Scottish Creation Myth

Written by Darker_Ulph

Originally, there was only the Cailleach alive to walk the earth when there were no seas, only fields and glades of hills and trees. On these fields, the Cailleach ploughed deep into the earth creating farmlands for herself to grow barley and also creating what would become the deepest glens of Scotland. There was only one mountain in the lands, known now to be Ben Cruachan. Atop the mountain was a solitary well containing the only water of the world.

The Cailleach had one task; to tend the waters within the well, she had to seal the well with a slab every sunset until sunrise. After a long day of herding deer, the Cailleach forgot to tend to the waters and seal it with the stone slab before falling asleep. The well bubbled, overflowed and spilled over down, running down all the Highlands to create rivers and flooding the valleys below to create lochs.

The hammer the Cailleach holds is said to be the magic as she used it to willingly craft the land of the world. With the hammer she let loose many rivers and formed the remaining lochs, and spilling out creating the seas. She also created and shaped more bens and glens, specially crafting every hill in Ross-shire. The first she formed from peat was the Isle of Iona which became the first and ancient rock of her beloved Caledonia. The mountains she made were formed on purpose as stepping stones for her to traverse the land with ease, as well as houses for her quarrelsome giant sons.

Once the lochs had been made her daughter-maidens, the 8 Storm Hags, were tasked with collecting stones in creels. When they jumped from mountain to mountain, some of these stones fell out into the lochs and created the islands within and surrounding Scotland. With these stones, the Storm Hags emptied them in a large pile to create the Cailleach’s winter throne, Ben Nevis, the largest mountain created.

While her maidens were building her throne of Ben Nevis, the Cailleach was on her own as she built the Ben Wyvis. She found it a hard task, for she had to do all the work alone. One day, when she had grown very weary, she stumbled and upset her creel. All the rocks and earth it contained fell out in a heap, and formed the mountain which is called Little Wyvis.

Though the giant sons - known as the Fooar - were punished by being trapped inside mountains and could not escape, they did not end their fighting. Every morning they climbed to the tops of their mountain houses and threw great boulders at one another. That is why so many big grey boulders now lie on steep slopes and are scattered through the valleys. Those not trapped in mountains crafted homes for themselves by digging earth from the ground creating caves scattered all across Scotland.

After all the mountains and seas were formed, the Cailleach used her magic hammer to make every piece of land unique so that she would always know where she was and how to traverse Scotland. She then took delight in wandering through and over her creations. At some point, the Cailleach even found another wells of water. What is now Cherry Island on Loch Ness there was another well, extremely similar to the one that was once atop Ben Cruachan. This well was to be taken care of by one of the Storm Hag maidens, Nessa.

Now, the Cailleach was not ready to let go of the land. One night, from a Green Island somewhere in the Western Isles of the Outer Hebrides, the Winter Queen's alter ego, Brìde the Spring Queen, came into existence and the Cailleach saw visions of her in her dreams. Brìde walked the land and everything she touched flowered and grew green, uprooting the Cailleach's cold supremacy over Scotland. As the Cailleach was not ready to relinquish power over her land, she imprisoned Brìde and started a conflict between the Gods who were only now coming into existence.