Ewen of the Little Head

At Lochbuie on the Isle of Mull, once lived the MacLaine chief Iain Og and his son Ewen of the Little Head. Ewen wasn’t the brightest man and his wife was definitely in charge behind closed doors. She was a MacDougall and known to be incredibly ambitious, labelled by her enemies as the "Black Swan".

She wasn't at all happy with the small amount of land old Iain had given his son, so she constantly nagged Ewen to push for a bigger share. Those demands were always unsuccessful, but still, the swan nagged, Ewen asked and the chief got ever more irritated.

Eventually, tempers flared and the son whacked his father on the head with a sword! It wasn't hard enough to kill him, but an inter-clan battle was now inevitable. Ewen wandered the woods, pondering the events to come, when he stumbled upon a strange creature known as the Bean Nighe.

She took the form of a hideous, withered hag, who was fixated on washing blood-soaked clothes in the river as Ewen crept up behind her. He managed to capture her before she noticed him and in return for her freedom, imparted what she knew of the upcoming battle.

It was an odd prophecy. If Ewen was served butter with his breakfast tomorrow without asking, then he would win the day, otherwise, all was lost. Dejected at the knowledge of how mean his wife was, Ewen wasn't surprised to see no butter the next morning, even after heavily hinting the night before.

He marched off, knowing that his fate was sealed but determined that his name would go down in history. At some point during the battle, Ewen galloped amongst the conflict on his black horse when an enemy clansman leapt onto a rock, swung a claymore and chopped his head clean off.

The horse continued galloping with Ewen's headless body firmly wedged on for miles, eventually coming to rest near a waterfall where the rider finally toppled off.

Ewen of the Little Head was taken to be buried on Iona, but some part of him stayed behind. Whenever time is up for a MacLaine family member, galloping hooves can be heard nearby and the headless horseman rides once more...