The Ghillie Dhu – Scotland’s Kindest Fairy

Fairies have a terrible reputation for stealing children away to their hidden kingdom and leaving a changeling in their place. However, the Ghillie Dhu was known for doing the very opposite, as the legendary guardian of lost children.

He was a solitary fairy, with dark hair and clothed in nothing but leaves and moss, leading to the name Dhu, Gaelic for black. Nobody knows if there were once lots of these creatures or if this was a specific individual, but the Ghillie Dhu has only ever been seen in one location. He made his home in a quiet birch wood around Loch an Draing near Gairloch.

The Ghillie Dhu was sometimes wild and aggressive to adults who trespassed in his territory but was always very kind and protective of children. In the 18th Century, a young girl called Jessie Macrae wandered off on her own, getting hopelessly lost in these woods. As darkness began to fall, she sat down and started to cry.

Out of nowhere, the Ghillie Dhu appeared. This gentle fairy calmed the child down and guarded her while she slept amongst the trees for the night. In the morning, he led her back home to her worried parents, safe and sound.

The Ghillie Dhu was supposedly seen on numerous occasions however he refused to speak with anybody apart from Jessie. By the time she was a grown woman, the laird of the area, Sir Hector Mackenzie had decided to hunt down this strange fairy. He gathered a party of men to help with the sport and Jessie's husband was given the honour of hosting a feast for them the night before.

For some reason, over the next few days, the hunting party couldn't find any trace of their prey. It appears that Jessie had used the feast as a distraction to warn her old friend about what was coming for him. The Ghillie Dhu has never been seen since that day, possibly scared away from Gairloch for good.