©2016 Lori L. Simpson
Sailors sailing the strait between the Scottish Island of Lewis and The Islands of Shiant, and Long Island (The Minch) once lived in terror of the Blue Men of The Minch. Monsters were believed to be blue skinned, green haired and bearded mermen of incredible strength.Also known as Storm Kelpies, they loved to capsize boats and drown sailors. They might summon storms, or s splash water on the ships. They might also board ships demanding tribute. If it was not given - down the ship went!
The Blue Men were said to be able to be defeated by one method, at least. Their leader might call out two rhyming lines of a poem. If a vessel's captain could reply with corresponding rhymes and get the last word, the Blue Man would give up. And the humans would be saved!
The Blue Men weren't always violent. Sometimes they floated peacefully beneath the water. Other times they bobbed up and down with their torsos showing. And some people claimed the fiends might dive in and out of the water like playful porpoises.
Experts today have several Theories as to how the stories got started.
One is that they are the personification of the dangerous seas.
Another theory proposes that long ago people on the islands saw blue tattooed Picts in kayaks. They might have thought the Picts were swimming.
Yet third idea says that the Blue Men are a folkloric memory of some African slaves marooned by Vikings. These slaves may have belonged to a group of people called the "Blue Men of The Desert."
However the tales began, I don't think you would ever confuse the Blue Men of Minch with a happy Disney mermaid named Ariel!
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