Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 2

MISCELLANEOUS 189
POEM OF THE BEETLES
themselves with eating and tramping the corn. Not so the hens : they scattered
the corn about with their feet as they ate, so that the hidden Christ was exposed
to view when the crofter returned. In consequence of this disservice to Christ in
His distress, it was left as a heritage to the hen and to her seed for ever that she
should be sever-toed ; that she should be confined to land ; that she should dislike
hail, rain, sleet, and snow ; that she should dread thunder and lightning ; that
dust, not water, should be her bath ; that she should have no oil with which to
anoint herself and preen her feathers; and finally, that she should have only one
life and one joy in life — the joy of land.
And because the duck contented herself with eating the corn without exposing
the person of Christ, it was left to her and to her descendants ever more that she
should be web-footed, and not be confined to laud ; that she should rejoice in hail
and rain and sleet and snow ; that she should rejoice in thunder and lightning ;
that water, not dust, should be her bath ; that she should have oil with which
to anoint herself and preen her feathers ; that she should have three lives and
three joys — the joy of earth, the joy of air, and the joy of water ; nay, a fourth
life and a fourth joy — the joy of under the water; that she should be most dressed
when the hen was most draggled; that she should be most joyous when the hen
was most miserable ; that she should be most hopeful when the hen was in most
despair ; that she should be most happy when the hen was in most dread ; that
she should dance with joy when the hen quaked with fear. When the hen hears
thunder she trembles as the aspen and hurries home in terror, screaming and
screeching the while. Hence the saying —
' Tha do chridh air chrith Thine heart is quivering
Mar chirc ri torruinn.' Like a hen in thunder.
The converse is true of the duck. When she hears thunder she rejoices and
dances to her own ' port-a-bial ' — mouth music. This gave rise to the saying —
' Is coUach thu ri tunnaig Thou art like a duck
'S a tiughair ri torruinn.' Expectant of thunder.
When the Being of glory was in retreat,
And wicked men in pursuit of Him,
What said the groveller of blindness
To the beetle and the butterfly ?
VOL. II. 2 B