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"I hope we’ve seen the last
of the rain. My wings can’t take much more," Bonnie complained. "This is a
lovely area. Where are we now, Bruce?"
"We’re flying over
Perthshire now. Say, there’s a lovely little town called Comrie, not too
far from here. They have a lot of flowers there. I was here once before,
long ago. Are you feeling peckish?" Bruce asked.
"I’m quite hungry. I could
go with a few sips of nectar. Lovely flowers, lovely town; I say we head
there," Bonnie answered.
The butterflies fluttered
their wings and headed towards Comrie. "Bonnie, the Romans used to call
Comrie, Victoria. It also has a nickname, Shaky Toun," he chuckled.
"Shaky Toun? Whatever for?"
Bonnie asked.
"You’ll find out. Oh good,
there’s the mountains and there’s Melville Monument," Bruce pointed out.
"What’s Melville Monument,
may I ask?"
"It’s built on Dunmore
Peak. I think it was built in the early 1800’s…1811, I believe," Bruce
said.
"Who is Melville? Hermann
Melville?" Bonnie asked.
"No, don’t be silly. It was
built to commemorate the first lord of Melville, Henry Dundas. It was
struck by lightning once."
"What a view. This is
grand. I can see all the way to Edinburgh from here," Bonnie said,
surprised. "There’s Comrie down there, right?"
They looked that way. "Yes,
Bonnie. That’s it. Before we head there though, would you like to see a
waterfall?"
"Sure."
"It’s called Deil’s
Cauldron or the Devil’s Kettle. There’s a legend that says that a water
elf named Uris-Chidh lives there and he’s very mischievous," Bruce said.
"I don’t want to go there
then. Let’s look at it from above. I don’t like water elves," Bonnie said
fearfully.
"All right, we’ll watch
from above. There it is," Bruce said, showing her the falls. A roaring
sound came from below as the water cascaded and plunged downwards.
"Pretty, and look at all
the spray and mist," Bonnie said. "I’m nervous. I don’t want Uris-Chidh to
get us. Let’s go to Comrie right now."
They flew off. "The water
elf wouldn’t have gotten you, Bonnie. It’s just a legend," Bruce chided.
Comrie was a quiet town.
They landed in a garden filled with primroses, lady slippers and iris.
Bonnie began to sip the nectar. Bruce sat on an iris leaf, looking around.
Suddenly the ground began to shake, rumble and sway. "What’s happening?
The ground is shaking? Help?" Bonnie cried as she held onto a stem so she
wouldn’t fall. "Help!" She was very afraid.
After about a minute, the
ground stop shaking. "Remember how I told you one of the nicknames for
Comrie was Shaky Toun? That’s why. It sits on a fault and there are many
many small earthquakes," Bruce explained.
"Earthquakes? Water elves?
What are you doing to me, Bruce, bringing me to a place like this?" Bonnie
squealed.
"Relax, it’s a lovely town,
as you said. Come on, let’s finish eating and look around. You’ll see,
it’s safe." The butterflies fluttered around. They saw lochs and rivers,
people hunting, birds of all kinds, foxes, raccoons and deer.
"This is nice, Bruce.
Thanks for bringing me here," Bonnie said.
Comrie was a wonderful day
for the butterflies. They flew off, heading north, happy that they were
getting to visit such wonderful towns in Scotland.
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