John, Son of the King of Bergen
From Angus Mackinnon (tailor), South Uist.
1—Comhrag.
“Tis the track of the youth beside the ford,
And the great impetuous stride.
2.
“Tis not the daughter of Locha Luin,
And ’tis not Diarmaid of the clear eye.
3.
“It is not one of the band of Fionn
That wended last night in the heavy glen.
4.
“I gathered my garments and wended forth;
The gathering was hard throughout the moss,
5.
“] I was rushing and bounding,
And the big man hard striding.
6.
“Then at the time I caught him,
And the precious woman between two scaurs.
7.
“J asked so quietly of him,
Great man, whence comest thou thus?”
8—Seathan.
“But little one, there, little man,
Though thou asked, it was not wise.
9.
“Thou hadst need bring the whole of the Een,
To find out the race of a single man.”
10—Comhrag.
“Tf J should bring the whole of the Een,
A whole bone wouldn’t be thy body within.
11.
“That which they would not crush with their hands,
Sure with their breath they would consume.
12.
“That was the time, when his weapon he cast,
The mighty spear that was in his grasp.
13.
“That he cast it beyond me, behind,
Seventeen feet into the ground.”
14—Seathan.
“Thy trimmed shaft has touched my heart,
And the leech will not make my healing.
15.
“Farewell, and arise to thy house,
Yellow-haired youth of the curling locks.”
16—Comhrag.
“For thee, it is all the worse,
That thou didst not declare thy race.
17.
“That the head huntsman of Fionn.
Gave thee battle in the heavy glen.”
18—Seathan.
“I am John, son of Bergen’s king,
Son of the fierce one of the sturdy tread.”
19—Comhrag.
“My name shall be, on coming home,
Combat of five hundred pounds.”
I have not found this fragment anywhere else. This seems to describe a raid made by the son of the King of Bergen, who carried off a woman, and was tracked and overtaken, and slain in a rift by Comhrag of the five hundred hounds, Fionn’s head huntman. I am responsible for the division into stanzas of two lines. Siar generally means west; here it means behind, probably, for the same reason, that south and to the right are synonymous. A man facing the rising sun has his back to the west, and his right hand to the south (deas). The left hand (lamh thosgail), to the north, and the sun {air a Bhevltaobh), on his mouth side, on Baal’s side. This may be fancy, but unless some explanation is found, it does not appear how a man can have a north and south hand, and a western back. J. F. C.
From Angus MacKinnon, tailor, Dallabrog, South Uist, who is a little dark-haired man, with quick-moving grey eyes, and lively, kindly manner. He wears neither shoes, nor stockings, nor bonnet, and seemingly never has. He sings these pieces with considerable pathos, and has a tolerably good voice. He appears to me to
be about seventy years of age.
Beirbhe. Dictionaries translate Beirbhe, Copenhagen, but it is more probably the Gaelic form of Bergen, which was formerly the capital of Norway, which is part of the Gaelic Lochlann, as well as Denmark. How Bergen may have passed into the Gaelic Beirbhe, may be illustrated by the frequency with which bh passes into g, or gh, and vice versa; thus, ubh or ugh, an egg; dubh, or dugh, black, etc., oov cog, doo. H. M‘L.
The Master and His Man
From John Dewar,
THERE were at some time ere now bad times, and
there were many servants seeking places, and there were not many places for them.
There was a farmer there, and he would not take any servant but one who would stay with him till the end of seven years, and who would not ask for wages, but what he could catch in his mouth of the seed corn, when he should be thrashing corn in the barn.
None were taking (service) with him. At last he said that he would let them plant their seed in the best ground that he might have, and they should get his own horses and plough to make the thraive, and his own horses to harrow it.
There was a young lad there, and he said, “I will take wages with thee,” and the farmer set wages on that lad, and the bargain that they made was that the wages which the lad was to have were to be as many grains of seed as he could catch in his mouth when they were beating sheaves in the barn, and he was to get (leave) to plant that seed in the best land that the farmer had, and he was to keep as much as grew on that seed, and to put with it what seed soever he might catch in his mouth when he was thrashing the corn, and to plant that in the best land which the farmer had on the next year. He was to have horses, and plough, or any other “gairios ” * he might want for planting or reaping from his master, and so on to the end of the seven years. That he should have seen winters in the barn thrashing, seven springs to plant, seven summers of growth for the crop, and seven autumns of reaping, and whatsoever were the outcoming that might be in the lad’s seed, that was the wage that he was to have when he should go away.
The lad went home to his master, and always when he was thrashing in the barn his master was thrashing with him, and he caught but three grains of seed in his mouth on that winter; and he kept these carefully till the spring came, and he planted them in the best land the carle had.
There grew out of these three ears, and there were on each ear threescore good grains of seed.
The lad kept these carefully, and what grains soever be caught he put them together with them.
He planted these again in the spring, and in the autumn again he had as good as he had the year before that.
The lad put his seed bye carefully, and anything he caught in his mouth when he was thrashing in the next winter he put it with the other lot; and so with the lad from year to year, till at last, to make a long story short, the lad planted on the last year every (bit of) ploughing land that the carle had, and he had more seed to set, and the carle was almost harried. He had to pay rent to the farmer who was nearest to him, for land in which the lad might set the excess of seed which he had, and to sell part of his cattle for want of ground on which they might browse, and he would not make a bargain in the same way with a servant for ever after.
This story only wants a moral to be a regular fable, and the meaning is so clear that to express it by a moral would be waste of words. Scotchmen, all over, the world, are noted for frugality, and here is the lesson taught by a Celtic peasant to his son. I suspect there has been a numerical puzzle upon the numbers 3, 7, and 20, which is lost. Words relating to agriculture are interesting, and this gives a number of them. I subjoin an attempt at phonetic spelling.
Siol, sheet; seed, the young of fish, oats, etc. etc.
Crann, /rAn; a tree, a plough, a mast, etc., etc.
Cliathadh, AleeAug; harrowing, from cliath, basket work of any kind, a bush harrow, from which it follows that ploughs and harrows were made of wood.
Treabh, Treo; to till, plough, probably from troimh, through a thraive, a furrow. Sanscrit root, Tra, an an instrument of any kind, a plough.
Biceannan, Beeganan; grains, beag, small, diminutive, Bigan.
Bualadh, BooAlug; thrashing, beating, striking, hitting.
Sabhal, SAvul or SA-ul; a barn.
Arbhar, Arar; corn as reaped, standing corn. Sanscrit root, Ar, to plough, to cut open; to plough the sea. Gaelic, Eithir, a boat.
Ire, Eere; land, also produce. Sanscrit, Ira, earth.
Farrach, Varach; spring, earing time.
Cur, Coor; to plant, to put, to set.
Cinneas, Keenyas; growth, also kin.
Bar, Bar; top, point, crop.
Buain, Booain; to gather, pluck, reap.
Toradh, Tawrug; increase, probably from tor, a heap, a heaping.
Màl, MAl; mail, rent.
Tuathanach ZooAnach; a farmer.
The Praise of Goll
From Donald MacPhie, Breubhaig, Barra,
There came a stranger the way of the Finne, and he asked what sort of man Goll was, and Fionn said—
1 High mind of Goll, Fionn’s man of war,
2 Broad, burly hero, dauntless and hardy;
3 Fair generous hero, of sweetest speech.
4 His mildness mild, harmless his grace.
5 Of brightest mood, teacher of schools.
6 King-like is Goll, hide it not Fionn.
7 Might of the waves, by valour bright.
8 Lion like hind, valiant in deed.
9 Powerful his hand, choice of the kings.
10 Man friendly kind, forsakes not his friend.
11 In strife of kings, not slack his hand.
12 Crushing his shout, hound-like his might.
13 Youthful and soft, warlike and great.
30 Vi 12 Pronntach a ghair; conach* a
threoir;
31 18 13 Fiurants min; mileanta mor.
From Donald MacPhie, Breubhaig, Barra, who says he learnt it from his uncle, Hector MacLaine, Breubhaig, Barra. October 1, 1860.—H. M‘L.
This is a traditional fragment of the poem given at page 29 of the selections from the Dean of Lismore’s MSS. 1530. Of the thirteen lines here given, nine are almost identical with the Gaelic, as given by Mr. MacLauchlan. There are seventy-one lines in the oldest version. The corresponding numbers are here placed opposite to the lines for reference. Another version is printed in Gillies’ collection, 1784. Page 34, there are eighteen lines, of which thirteen appear here slightly modified, and in a different order. There are considerable variations in several of the lines, for example, damhail, friendly, is deud-gheal, white-toothed. A fourth version, eighteen lines, was published by MacCallum, 1816, and has five lines which I have not.