Many believe that loch Ness was created after the ice age when a glacier melted to form the glen and the water, however, what many people don’t know is that there is a much more magical story behind the Loch’s beginnings……
If you were to read a book of ancient Celtic religion, you would most likely come across druids. A Druid was man who was the priest, magician or soothsayers of the ancient Scottish brethren. This story is about a druid named Daly.
Daly lived in a great, big, beautiful green glen in the highlands of Scotland. The glen was a place of rich pasture which attracted all kinds of wildlife such as deer, wildcats, foxes and all kinds of birds. Flora and fauna would grow in abundance as the soil was rich and fertile which also attracted the farmers!
One day Daly bestowed magical healing powers on the water of a spring which fed the valley, he then carved a beautiful stone to cover and protect the spring and invited the locals to come and use its waters. However, he reminded the people that this was no ordinary well and must always be recovered after use, he told them ‘Take heed, for if this well should ever be left uncovered then great danger shall fall upon this glen’.
For many years people continued to use the well and marvel in its power’s, always replacing the stone immediately after use, heeding Daly’s warning. One morning on a cold winter’s day a Mother went down to collect a pale of water leaving her child to keep warm by the fire. Suddenly she heard her child scream as if he had fallen into the fire, in her panic the Mother ran to help save her child leaving the well uncovered in her haste….
Within minutes the waters of the well started to rise, spilling out in a tidal wave onto the surrounding land, seeing that their homes were about to be washed away the people quickly retreated to the surrounding mountains lamenting “Tha loch ‘nis ann, tha loch ‘nis ann!” meaning “there is a lake there now, there is a lake there now!”. And to this day that lake remains, otherwise known as the mighty Loch Ness!