Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race
shall obey you in my stead, and the tenants shall pay you their rents
and their dues, and in all things you shall hold my land for me."
The Token
The Lady of Loch Awe sighed as she asked: "But if you die away in that
distant land how shall I know? What will become of me if at last such
woeful tidings should be brought?"
"Wait for me seven years, dear wife," said Colin, "and if I do not
return before the end of that time you may marry again and take a
brave husband to guard your rights and rule the glen, for I shall be
dead in the Holy Land."
"That I will never do. I will be the Lady of Glenurchy till I die, or
I will become the bride of Heaven and find peace for my sorrowing soul
in a nunnery. No second husband shall wed me and hold your land. But
give me now some token that we may share it between us; and you shall
swear that on your deathbed you will send it to me; so shall I know
indeed that you are no longer alive."
"It shall be as you say," answered Black Colin, and he went to the
smith of the clan and bade him make a massive gold ring, on which
Colin's name was engraved, as well as that of the Lady of Loch Awe.
Then, breaking the ring in two, Colin gave to his wife the piece with
his name and kept the other piece, vowing to wear it near his heart
and only to part with it when he should be dying. In like manner she
with bitter weeping swore to keep her half of the ring, and hung it on
a chain round her neck; and so, with much grief and great mourning
from the whole clan, Black Colin and his sturdy following of Campbell
clansmen set out for the Holy Land.
The Journey
Sadly at first the little band marched away from all their friends and
their homes; bagpipes played their loudest marching tunes, and plaids
fluttered in the breeze, and the men marched gallantly, but with heavy
hearts, for they knew not when they would return, and they feared
to find supplanters in their homes when they came back after many
years. Their courage rose, however, as the miles lengthened behind
them, and by the time they had reached Edinburgh and had taken ship at
Leith all was forgotten but the joy of fighting and the eager desire
to see Rome and the Pope, the Holy Land and the Holy Sepulchre.
Journeying up the Rhine, the Highland clansmen made their way through
Switzerland and over the passes of the Alps down into the pleasant
land of Italy, where the splendour of the cities surpassed their
wildest imaginations; and so they came at last, with many other bands
of Crusaders, to Rome.
The Crusade
At Rome the Knight of Loch Awe was so fortunate as to have an audience
of the Pope himself, who was touched by the devotion which brought
these stern warriors so far from their home. Black Colin knelt in
reverence before the aged pontiff, whom he held in truth to be the
Vicar of Christ on earth, and received his blessing, and commands to
continue his journey to Rhodes, where the Knights of St. John would
give him opportunity to fight for the faith. The small band of
Campbells went on to Rhodes, and there took service with the Knights,
and won great praise from the Grand Master; but, though they fought
the infidel, and exalted the standard of the Cross above the Crescent,
Colin was still not at all satisfied. He left Rhodes after some years
with a much-diminished band, and made his way as a pilgrim to
Jerusalem. There he stayed until he had visited all the shrines in the
Holy Land and prayed at every sacred spot. By this time the seven
years of his proposed absence were ended, and he was still far from
his home and the dear glen by Loch Awe.
The Lady's Suitor
While the seven years slowly passed away his sad and lonely wife dwelt
in the castle on the Islet, ruling her lord's clan in all gentle ways,
but fighting boldly when raiders came to plunder her clansmen. Yearly
she claimed her husband's dues and watched that he was not defrauded
of his rights. But though thus firm, she was the best help in trouble
that her clan ever had, and all blessed the name of the Lady of Loch
Awe.
So fair and gentle a lady, so beloved by her clan, was certain to have
suitors if she were a widow, and even before the seven years had
passed away there were men who would gladly have persuaded her that
her husband was dead and that she was free. She, however, steadfastly
refused to hear a word of another marriage, saying: "When Colin parted
from me he gave me two promises, one to return, if possible, within
seven years, and the other to send me, on his deathbed, if he died
away from me, a sure token of his death. I have not yet waited seven
years, nor have I had the token of his death. I am still the wife of
Black Colin of Loch Awe."
This steadfastness gradually daunted her suitors and they left her
alone, until but one remained, the Baron Niel MacCorquodale, whose
lands bordered on Glenurchy, and who had long cast covetous eyes on
the glen and its fair lady, and longed no less for the wealth she was
reputed to possess than for the power this marriage would give him.
The Baron's Plot
When the seven years were over the Baron MacCorquodale sought the Lady
of Loch Awe again, wooing her for his wife. Again she refused,
saying, "Until I have the token of my husband's death I will be wife
to no other man." "And what is this token, lady?" asked the Baron, for
he thought he could send a false one. "I will never tell that,"
replied the lady. "Do you dare to ask the most sacred secret between
husband and wife? I shall know the token when it comes." The Baron was
not a little enraged that he could not discover the secret, but he
determined to wed the lady and her wealth notwithstanding; accordingly
he wrote by a sure and secret messenger to a friend in Rome, bidding
him send a letter with news that Black Colin was assuredly dead, and
that certain words (which the Baron dictated) had come from him.
A Forged Letter
One day the Lady of Loch Awe, looking out from her castle, saw the
Baron coming, and with him a palmer whose face was bronzed by Eastern
suns. She felt that the palmer would bring tidings, and welcomed the
Baron with his companion. "Lady, this palmer brings you sad news,"
quoth the Baron. "Let him tell it, then," replied she, sick with fear.
"Alas! fair dame, if you were the wife of that gallant knight Colin of
Loch Awe, you are now his widow," said the palmer sadly, as he handed
her a letter. "What proof have you?" asked Black Colin's wife before
she read the letter. "Lady, I talked with the soldier who brought the
tidings," replied the stranger.
The letter was written from Rome to "The Right Noble Dame the Lady of
Loch Awe," and told how news had come from Rhodes, brought by a man of
Black Colin's band, that the Knight of Loch Awe had been mortally
wounded in a fight against the Saracens. Dying, he had bidden his
clansmen return to their lady, but they had all perished but one,
fighting for vengeance against the infidels. This man, who had held
the dying Knight tenderly upon his knee, said that Colin bade his wife
farewell, bade her remember his injunction to wed again and find a
protector, gasped out, "Take her the token I promised; it is here,"
and died; but the Saracens attacked the Christians again, drove them
back, and plundered the bodies of the slain, and when the one survivor
returned to search for the precious token there was none! The body was
stripped of everything of value, and the clansman wound it in the
plaid and buried it on the battlefield.
The Lady's Stratagem
There seemed no reason for the lady to doubt this news, and her grief
was very real and sincere. She clad herself in mourning robes and
bewailed her lost husband, but yet she was not entirely satisfied, for
she still wore the broken half of the engraved ring on the chain round
her neck, and still the promised death-token had not come. The Baron
now pressed his suit with greater ardour than before, and the Lady of
Loch Awe was hard put to it to find reasons for refusing him. It was
necessary to keep him on good terms with the clan, for his lands
bordered on those of Glenurchy, and he could have made war on the
people in the glen quite easily, while the knowledge that their chief
was dead would have made them a broken clan. So the lady turned to
guile, as did Penelope of old in similar distress. "I will wed you,
now that my Colin is dead," she replied at last, "but it cannot be
immediately; I must first build a castle that will command the head of
Glenurchy and of Loch Awe. The MacGregors knew the best place for a
house, there on Innis Eoalan; there, where the ruins of MacGregor's
White House now stand, will I build my castle. When it is finished the
time of my mourning will be over, and I will fix the bridal day." With
this promise the Baron had perforce to be contented, and the castle
began to rise slowly at the head of Loch Awe; but its progress was not
rapid, because the lady secretly bade her men build feebly, and often
the walls fell down, so that the new castle was very long in coming to
completion.
Black Colin Hears the News
In the meantime all who loved Black Colin grieved to know that the
Lady of Loch Awe would wed again, and his foster-mother sorrowed most
of all, for she felt sure that her beloved Colin was not dead. The
death-token had not been sent, and she sorely mistrusted the Baron
MacCorquodale and doubted the truth of the palmer's message. At last,
when the new castle was nearly finished and shone white in the rays of
the sun, she called one of her sons and bade him journey to Rome to
find the Knight of Loch Awe, if he were yet alive, and to bring sure
tidings of his death if he were no longer living. The young Patterson
set off secretly, and reached Rome in due course, and there he met
Black Colin, just returned from Jerusalem. The Knight had at last
realized that he had spent seven years away from his home, and that
now, in spite of all his haste, he might reach Glenurchy too late to
save his wife from a second marriage. He comforted himself, however,
with the thought that the token was still safe with him, and that his
wife would be loyal; great, therefore, was his horror when he met his
foster-brother and heard how the news of his death had been brought to
the glen. He heard also how his wife had reluctantly promised to marry
the Baron MacCorquodale, and had delayed her wedding by stratagem,
and he vowed that he would return to Glenurchy in time to spoil the
plans of the wicked baron.
Black Colin's Return
Travelling day and night, Black Colin, with his faithful clansman,
came near to Glenurchy, and sent his follower on in advance to bring
back news. The youth returned with tidings that the wedding had been
fixed for the next day, since the castle was finished and no further
excuse for delay could be made. Then Colin's anger was greatly roused,
and he vowed that the Baron MacCorquodale, who had stooped to deceit
and forgery to gain his ends, should pay dearly for his baseness.
Bidding his young clansman show no sign of recognition when he
appeared, the Knight of Loch Awe sent him to the farm in the glen,
where the anxious foster-mother eagerly awaited the return of the
wanderer. When she saw her son appear alone she was plunged into
despair, for she concluded, not that Black Colin was dead, but that he
would return too late. When he, in the beggar's disguise which he
assumed, came down the Glen he saw the smoke from the castle on the
Islet, and said: "I see smoke from my house, and it is the smoke of a
wedding feast in preparation, but I pray God who sent us light and
love that I may reap the fruit of the love that is there."
The Foster-Mother's Recognition
The Knight then went to his foster-mother's house, knocked at the