The Story of the King of Norway’s Daughter
John MacDonald

John MacDonald from Spean Bridge tells of how the King of Norway’s Daughter was sent to burn the ancient Caledonian Forest. Legend tells of an ancient wildwood that covered much of the country, scaring off invaders and sheltering predators – lynx, wolf, bear – now long gone from our lands. The King envied the forest and so he sent his witch daughter to set it alight. Before it was turned to completely to ashes, a more powerful magic intervened. Today the forest exists in only a few scattered remnants.

The story was recorded in 1952 by the School of Scottish Studies. You can listen to the original tape on the online archive resource Tobar an Dualchais: Track 1349