complied with, the man grasped the neck of the seal, and committing
himself to her care, she landed him safely at Acres Gio in Papa Stour;
from which place he immediately repaired to a skeo at Hamna Voe, where
the skin was deposited, and honourably fulfilled his part of the
contract, by affording Gioga the means whereby her son could again
revisit the ethereal space over which the sea spread its green mantle.




THE LAIRD O' CO'.


In the days of yore, the proprietors of Colzean, in Ayrshire (ancestors
of the Marquis of Ailsa), were known in that country by the title of
Lairds o' Co', a name bestowed on Colzean from some co's (or coves) in
the rock beneath the castle.

One morning, a very little boy, carrying a small wooden can, addressed
the Laird near the castle gate, begging for a little ale for his mother,
who was sick. The Laird directed him to go to the butler and get his can
filled; so away he went as ordered. The butler had a barrel of ale on
tap, but about half full, out of which he proceeded to fill the boy's
can; but to his extreme surprise he emptied the cask, and still the
little can was not nearly full. The butler was unwilling to broach
another barrel, but the little fellow insisted on the fulfilment of the
Laird's order, and a reference was made to the Laird by the butler, who
stated the miraculous capacity of the tiny can, and received instant
orders to fill it if all the ale in the cellar would suffice. Obedient
to this command, he broached another cask, but had scarcely drawn a drop