Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 256

The Blue Men of the Minch are a race of beings who inhabit the strait between Long Island and the Shiant Islands of the Western Highlands of Scotland. They are the causers of storms, rough seas and shipwrecks. They live in underwater caves where they churn the sea. If they swim out to a passing ship in order to wreck it, the only thing to do is keep up a rhyming conversation with them and attempt to have the last word, for only then will they let you alone. Many people believed them to be fallen angels.

One tale speaks of how a Blue Man was captured, taken on board ship and wrapped round with ropes from head to foot by the sailors who believed him to be a strange kind of mortal. However, the ship had not proceeded very far when two more Blue Men approached the vessel, who said to each other, ‘Duncan will be one man,’ and the other replied, ‘Farquhar will be two.’ At this, the bound Blue Man burst his bonds as if they had been spider thread, jumped overboard and swam away, to the mystification of the crew.