The King Otter

The Water Dog (known in Gaelic as Dòbhar-Chù), called also the King Otter (in Gaelic, Rìgh nan Dòbhran), is a formidable animal, seldom seen, having a skin of magic power, worth as many guineas (at one time a valuable gold coin) as are required to cover it. It goes at the head of every band of seven, some say nine, otters, and is never killed without the death of a man, woman, or dog. It has a white spot below the chin, on which alone it is vulnerable.

A piece of its skin keeps misfortune away from the house in which it is kept, renders the soldier invulnerable in battle by arrow or sword or bullet, and placed in the banner makes the enemy turn and fly. "An inch of it placed on the soldier's eye," as a Lochaber informant said, " kept him from harm or hurt or wound though bullets flew about him like hailstones, and naked swords clashed at his breast. When a direct aim was taken, the gun refused fire."

Others say the vulnerable white spot was under the King Otter's arm, and of no larger size than a sixpence. When the hunter took aim he required to hit this precise spot, or he fell a prey to the animal's dreadful jaws. In Raasay and the opposite mainland the magic power was said to be in a jewel in its head, which made its possessor invulnerable and secured him good fortune ; but in other respects the belief regarding the King Otter is the same as elsewhere.

The word dòbhar, signifying water, is obsolete in Gaelic except in the name of this animal.

As told by Donald John Campbell, Waternish