Fairy Tales from Many Lands

Angus Mac Pherson had one daughter and she was so beautiful that it made the heart ache to look at her. Her hair was of red gold; her eyes were as blue as the sky and she was as slim and fair as a reed and because of her beauty she was always called the Fair Ellen.Angus Mac Pherson loved Fair Ellen as he did the apple of his eye but all the same her mother had only been dead a year when he was for marrying again and bringing a stepmother into the house.The new wife was handsome too with eyes as black as sloes and hair like a cloud at night but the moment she saw Fair Ellen she knew the girl was the more beautiful and she hated her with a bitter black hate for her beauty’s sake.