By Sharma Krauskopf

Many years ago the Vikings ravished the Shetland Islands. Bruddan was a barbarous captain of one of the Viking long boats. For months he terrorized the West Coast of the main island. Bruddan had long red hair and a beard, which were outward signs of man domination by evil and rage. He was known through out the Shetlands as a man with no mercy. His greatest joy was to torture and maim his victims before death. Bruddan's most famous trait was his thundering laugh as he killed the innocent islanders.

Bruddan loved the fairer sex and always made love to any attractive woman he came across before he killed them. Even his men watched with disbelief while their leader raped his female captives in front of them on the cliffs of Eshaness before he cut off their heads and threw them into the sea. Bruddan always roared with laughter as the deed was done.

One day Bruddan saw an exquisite girl walking on the shore. She was so lovely he immediately ordered his men to capture and bring her to him. The men rowed into shore but found no one. When they notified their leader they could not find her he was incensed because he could see her walking the beach from his vantagepoint on the longboat. Deciding that his men were trying to keep the fair catch for themselves he set off alone in a small boat. He focused on the lovely maid as he rowed toward her. Between this vision of loveliness and him was a treacherous area covered with rocks. He would have to sail to Stenness beach and walk back to the spot where the girl stood.

The Bruddans Click to Enlarge

As he climbed the headland from Stenness toward where he had seen the lady, he could hear the sea smashing on the dangerous rocks. When he reached the top of the hill he looked down and saw her standing by the sea. The closer he got to her the more entranced he became by her beauty.

When he was finally close enough to touch her he was consumed by desire to ravage her many times before he hacked off her head and threw it to the sea. The beautiful lady seemed not afraid of him

As Bruddan seized her he felt them being lifted by the wind. Locked in embrace they were being blown out to sea. Bruddan tried to let go but he could not. They floated closer and closer to the jagged rocks. As they did so the lady he was clutching began to transform from loveliness to a wet oily creature. Within seconds Bruddan was embracing a large seal but he still could not let go. Terrified for the first time in his life Bruddan struggled to get free but to no avail. Just when he thought he was going to be dashed to death on the rocks he felt himself being conducted into a crevice in the rocks where the sea was trapped and swirled around in a desperate attempt to escape

As soon as he was enclosed in the darkness created by the over hanging cliffs he felt the seal in his arms slide slowly away. As it did so he began to fall toward the twisting tormented water below. The water seemed to open up to embrace him. Without a splash Bruddan slipped into its turbulent depths. As he slithered down farther into the gigantic hole he could see the heads of many beautiful females staring at him with eyes full of triumph and hate in the water surrounding him. He began to shriek, as the water with its gruesome content closed in to posses him. He tried to swim out of the crevice. The remains of his horrible deeds and the seals beyond hampered his way. Bruddan roared with terror as he lost the battle to escape and slipped under into the liquid graveyard never to be seen again.

Centuries later you can still hear the sound of madness in what has become know as "The Cannon," an area in which the sea is enraged and trapped by the contour of the cliffs. It is not the sea you hear howling but the sobbing of Bruddan, the viking, who is trapped with the evidence of his cruel deeds and guarded by the seals so he can never escape.

You can find more articles in the archive under Island Miniatures.

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