are always informed that a young man, who had wantonly taken away some of
these not many years since, broke his leg before he got home, and this
affords the property of the Saint ample protection.




THE MERMAID WIFE.


A story is told of an inhabitant of Unst, who, in walking on the sandy
margin of a voe, saw a number of mermen and mermaids dancing by
moonlight, and several seal-skins strewed beside them on the ground. At
his approach they immediately fled to secure their garbs, and, taking
upon themselves the form of seals, plunged immediately into the sea. But
as the Shetlander perceived that one skin lay close to his feet, he
snatched it up, bore it swiftly away, and placed it in concealment. On
returning to the shore he met the fairest damsel that was ever gazed upon
by mortal eyes, lamenting the robbery, by which she had become an exile
from her submarine friends, and a tenant of the upper world. Vainly she
implored the restitution of her property; the man had drunk deeply of
love, and was inexorable; but he offered her protection beneath his roof
as his betrothed spouse. The merlady, perceiving that she must become an
inhabitant of the earth, found that she could not do better than accept
of the offer. This strange attachment subsisted for many years, and the
couple had several children. The Shetlander's love for his merwife was
unbounded, but his affection was coldly returned. The lady would often
steal alone to the desert strand, and, on a signal being given, a large
seal would make his appearance, with whom she would hold, in an unknown
tongue, an anxious conference. Years had thus glided away, when it