Several curious traditions have been handed down about this battle, which present a striking picture of the superstition and savage barbarity of the northern people at that period: -
When the Earl of Caithness and his men landed at Orphir in Orkney, a witch preceded them all their march, unwinding two balls of thread as she walked before them. One was blue and the other red, and the thread of the latter having become exhausted, the witch assured the Earl that the side on which blood was first drawn would certainly be defeated. Placing implicit faith on this prognostication, the Earl resolved to slay the first Orcadian that crossed his path, and so insure victory to himself and his followers in the coming conflict. Soon afterwards a boy was descried herding cattle, so, thinking that if it was Orkney blood, it was no great matter whether man or boy, the Earl and his men, with eager haste, caught the boy, and mercilessly slew him without a moment’s warning. But they had reckoned without their host, for the boy was then recognised by some of them to be a native of Caithness, who had for some time been a fugitive in Orkney; and it speedily occurred to them that if the words of the witch were worth anything, they had, by the cruel murder of a helpless boy, now lying a bleeding corpse at their feet, rendered certain their own discomfiture. Prone to superstition as the Earl and his men seem to have been, this untoward circumstance must have had a strong tendency to depress their spirits and unnerve their arm; and this is probably the key to the subsequent battle of Summerdale, where they were met and completely routed by the Orcadians.
NOTE - The thread unwound by the witch represented the "clew of fate".
"The battle", says the tradition, "was fought on a piece of smooth grass, where no stones were to be seen previous to the morning of the encounter, but they were then found in such abundance that the Orcadians threw down the pitchforks with which they were armed, and plied their Caithness foes so effectually with stones that they were unable to get near enough to use their weapons. The incessant and murderous showers of these primitive missiles soon told with effect on the ranks of the Caithness men, who were at last compelled to betake themselves to all ignominious flight. Throwing their arms into the Loch of Kisbister, they fled pell-mell over the broken ground towards their landing-place; but they were closely pursued, and in a short time only a few survived to continue the hopeless race for life. Amongst these was the Earl of Caithness, who reached the farm of Oback in Orphir, and dashing through the 'close' between the dwelling-house and the offices, in the hope at escaping the merciless pursuers, who were close at his heels, rushed unwittingly into the arms of another party of his foes, who slew him on the spot. Not one of the Caithness men escaped to carry home the tale of their discomfiture. The Earl was among the last that fell, and his head, sent back in proud defiance, was the sole relique that reached the shores of Caithness of the fated band.
Notable events are seldom limited to one tradition, and another informs us that "the Earl in his flight from the field outran his pursuers, and entered a farm house to solicit refuge. There was nobody in but an old woman sitting before the fire and spinning from a distaff. The Norse tongue was then the language of the peasantry, but the Earl, by means of signs and the magic power of a few pieces of money, contrived to make her comprehend the purpose of his visit. She rose from her seat, led him to the far end of the byre, which was quite dark, signed to him to lie down, covered him with straw, and then returned to her work. A little after a party of ten entered, and asked the old woman if he was in the house. She replied, 'He is not here', but while she said so pointed with her finger to the spot where he lay concealed. Thither they accordingly went. Finding that he was betrayed, the Earl started up, and with his drawn sword defended himself for some time with unshrinking courage. At length, however, he was overpowered and slain; but not until four of his assailants had fallen down before him mortally wounded. He was buried in a field not far-distant from the cottage, and a slab was erected over his grave, which was afterwards broken and carried away for some domestic purpose"
"Only one Orcadian fell on that day, which proved so fatal to their adversaries, and his death was a tragic one. He had dressed himself in the clothes of one of the slaughtered Caithnessians, and was coming towards his own house in the evening, when he was met by his mother, who, not recognising him, but believing him to be one of the enemy that had escaped the general carnage, struck him a fatal blow on the forehead with a stone which she had put into the foot of one of his own stockings, and was carrying in her hand.
"The motive which led to the Earl's hostile visit to Orkney is involved in obscurity; but the relentless spirit of the contending parties, as displayed in the murder of the boy; in the complete slaughter of the invaders; and in the fiendish thirst for vengeance exhibited by the woman, who, in the blindness of her fury, murdered her own son, sufficiently proves that a bitter animosity existed between the inhabitants of Orkney and Caithness, which it has taken upwards of three centuries to extinguish"