Reverend Robert Kirk

The Reverend Robert Kirk (1644 – 1692) was a Scottish Episcopalian minister, a Gaelic speaker, and a seventh son. He was the minister of Balquhidder Church from 1664 until 1685, and of Aberfoyle from 1685 to 1692.

It is said that he would go out in the evenings lay his ear to the ground on Doon Hill and listen to the Faeries. In 1691 he wrote the booklet The Secret Commonwealth Of Elves, Fauns And Fairies. On 14th May, during one of his visits to Doon Hill, he disappeared and it is thought that he entered the Faerie Underworld and it is local belief that his was transported away as punishment for revealing too much about Faeries and their ways. There he now resides as chaplain to the Faerie Queen, but one day he may return to visit his old church once more.

The Fairy Minister
He heard, he saw, he knew too well
The secrets of your fairy clan;
You stole him from the haunted dell,
Who never more was seen of man,
Now far from heaven, and safe from hell,
Unknown of earth, he wanders free.
Would that he might return and tell
Of his mysterious company!

And half I envy him who now,
Clothed in her court’s enchanted green,
By moonlit loch or mountain’s brow
Is chaplain to the Fairy Queen.

~ Andrew Lang