In the high glens of Argyll, where heather meets mist and rivers sing to themselves, there lived a piper named Ewan MacCrae. He was proud of his music — and justly so, for no man could play the pipes as he did.
Fishermen said the trout danced to his tunes, and shepherds swore their flocks followed his reels as if bewitched. But Ewan’s pride was louder than his pipes.
“Even the fairies couldn’t outplay me,” he boasted one evening at the inn.
An old crofter muttered, “Best not say that where they can hear.”
Ewan laughed. “Let them try me!”
That night, as the moon rose full over Blackwater Bridge, Ewan walked home, pipes slung at his back. A soft voice drifted through the fog.
“Play for us, mortal, if you dare.”
A figure stepped into the light — a woman with hair of silver moss and eyes like the sea. Behind her came others, their faces pale and gleaming.
“The Good Folk,” Ewan whispered.
They smiled. “We love a tune. Play for us, and we will play for you.”
Ewan, puffed with pride, set his pipes and played. The air danced, the heather bent, the fairies clapped in rhythm.
Then the Queen herself raised a golden flute and played in reply. Her music curled around his like smoke around fire — perfect, effortless, eternal.
Ewan faltered. The fairies laughed, not cruelly but in delight. “You are bold and near enough to greatness,” said the Queen. “Take this charm, and your music will be immortal — but never play for pride again.”
She placed a silver reed in his pipe and vanished.
From that night on, Ewan’s tunes could charm tears from stones and laughter from the dead. But once, when a lord mocked him as “a mere hill piper,” Ewan forgot the warning.
He played for vanity.
The moment his breath touched the charm, a wind rose and swept him away. His pipes fell silent, echoing over the moor.
Sometimes, on still nights, travelers hear a faint melody beneath Blackwater Bridge — not sorrowful, not joyful, but proud and lost all the same.
Moral of the Story
Talent is a gift from the unseen. Use it with humility, or the wind will claim your song.
Knowledge Check
- Who was Ewan MacCrae?
A Scottish piper famed for his unmatched skill. - What boast did he make?
That even the fairies couldn’t outplay him. - Who challenged him?
The Fairy Queen and her court. - What gift did she give him?
A silver reed that made his music immortal. - What caused his downfall?
He played for pride, breaking the Queen’s warning. - What do travelers hear today?
His ghostly pipes playing beneath Blackwater Bridge.
Origin: Scottish Highlands (Argyll oral tradition)
