Wild Haggis
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Wild Haggis are creatures comically said to be native to the Scottish Highlands. It is generally held that the Haggis is a three-legged bird with vestigial wings like an ostrich or an emu, with fierce fangs. Each leg is supposed to be different length, a short leg and two long legs - although the Great Highland Haggis supposedly has one long and two short - allowing it to run rapidly around the mountains and hillsides which make up its natural habitat. However, according to some folktales, once the wild Haggis reaches the top of a hill, it supposedly loses its balance and tumbles into the valley below. It is also believed that male Haggis run only clockwise and female Haggis run only in a counterclockwise direction. However, this only occurs when it is disturbed from its normal routine of sleeping on the heather which covers the hills and mountains of Scotland.
Folklore tells us that during Haggis Season, wild Haggis are hunted, and their meat served up as a local delicacy, the well-known Scottish food, haggis. Scotch eggs are this creature's eggs. Folklore also holds that wild Haggis can sense vibrations in the ground produced by other animals, including humans, and this, along with its nocturnal habits, explain why living specimens of the Haggis are so rarely seen. However a Haggis can easily be caught by running around the hill in the opposite direction. A group of Haggis is sometimes known as a heap.
Fictionally, there are two species of Haggis, one with longer left legs and the other with longer right legs. The two species coexist peacefully but are unable to interbreed because in order for the male of one species to mate with a female of the other, he must turn to face in the same direction as his intended mate, causing him to lose his balance before he can mount her. As a result of this difficulty, differences in leg length among the Haggis population are accentuated.
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[edit] Other Uses
Fictionally, as well as being used in a tasty meal, Haggis skin can also be utilised. The "common" Haggis is used to make sporrans, resulting in their having three tassels. The now, sadly very rare Great Highland Haggis is used to manufacture bagpipes, with the different lengths of leg making up the drones. Some debate still rages over whether or not the chanter should be made from the tail, or another anatomical appendage. Novices and tourists are advised to always check to which school the pipes belong before taking a blow.
[edit] Haggis abroad
The notion of the wild Haggis is widely believed, though not always including the idea of mismatched legs. According to a survey released on 26 November 2003, one-third of U.S. visitors to Scotland believed the wild Haggis to be a real creature. [1]
The telling of wild Haggis stories is not entirely confined to Scotland - for example, reports tell of a small Haggis population introduced to Nevada [2].
[edit] Influence on media
The Alan Garner novel The Owl Service introduced the concept, as a jokey aside of 'fimbulwinters', of artificial legs designed for such creatures as the wild Haggis (though the concept is used in the novel specifically for sheep) to walk unaided on even ground.
In an episode of River Cottage, the presenter, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall goes hunting for these Haggis creatures in his quest to find true haggis to cook. The convincing locals in the episode never reveal what a haggis actually is, leading the viewers to wonder if he believed them. So convincing was it, several viewers are said to now believe this legend.
[edit] See also
- Fictional national animals
- Haggis
- Sidehill Gouger
- Sidehill Dodge Hodag
- Dahu
