The Unfortunate Fate Of The Fishing Witches

There was once a fisherman from the remote peninsulas of Wester Ross who strongly suspected that his wife wasn't all she seemed. Nothing she got up to alarmed him too much and since he spent so much of his time away at sea, he managed to put it to the back of his mind.

That changed one night when a visitor came to their door long after the fisherman had gone to bed. He’d been having trouble sleeping so was still awake to overhear his wife whispering with a female voice he didn’t recognise. They had said something about going fishing, followed by soft footsteps heading outside and the sound of the latch closing on the croft door.

The fisherman’s boat was his livelihood, so he wasn’t happy about the idea of anybody borrowing it in the darkness, even his wife. Worried about what they were up to, he quickly got dressed and followed them.

Just as expected, the women were down by the shore. The fisherman stepped out of the shadows, demanding to know just what they thought they were doing out here in the middle of the night. With a guilty look, his wife explained that they were going fishing, but they didn't need his boat or his help. If he would let them go about their business, then she would bring in enough fish for a week!

Her only condition was that while they were on the water, he must not under any circumstances utter the name of God. The fisherman was a good Christian, but also too confused to argue. Before his eyes, the two women transformed into rats, jumped into a sieve and sailed out to sea.

Like a dog herding sheep, they circled round and round on the waves, ushering dozens of fish up onto the beach. "Have we caught enough for you?" the witches asked. “Plenty” replied the fisherman, but still they circled a second time, laughing as they went. Hundreds of fish now leapt onto the shore and the astounded spectator shouted that it was far too many for him to deal with!

When the two rats in their little craft went out for the third time, the fisherman was afraid there would soon be no more fish left in the water. He screamed at the top of his voice " For God's sake that’s enough!"

At the sound of the Lord's name, the magic was broken. The poor fisherman watched horrified as the sieve began to sink and he knew that was the last time he would ever see his wife.