When God first made the world, He looked at the bare and barren hillsides and thought how nice it would be to cover them with some kind of beautiful tree or flower.

So he turned to the Giant Oak, the biggest and strongest of all of the trees he had made, and asked him if he would be willing to go up to the bare hills to help make them look more attractive. But the oak explained that he needed a good depth of soil in order to grow and that the hillsides would be far too rocky for him to take root.

So God left the oak tree and turned to the honeysuckle with its lovely yellow flower and beautiful sweet fragrance. He asked the honeysuckle if she would care to grow on the hillsides and spread her beauty and fragrance amongst the barren slopes.

But the honeysuckle explained that she needed a wall or a fence or even another plant to grow against, and for that reason, it would be quite impossible for her to grow in the hills.

So God then turned to one of the sweetest and most beautiful of all the flowers - the rose. God asked the rose if she would care to grace the rugged highlands with her splendour. But the rose explained that the wind and the rain and the cold on the hills would destroy her, and so she would not be able to grow on the hills.

Disappointed with the oak, the honeysuckle and the rose, God turned away. At length, he came across a small, low lying, green shrub with a flower of tiny petals -some purple and some white. It was heather.God asked the heather the same question that he’d asked the others. "Will you go and grow upon the hillsides to make them more beautiful?"

The heather thought about the poor soil, the wind and the rain - and wasn’t very sure that she could do a good job. But turning to God she replied that if he wanted her to do it, she would certainly give it a try.

God was very pleased. He was so pleased in fact that he decided to give the heather some gifts as a reward for her willingness to do as he had asked.

Firstly he gave her the strength of the oak tree - the bark of the heather is the strongest of any tree or shrub in the whole world.

Next he gave her the fragrance of the honeysuckle - a fragrance that is frequently used to gently perfume soaps and potpourris.

Finally he gave her the sweetness of the rose - so much so that heather is one of the bees favourite flowers. And to this day, heather is renowned especially for these three God given gifts.

This is a thing found among the heather, especially old tall unburnt heather. It is alleged that the serpent goes round and round the clump of heather, emitting a froth or spittle from its mouth upon the clump without stop or pause. No one understands why this is.

When the spittle emitted by the serpent on the heather plant cools and dies, the stuff grows as hard as the stone but as light as tinder. The serpent's stone is about the size of a pullet's egg and dark-grey in colour. Old people esteem it highly for its power in healing and for its power against fairy women. It was good for swelling or cut or bruise or festering in a person.

A boy was bitten in the foot by a serpent. He ran to a stream and bathed his wounded foot. Then, running back to see whether the serpent had succeeded in reaching the water, he met it hastening to the stream. He cut it into five pieces, which he buried in a hole in the earth, closing this firmly with a sod.

If this is not done the maggots produced by the rotting serpent fly about in the air, and should one of them strike a person in the face cancer will result.

 Since The Middle Ages, people have believed
 that hares are magical creatures!

They have been closely linked with witchcraft and many believed
that witches have the power to turn themselves into hares.

The hare is also known as 'The Guardian of the Moon' and also
has close links with the Devil – possibly because it appears
to change colour when being observed.

Hence its other names of the 'Varying Hare', or 'Heather
Hare', for like heather, it seems to be made up of many
colours which shift according to light and wetness.

Highland legends abound with stories of beautiful
maidens turning into hares, particularly when being
pursued by handsome hunters – but this could just
be wishful thinking on cold, lonely nights!

  Image : 'Hare' by Rob Whieldon