Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 2

NOTES 227
tuillidh ri bheo mhaireann shaoghail a null no a nail air clachan an Duin-bhuidhe."
Thilg gille-cas-fliuch an leine bhais a muigh dh'an loch air barr a ghaise agus leum
e dhachaidh na dheann a chon taobh leaba Mhic 'ic Ailean. Dh' inns e chuile
car mar a chunna agus a chuala agus a dh' eirich dha. Leum Mac 'ic Ailean
na chruinn chruaidh leum na sheasadh bonn as an leaba fhraoich agus dh' orduich
e bo a spadadh agus curachan a chur air doigh. Spadadh bo agus rinneadh
curachan agus chaidh Mac 'ic Ailean as an eilean a null thar an loch gu tir-mor
agus cha do thill e riamh tuillidh dh' an Dhun-bhuidhe am braigh Bheinn-a-
faoghla.'
' In the dead watch of the night ' gille-cas-fliuch,' wet-foot man, of Great
Clanranald of the Isles, was going home to Dun-buidhe in the upland of
Benbecula — ben of the fords. And when he was westering the loch, whom
should he see before him in the vista on the ' clachan,' stepping-stones, but the
washer-woman of the ford, washing and rinsing, moaning and lamenting —
Her little shroud of death iu her hand.
Her plaintive dirge iu her mouth.
' Gille-cas-fliuch ' went gently and quietly behind ' nigheag ' and seized her in his
hand. " Let me go," said ' nigheag,' " and give me the freedom of my feet, and
that the breeze of reek coming from thy grizzled tawny beard is anear putting
a stop to the breath of my throat. Much more would my nose prefer, and much
rather would my heart desire, the air of the fragrant incense of the mist of the
mountains." "I will not allow thee away," said 'gille-cas-fliuch/ "till thou
promise me my three choice desires." '• Let me hear them, ill man," said 'nigheag.'
"That thou wilt tell to me for whom thou art washing the shroud and crooning
the dirge, that thou wilt give me my choice spouse, and that thou wilt keep
abundant seaweed in the creek of our townland as long as the carle of Sgeir-rois
shall continue his moaning." " I am washing the shroud and crooning the dirge
for Great Clanranald of the Isles, and he shall never again in his living life of the
world go thither nor come hither across the clachan of Dun-buidhe." ' Gille-cas-
fliuch ' threw the shroud of death into the loch on the point of his spear, and he
flew home hard to the bedside of Clanranald. He told everything that he saw
and heard and that befell him. Clanranald leaped his hard round leap on to his
feet from the heath-bed, and he ordered a cow to be felled and a little coracle
to be made ready. A cow was felled accordingly, and a little coracle was con-
structed in which Clanranald went from the island over the loch to the mainland,
and he never again returned to Dun-buidhe iu the upland of Benbecula.'
Beinn a c/ieo, mount of mist. The term occurs in the following old songs : —
' Am beiun a cheo, Iu the mount of mist,
'S siun ann n'ar dithis. And we two together,
Challain cile, Callain cile,
Na bho hi c' Na vo hi o.