A fierce looking man who had lost his way stood on a beach of
snow-white pebbles near a beautiful little glassy lake and blew a
loud blast on the bugle which he held in his left hand. And almost
immediately he dodged into a nearby thicket of bushes and stood there
peering forth at a little skiff that came gliding toward the shore from
underneath a gnarled oak tree overhanging the water. The only occupant
of the boat was a beautiful young girl, who, after guiding it to a safe
landing on the silvery strand, stepped gracefully out on the pebbles.
This was James Fitzjames’ first sight of Ellen, the heroine of Sir
Walter Scott’s poem, “The Lady of the Lake,” which has immortalized
for all time Loch Katrine in the Trossachs, Scotland. There in the
lake sleeps Ellens Isle, the pretty little island on which the girl
lived--and last secret fastness of her fierce clan.
In the poem Fitzjames has become separated from his companions, and his
bugle call is to summon them to his side from the hunt on which they
are engaged. But before they come Fitzjames makes the acquaintance of
the girl and goes to Ellens Isle with her--and that’s the beginning of
the romance that has made Scott’s poem famous.
All the country round about Loch Katrine has been made famous by Scott.
Almost every spot has been the scene of one or more incidents in his
novels. High above Callander rise Uamh Var, where the stag was started
at the beginning of “The Lady of the Lake,” and Ben Crackie, with the
wild Bracklin Fall, within the roar of whose waters the seer of Clan
Alpine wrapped himself in the white bull’s hide to dream his dream.
Northward from Callander lies the beautiful Pass of Seny, up which
Duncraggan’s heir rushed with the Fiery Cross, to thrust it, at the
door of the little kirk of St. Bride, into the hands of the new-wed
Norman, heir of Armandave. And westward from Callander lie Coilantogle
Ford, where James Fitzjames fought Roderick Dhu; Lanrick Mead, the
fierce clan’s muster-place; and Duncraggan, scene of the Highland
funeral.
The popularity of “The Lady of the Lake” has brought many visitors to
Loch Katrine. This beautiful region is visited by hundreds of tourists
each year.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 10, SERIAL No. 10
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: MELROSE ABBEY, SCOTLAND]
_SCOTLAND_
_Melrose Abbey_