The Fall of Little Ewen

The Fachach Hunt on Eigg by Rory McJoy

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Audio Book

The Fall of Little Ewen

The Fachach Hunt on Eigg

The people of Eigg were traditionally known as the Fachachs — a nickname tied to the annual harvest of the Manx shearwater, whose fat chicks were a vital source of food and oil. Each summer, men, women, and children descended the steep sea cliffs to collect eggs and young birds from their nesting burrows. The smaller boys, with their light frames and nimble feet, were often the only ones able to reach the narrowest ledges and deepest burrows inaccessible to adults.

One of the most dangerous cliffs was near Craignafeulac, close to the Cathedral Cave and not far from the Campbell cottage at Galmisdale. It was here that Ruaridh Ruadh’s favourite son, young Ewen — barely six years old, strong, fearless, and full of confidence — climbed onto the narrowest ledges and reached deep into the burrows while the older men admired his courage and urged him on.

Then one day the cry rang out across the cliffs:

“Young Ewen has fallen onto the rocks!”

According to family tradition, the parent birds swooped and pecked at Ewen as he reached into the burrows. Startled, he lost his footing and plunged to his death on the rocks below. The very qualities that made him exceptional — his confidence, agility, and fearlessness — had also led to his end.

His mother Morag wept silently. His father Ruaridh said nothing. And cynical old Aunt Flora, hardened by the cruelties of island life, remarked only: “That’s one mouth less tae feed.”

Ewen was carried to Kildonnan churchyard, the small coffin borne on his father’s broad shoulders, the procession led by piper John MacGillivray playing the Highland lament Cumha Chloinn — “Lament for the Children” — whose sorrow seemed fitting for the death of a child.

Read the full story in the interactive flipbook below.

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