in ordinary weather. ”

“ This wierd performance is now over, the nettles are collected, and the woman returns to her home in the small hours of the morning. The nettles are buried in the gulgraave o' da vyeаdie (open drain) of the byre. The noralegs are stuck into the byre wall near the vagil baand of the cow, and as both rotted and corroded, so the witch was supposed to be seized with some wasting disease.
Trows or hillfolk were supposed to be possessed of like passions as we are. They married and were given in marriage. They indulged their appetites in the good things of this life even as we do. ”

“ Some ancient people, presumably the Picts, have occupied the pastures and outruns of Shetland in a manner never subsequently attempted. All the hills and outruns of the islands are ramified by a network of the remains of old stone dykes. Those vestiges (which seldom have any name) are very ancient, probably coeval with the brochs. There is a place in Unst, near the broch of Underhool, where what appears to be the outer dyke of an old town can be traced ”

“ The names Fivla and Tivla appear to have been favourite appellations given to trows of the feminine gender, and are often met with in fairy legends (see Jacobsen’s “Shetland Dialect,” p. 69) . The word fivla is used in Unst in designating a light fall of snow. Just as much as can give to the ground a wierd, silver-grey appearance is called a “fivla o’ snaa.” Henk is applied to the movements of trolls, particularly in a fairy dance. Old people spoke of having seen numbers of puny beings dancing round a fairy knowe. ”

“ We do not clothe ourselves with the warm fleece of the sheep, but exchange it for flimsy fabrics from the mills of Manchester, printed calicoes, and bright metal trinkets.
On a Shetland croft of last century the dwelling-house, barn, and byre were built together, so that access could be had to all parts from within. Ingress to and egress from the dwelling was commonly through the byre. When this was not the case, the door was protected by a töfa, or porch. The barn was furnished with a kiln for drying corn, built in a corner, and about six feet long by three broad. ”

“ A man whose mind is enlarged by education and the general information derived from books, and who possesses a command of language, expresses his ideas in his own words, whereas the illiterate man uses the proverbial expressions which tradition has handed down and daily usage rendered familiar, and he justifies his action or verifies his argument with a proverb. ”