Tragic Romances / Re-issue of the Shorter Stories of Fiona Macleod; Rearranged, with Additional Tales

by William Sharp

THE SIN-EATER

NOTE

It should be explained that the sin-relinquishing superstition—a superstition probably pre-Celtic, perhaps of the remotest antiquity—hardly exists to-day, or, if at all, in its crudest guise. The last time I heard of it, even in a modified form, was not in the west, but in a remote part of the Aberdeenshire highlands. Then, it was salt, not bread, that was put on the breast of the dead: and the salt was thrown away, nor was any wayfarer called upon to perform this or any other function.