The Yetnasteen, Rousay

When the Norsemen landed in Rousay, they had no doubt as to the origin of a prominent standing stone.

Standing at the foot of a hill in the north-east of the island, near the farm of Faraclett, the seven-foot high Yetnasteen takes its name from the Old Norse Jotunna-steinn, literally meaning Giant Stone.

This is a clear confirmation that the stone was linked to a belief attached to a number of standing stones throughout Orkney - that the megalith was once a giant who had been turned to stone by the warm rays of the morning sun.

This petrified giant has but one release from his eternal prison.

Immediately after midnight each New Year's Day, the Yetnasteen is said to come to life and walk the 300 yards to the Loch o' Skockness where it drinks from the water before returning once more to its lonely vigil.

"In my boyhood days I was told and I believe it too, that whenever he heard the clock strike twelve on the last night of the year, [the Yetnasteen] went to a loch a short distance off in two jumps and took a drink of water. I often wished in those days I had the courage of my belief, and be there when Yetnesstone was away for its drink to see what was below it."
J. Louttit - September 1916