The Tragedy of Isle Maree  

This story casts a halo of romance around the beautiful Isle of Maree and as might be

expected there are many different variations of the legend but the one you are about to

read is the most usual one.

A young Norwegian Prince was chief among the Vikings who then dominated this part

of the west coast.

The Prince had a restless and ungovernable temper and if all did not go his way he lost all command of himself.

The Prince lived with his fighting men in his great war galley except during the winter, when they encamped on one or other of the islands of Loch Ewe.

It was natural for one so impulsive to fall head over heels in love very quickly - "We need not try to imagine the story of Olaf’s love; it was no common attachment; the flame burned in his breast with an intensity becoming his fiery spirit."

In order that Prince Olaf might be near his bride a tower was built on the Isle of Maree within easy reach of the Prince’s galley on Loch Ewe. This is where the Prince and Princess lived happily.

For a while all went smoothly and the life of the young lovers was a continual delight.

In the meantime the Prince’s comrades were continually sending him messages to come back on board the ship but he could not tear himself away from his wife. Eventually there came word that a along planned expedition was ready to start and Olaf was expected to take command. With a heavy heart he told the Princess he would soon have to leave. She was very upset wondering if he might be killed in battle and he concerned that some unknown danger might cause her death in his absence.

With these thoughts in mind the following plan was devised: "It was agreed that when the Prince should return, a white flag would be displayed from his barge on Loch Maree if all were well; if otherwise, a black flag would be shown. The maidens prepared these flags and the Prince took them with him. The Princess was to leave the island in her barge whenever the Prince’s boat should come into sight, and she in like manner was to display a white or black flag to denote her safety or the reverse."

The Prince set off and it is enough to say that all ended well and the victorious Prince returned safely to Poolewe. Half crazy with excitement he got on to his boat on Loch Maree and raised his white banner of success.

During his absence the Princess had been at her wits end with worry. Various thoughts had passed through her head since his departure - was he still alive? Did her Prince prefer the excitement of warfare to being at home with her? Did he still really love her? Had he ever loved her? Jealousy began to absorb the Princess completely. Under the influence of this crushing doubt she devised a plan to test the Prince’s love for her should he ever return.

At last the lookout announced that the Prince’s barge was in sight bearing the white flag. "And now what emotions filled the breast of the lovely Princess! What conflicting sentiments, love and doubt, joy and fear!" Everything had been arranged to carry out her strange plan. The barge set sail on the Loch and the black flag was raised. The Princess lay on a bier in the centre of the barge and pretended to be dead. All her maidens surrounded her and pretended to be grieving.

Prince Olaf eventually caught sight of the Princess’s barge. Could he be mistaken? Was that the black flag of death, which waved above it? The Prince was frantic with despair. "His agony increased each moment; his manly face became like a maniac’s; his words and gestures were those of a man possessed." It seemed to take forever to reach the Princess’s barge, which just made the Prince even more agitated.

Before the vessels touched the Prince leapt aboard the barge. He saw the shroud; he raised it; he gazed a moment on the still, pale face of his bride; he gave one agonized cry; then he plunged his dirk in his own breast, and in a moment that storm-ceased heart ceased to beat!

The Princess leapt up from the bier, convinced to late of her husband’s passionate love; there he lay dead. She drew the dirk from Olaf’s heart and plunged it into her own.

The bodies of the unhappy pair were buried on the island; they were laid with their feet towards each other, and smooth stones with outlines of medieval crosses were placed over their graves, and there they remain to this day.

Superstitions of Isle Maree  

Not only does the tragic story of the Prince and Princess centre around the Isle of Maree but so do the charming superstitions connected with the wishing-tree, a little well "resorted to for the cure of insanity and the now discontinued sacrifices of bulls."

Queen Victoria visited Isle Maree on the 16th September 1877. It was Sunday and the Queen had just read a short sermon to her Gairloch gillies. She then fixed an offering in the wishing tree, a custom which most visitors to the island seemed to follow. It was said that any wish made silently when a metal article was attached to the tree would certainly come true. If any one removed an offering misfortune would be bestowed upon them. The original superstition as regards the wishing tree is however quite different as will become apparent shortly.

"It seems certain that St. Maelrubha, who brought Christianity into the district in the seventh century, permitted the Druidicial sacrifices of bulls to be continued and endeavoured to give them a Christain aspect. These sacrifices continued as late a date as 1678. Latterly the sacrifices appear to have been connected with the resort to the island for the cure of insanity. ... The sacrifice of a bull became in the seventeenth century a preliminary to the proceedings for the cure of a lunatic..."

" ... The practice was for the party to row several times round the island, the attendants jerking the lunatic thrice into the water; then they landed on the island; where the patient knelt before the altar, was brought to the little well, drank some of the holy water, and finally attached an offering to the tree. This process was repeated every day for some weeks."

Going to the Isle of Maree in a hope to cure the patient of lunancy was continued until around 1858 when a young woman was brought there from Easter Ross and afterwards placed in the Inverness Assylum. A prior case was reported in the Inverness Courier dated 4th November 1857.

Avery informative trip to Isle Maree leaves Loch Maree twice a day from April through until October weather permitting.