Gille Dubh's Loch

## Introduction

Gille Dubh's loch is a large lake near the Many Meadows market, and guarded by Gille Dubh. Eran Iliakambar and Mosk Manytrees took shelter there while fleeing the ice plague.

## Appears in

*The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of FIre*

## Description

The freshwater lake is at the side of a very neat trail of woodchips through an open birch forest.' Along the side of the loch is 'a small house whose long, crooked, smoking chimney didn’t even reach Eran’s chin.' The lake water 'tasted very pure and sweet'. Along the shore are green, grassy areas, with shining pebbles, and the water itself is frigid, but 'refreshing and clear. Eran could look down and see waterweed growing beneath his feet, and turtles getting out of the way. An eel curved around his calf and swam deeper into the lake. He could see stones to stand upon, as though set there for people to stand steady as they cleaned themselves.'

Gille Dubh allows local fae and other visitors to refresh themselves by the loch, and sometimes even gives them further hospitality in the form of food and company.

## Residents

* Gille Dubh (owner)
* Guests:
	+ Luridan
	+ Eran Iliakambar
	+ Mosk Manytrees
	+ Gwyn ap Nudd
	+ Augus Each Uisge

## Folklore/Mythology

'In Scottish folklore the Ghillie Dhu or Gille Dubh was a solitary male fairy. He was kindly and reticent yet sometimes wild in character but had a gentle devotion to children. Dark-haired and clothed in leaves and moss, he lived in a birch wood within the Gairloch and Loch a Druing area of the north-west highlands of Scotland. Ghillie Dhu is the eponym for the ghillie suit. *Ghillie* is an English equivalent of the Scottish Gaelic word *gille*; Edward Dwelly, a Scottish lexicographer, lists *gille* as a "lad", "youth" or "boy" with *dubh* translating as "dark" or "dark-haired".

According to folklorist and scholar Katharine Briggs, the Ghillie Dhu was a gentle and kind-hearted mountain spirit, or a "rather unusual nature fairy." The Ghillie Dhu was an individual male modern day fairy described by Osgood Mackenzie, a Scottish landowner and horticulturist, in his memoirs that were published in 1921. The fairy was generally timid, yet he could also be "wild".

Residing in the birch woods near Loch a Druing, in the north-west Highland area of Gairloch, he was mainly seen in the latter part of the 18th century. The woods are in a dip alongside a hilly area around 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) from where Rua Reidh Lighthouse was later built. One summer evening a local child named Jessie Macrae wandered into the woods and became lost. Jessie was found by the Ghillie Dhu who looked after her until the next morning when he took her home. Over a period of four decades the fairy was frequently seen by many people but Jessie was the only person he conversed with. Generally of a dishevelled appearance, he used green moss and leaves taken from trees as clothing. As implied by his name, he had black hair; he was of a small stature. His fondness of children is similar to that displayed by the little known Hyter sprite of English mythology.

Shortly after the Gille Dhu rescued Jessie, a group of Mackenzie dignitaries were invited by the landowner, Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch, to get together to hunt and capture the Ghillie Dhu. The team of five hunters congregated at the home of one of Mackenzie's tenants where they were provided with a complimentary evening meal before setting off on their mission to shoot the child-rescuing, kind Ghillie Dhu. Despite searching extensively throughout the night, the hunters could not find their prey; according to Patricia Monaghan, a writer on Celtic mythology, the Ghillie Dhu was never seen again.'

The Gairloch Museum, with art by Abe Locke and narrated by Sam Heughan, made an animated video of the rescue of Jesse and the hunt for the Gille Dubh.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 16: Leave Be. Accessed 04 May 2021.
2. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 17: So It Is. Accessed 04 May 2021.
3. ↑ "Ghillie Dhu". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghillie\_Dhu. Accessed 04 May 2021.