A popular story once told throughout the Highlands and
Islands concerns a group of men playing cards when a stranger enters who happens
to be the Devil in disguise. It is a migratory legend – type ML 3015 as
classified by the Norwegian folklorist Reidar Th. Christiansen – and the tale
was well known throughout Europe and beyond.
The following version of this tale
was recorded and then transcribed by Calum Maclean, on the 16th of May 1951, from
the recitation of Archibald MacInnes (1881–c. 1953) from Achluachrach, Brae
Lochaber:
Feadhainn a’ cluich chairtean
Anns na timeannan a chaidh seachad
bhiodh iad daonnan a’ cluichd chairtean, mar a tha iad an-diugh. Ach ’s e
daonnan ’s e Catch the Ten a bhiodh
aca, beireachd air an deich agus an Ass agus
Bachelor. Ach bha iad an trip seo a’
cluich ann an croit ann an Taigh an Droma. Thàinig fear caol, dubh a-staigh an
sin is fhuair e a shuidhe a chluich nan cairtean còmh’ ri càch. O! an taobh air
an robh e bha iad a’ cosnadh a h-uile geam. Thuit cairt fon bhòrd. Tha seans
gun tug bean an taigh sùil air le coinneal na le teaghamh pios de bhior às an
teine a choimhead dè bh’ ann. Agus thug i an aire do chasan eich air an fhear a
bha seo. Dh’fhuirich i car sàmhach. Chaidh i gu ceann eile an taighe is thug i botal
uisge coisrigte a-nuas. Thilg e orra e is gu h-àraid air-san. Chaidh e na shradagan
a-mach ron uinneag. Is chan eil forfhais gum facas riamh tuillidh e.
And
the translation goes as follows:
A few who were playing cards
In the olden days they always used to
play cards as they do to this day. A favourite game they always used to play
was Catch the Ten in which they would catch the ten and the Ass and Bachelor.
One time they were playing in a croft at Tyndrum. A tall, dark man came in and
he sat down to play cards with the others. Oh, the side he played on won every
single game. A card fell under the table and the goodwife of the house went to
look for it either with a candle or a piece of wood from the fire and she saw
that the man had horse’s hooves for feet. She stayed quite silent. She went to
the other end of the house and took down a bottle of holy water. She threw this
over them and especially over him. He disappeared in sparks through the window.
No one knows if he was ever seen again.
Compared to other versions of the tale
the above comes across as a summary but it may well be the case that MacInnes
could only recollect the bare bones of a longer version that would include more
detail and perhaps even dialogue. The Rev. John Gregorson Campbell briefly
mentions card-playing:
A party of young people were playing
cards; a stranger joined them and took a hand. A card fell below the table, and
the youth who stooped to lift it observed the stranger to have a horse’s hoof.
The devil, on being thus detected, went up the chimney in smoke. The story is
universal over the Highlands. Cards are notoriously known as the devil’s cards.
When boys play them, the fiend had been known to come down the chimney feet
foremost, the horse’s or pig’s foot appearing first. When going away he
disappears in smoke, and neighs horribly in the chimney.
For the sake of comparison, here are two examples of this
tale, both of which stem from the Isle of Skye, the first in Uig:
As a finely dressed gentleman he is said
to have joined a party playing cards in Uig Inn one Saturday night. The party continued
well into Sunday morning, when one of the cards happening to drop on the floor,
the party who lifted it was horrified to find he was playing with the
cloven-footed gentleman; and on raising the alarm his satanic majesty disappeared
through the roof amidst flames of fire.
And the next version of the tale is placed in Snizort on
the other side of the island:
On a Saturday night, a company of rough men were playing
cards in the village inn of Snizort, Skye. Quarrelling and swearing over
trifles were going on, when a distinguished stranger entered without knocking
or bidding. He challenged any of those present to a game with him, and he
defeated them singly and collectively. They then began to get curious as to his
name and business. A card happened to slip off the table, and one of the
players bent down to pick it up, when, horror! he noticed that the stranger had
horses’ feet on him. Concealing his knowledge from the rest of the company for
fear the visitor might also know and get “unpleasant,” he went to the hostess.
She recognised the gravity of the case, seized a Bible, entered the room, and
shook it in the stranger’s face, when lo! he disappeared
as a blaze of fire up the chimney. Needless to say, the company soon broke up
without more card-playing.
As
can be readily seen all the above versions are but a variation on a theme. Considering
that cards were known as the ‘Devil’s Bible’ then perhaps such stories
contained a moral tone to put off anyone contemplating such an enjoyable pastime.
References:
John G. Campbell, The Gaelic Otherworld, ed. by Ronald Black (Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd., 2005), pp. 160–61
Alexander MacBain, ‘Highland
Superstition’, The Transactions of the
Gaelic Society of Inverness, vol. XIV (1887–88), pp. 237–38
Norman Matheson, ‘The Ghosts and
Apparitions of the Isle of Skye’, The
Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, vol. XVIII (1891–92),pp. 8–16
Éilís Ní Anluain, ‘The Cardplayers and
the Devil (ML 3015)', Béaloideas,
vol. 59 (1991), pp. 45–54
Martin, Puhvel, ‘The
Legend of the Devil-Haunted Card Players in Northern Europe’, Folk-Lore, vol. 76 (1965), pp. 33–38
SSS NB 8, p. 740
Image:
Devil playing cards
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