Hello,
My name is Rachel.
My country is Scotland,
A country steeped in fairy faith,
A place of mythical valleys,
Fairy glens and fairy pools and logs,
And ancient Caledonian pine forests,
Where fairies,
Or we folk,
Can be found.
In the tree hollows and abandoned birds' nests,
In the rivers and barns which flow through the mountainous valleys,
There are river sprites with webbed feet,
Who ride on the back of the leaping Scottish salmon,
Tucked away inside unused teapots and empty shortbread tins.
We folk,
Called brownies,
A sort of house fairy,
Live amongst the Scottish people,
Inside their very homes,
Although most people never look close enough in the nooks and crannies to ever spot them.
Now I'm guessing you might like to join me on an adventure here in Scotland and hear more about these mystical we folk,
Guardians of our hills,
Forests and homes.
So get comfortable,
Maybe have a little wiggle of fingers and toes,
Take a deep breath in to fill your chest full of air,
And a deep breath out again to relax your body down into whichever comfy spot you might be sitting or lying in.
Gently close your eyes and come with me to Scotland.
Now this is the story of how the fairies turned the brown trout to rainbow.
No matter where you are in Scotland,
They say you're never far from a fairy or a trout.
Trout are a type of native fish to Scotland,
Found in the smallest trickle of a mountain burn,
To the mighty rivers that rage through the valleys,
Or to the vast locks like the biggest lock in Scotland,
Loch Ness,
Where a certain rather famous sea monster is thought to reside.
There's also some toty or small locks,
Like Drunky or some mysterious locks like Loch Mora,
The deepest lock in Scotland,
Is thought to be home to a less well-known Scottish monster called Morag.
The brown trout,
As its name suggests,
Is brown in colour,
Though it varies slightly from a light silvery brown to a more golden brown with dark spots on its back and sides.
Like most fish,
It has a paler tummy,
And this is called countershading,
And it helps to protect the trout from predators.
Its darker back blends in with the darker looking water,
So that when looked at from above by a duck or another bird that fancies the trout for its tea,
It's not so easily seen.
Its lighter tummy makes it look like the shimmering water surface to anything beneath it in the water that would also fancy eating it.
Now living alongside these trout are a type of fairy,
A fairy known as a water sprite.
Water sprites are a type of fairy adapted to breathe in both water and air that have very durable waterproof wings that help to propel them both in the water and when flying in the air.
Like a seahorse uses its back fins to propel itself,
The fairy can bat its wings back and forth a hundred times a second to be exact and combined with the water sprites webbed feet that give it extra propulsion.
Water sprites are amazingly fast swimmers.
They are also similar to seahorses in the fact that they have special cells in their skin that produce colors so that they can change color to camouflage themselves.
This means that a water sprite might take on a silver white sheen to their skin whilst in the sea foam or frothing waves or they might have a beautiful sheen of emerald green to their skin if there's some water reeds nearby or if they're perhaps lazing on a lily pad.
Their webbed feet are similar to those of frogs,
Otters,
Hundreds of bird species,
Even polar bears which spend their days swimming in the ocean,
Have a slight webbing between their toes.
The water sprites webbed feet also come in very handy as they walk on the wet sand or squelchy mud at the water's edge.
Now water sprites are super friendly in nature.
If you're near water you must listen very carefully for their tinkling sounds of laughter and as elemental guardians of the water they are protective of all the aquatic animals who live in and around it.
These include fish,
Snails,
Worms,
Turtles,
Marsh birds,
Beavers,
Otters,
Many types of insects,
Crabs,
Seals,
Dolphins,
Sharks,
Whales,
Octopus,
Seahorses,
Starfish and a great great many more.
Now despite water sprites loving all of the aquatic animals and wanting to help them out whenever they can,
They do find the brown trout quite a difficult creature to get along with.
Brown trout are somewhat crabbit which means they're rather grumpy.
Water sprites often find themselves having to settle disputes between the trout who tend to have a bit of a stoochy or a row.
Whose patch of water is whose?
Trout are also nature's gluttons.
They'll get very large and fat eating anything they can find.
The water sprites are forever telling them off for nearly swallowing them as they jump out of the water to catch insects and flies in their gaping mouths.
The little water sprites actually find it quite funny that brown trout actually have two hearts.
Not something you would expect from a creature seeming to lack in kindness.
But one day a very old and very large brown trout who's nearly 20 years old and 30 pounds who's known as Mr MacDougall proved that brown trout do actually have some love and a hefty dose of courage in those two hearts of theirs after all.
Now on this day two water sprites called Meredith which means protector of the water and Struan which is Scottish for stream were busy swimming in circles.
A common job for water sprites as they do it to have fun but also circulate the water.
They swim around so fast beating their wings and using their powerful kick with their webbed feet to create little whirlpools and this circulates and oxygenates the water so that it stays healthy and algae blooms cannot grow.
And they were busy doing this when suddenly a truly awful thing happened.
They were having so much fun swimming so fast and the water was loud bubbling and babbling and it drowned out the sound of a fisherman wading into the loch and casting out his line.
He cast it right out to where they were mistaking the bubbles and ripples they were making for the movement of some fish.
Of some fish.
The fisherman's hook caught on poor Meredith's seaweed skirt.
She started being violently dragged backwards up out of the air as the fisherman started to reel her in when suddenly Mr McDougal,
The brown trout,
Leapt out of the air grabbing the hook by his mouth and freeing the very startled and frightened Meredith.
Through this act of bravery Mr McDougal had put himself in extreme danger for he was now a fish on a hook.
Meredith and Struan jumped on his back as he thrashed his enormous weight left and right trying to resist being reeled in by the fisherman.
Meredith and Struan were nearly thrown off a dozen times as he was like a bucking bronco but Meredith managed to climb down his slippery face to look him in his googly fish eye.
She said to him,
Mr McDougal,
You must trust us.
Stop fighting and gasping.
Feel your beating heart still for a moment and relax your thrashing tail.
Trust us and be still and we will help you.
Mr McDougal,
The brown trout,
Looked back at her through his sad and worried eye and then did as she said.
As he relaxed quickly Struan jumped down to join Meredith and then they used all of their fairy strength to pull her on Mr McDougal's mouth.
They remained on Mr McDougal's back as he quickly darted into a safe sheltered area of the loch.
There Meredith removed one of the magic scales on her wings to apply to Mr McDougal's mouth so that he would heal quickly and not be in any pain.
Then Meredith kissed him on top of his slippery head to say thank you.
The usually grumpy Mr McDougal almost seemed to blush with pride when he received the kiss from the beautiful little Meredith.
Finally,
As a reward for Mr McDougal's bravery,
Queen Morven,
The Scottish fairy queen,
Used her magic to change Mr McDougal from brown to the most beautiful assortment of shimmering rainbow colours.
Mr McDougal's scales were pink and shimmering yellow and green alongside his now more vibrant gold and silver scales.
So if you are ever beside a loch in Scotland and you see a rainbow trout jump out of the water,
Look very very carefully to see if it is Mr McDougal with his friends Meredith and Struan,
The water sprites,
Riding happily on his back.
Now I hope you feel relaxed and happy and ready to drift off into a sweet sleep dreaming about Scotland,
All the beautiful nature and of course the Scottish fairies.
Good night.
