HITTING UPON THE SIN EATER; AN ADVENTURE
The Seven Crags of Killin lay ahead of me, a group of peaks situated at the ends of one of the lowlands
of Scotland, my village, Killin. They seemed way better than my grandma had spoken of them, seven
mountains housing the one who held guiles and the moral trespasses of the villagers as I was told, a
wonder of nature indeed.
It’d been three unpleasant hours since I’d ran away from home, leaving my parents Angus and Isla
Bruce to wonder where their eldest son was at the wee hours of the night. I heard loud wails from the
other side of the village and I’d known why they were wailing. I’d moved towards the forbidden part of
the village, looking for the forbidden one, the sin eater.
I thought as I rowed the boat I sat in, they couldn’t be more surprised knowing me for who I was adventurous, inquisitive, curious and wanting to know more than I needed to. Of course it wasn’t my
fault but the fault of my granny who led me to my adventure, encouraging my cussed nosiness and
breeding the questing spirit that died in my father in me.
Suddenly, while roaming about in my mind, I felt a bump from beneath me snapping me out of my
thoughts. As I looked up, I saw the waves of the seas rising as I went by. The air currents fought badly
against me pushing the boat back and forth on the river while I sat there pushing them back with my
paddle.
The wind began howling, and the clouds grew grumpy, the seven peaks staring at me wondering if I
would make it to them. The only thoughts that came to my head were the words of Granny Fiona. ”We
a’ Jock Tamson’s bairns, and he once was. But now he pays a heavy spiritual price for every one of us but
bearing the awful burden of trespasses, the peccadillo on him was too much that he was banished from
amongst us. As he travelled along the sea that separates us from the seven peaks in our land he left his
stench of sin in the river. He was forbidden and so the river was.
Torion, ‘from the hills’ are you. You may cross the Sea of Sin and you may see him, if you’re not invited
into the land of the dead by the latter”.
Maybe my grandma was right; the man was forbidden and had no place amongst man, carrying evil
spirits in his soul, defiled but I was so stubborn, determined to reach the sin eater in my village
regardless.
The storm continued as I tried to keep my boat sailing in the right direction. Without realizing what
was going on, still being pushed about by the sea waves beneath me, I was pushed out of my boat with
full force. Grasping for air, I held on to the sides of the dismantled boat that remained and prayed that I
would not give my parents cause to cry or make the old woman that helped my rebellion and
disobedience to my parents regret her belief in me.
I felt my body carried by the water to somewhere that I thought would be the land of the dead, knocked
out of reality into unconsciousness.
The next morning, I’d woken up to find myself at the shore. I was shocked to see that I was alive and
decided would continue my search for the sin eater, a little self motivation and I was okay. I pushed
myself up the floor and ignored the wound that made bleed, picking up my belongings that were
scattered across the floor. Firstly, I picked up the map my grandmother had given me.
The brown paper that was passed down from generation to generation in my family lay on the wet pale
white sand that spread across the sea shore. Looking up to where I was now and bit by the sun’s heat, I
felt myself covered by a shadow that seemed to be the top of a mountain. I looked back and saw what the
shadows were.
The mountains stood tall in front of me and out of wonder I walked around the landscape until I’d found
an entrance; a little opening that seemed like it led to an antechamber. Again, I’d felt my inquisitiveness
pushing me to go ahead but the thoughts in my head pulled me in the opposite direction. Why would I
have entered a place when I didn’t know whatever stayed or lived there?
Again, I looked into the paper that sat on the palms of my both hands. The map showed directions
outside the peaks and a little forward into one of the mountains. The one at the middle of the seven, the
fourth, as the map showed, had a little entrance. The rest was a mystery for me to unravel.
Taking short steps towards the entrance in front of me, I tried to break up the feelings and thoughts I
felt within me; feelings of fear and excitement mixed with quest for an adventure. Perhaps, I would find
the sin eater sitting inside a divan that had a very high price, probably covered with layers of gold.
Inside the entrance, it was damp and a dusty smell filled the scarce air in the seeming cave. At first, I
saw nothing until my eyes became acquainted to the surroundings. Eerie shadows and the sound of
scurrying mice across my path frightened me.
One thing frightened me the most, as I walked through; the shadow of a man. As I looked closer into the
cave, I could see that the shadow was cast from the opposite direction, just behind me. I looked back and
there he was. But instead of sharp claws or the face of a monster, he was more or less like a pauper; lying
in rags and covered with dust – My adventure was over.