Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 6, 1898

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
159
" Tha nio chiabhan air liathadh,
'S mo cheum air fas mall
Le bhi smaointeachadh daonnan
Air morachd mo chall ;
'S mi 'g iiniaigh 'bhi ciiirichte
Fo chlkir a chist' cliaoil,
Ri taobh lain-a'-Bhreacain
Mo ghaisgeach 's mo ghaoil."
My feet are growii weary,
My hair is turned grey,
Bemourning my lover
By night and by day ;
For rest ever praying.
The rest of the grave.
Beside lain-a'-Bhreacain,
The faithful and brave.
Iain sleeps his long sleep on the banks of the
Findhorn, awaiting the summon to a greater
gathering than that of his clan, and Mary rests
beside him until the day of Love's final triumph
dawns.
A. G. M.
THE WITCH OF CNOC-NA-MOINE.
A SUTHERLANDSHIRE StOKY.
^(^ CCORDING to the best Oldshore Cbron-
^^f ologist it is about 200 years since a
^y~& man, who was well known in his own
sphere as an expert hunter and the owner of a
famous dog, departed this life. William Buie
lived in Oldshore, a wild and barren district on
the west coast of Sutherlandshire. As a hunter
of deer and other wild game he had few equals.
He not only always possessed venison himself,
but he kept his neighbours in a good supply.
Many are the anecdotes told of how he drove
the deer from Cape Wrath mountains and the
Eeay Forest to within easy reach of liis home.
But great as was his fame as a sportsman it
was to Busdini, his dog, that the cause of his
success was ascribed. This dog he got in rather
a mysterious way. In fact it never clearly
transpired how he became possessed of it.
Rumour had it that he got it straying either
in Cape Wrath forest or in the Eeay forest,
that it came from some foreign ships, or that
it belonged to one of the Lords of Reay, who
brought it from abroad ; while others again said
the dog was not "canny," it had something
curious about it. Be these conjectures as they
may, the dog was certainly massive and swift,
savage and strong. So savage, indeed, that he
had always to lie chained when at home. The
chain was nothing less than an anchor cable,
made fast through the wall of the house to a
large drift boulder outside, and attached to his
neck by a three-ply rope made of the hide of a
wild ox. His strength is exemplified in bringing
a stag to a standstill once he got a hold, and
for swiftness he could catch the fastest deer
It is related that he once started a gigantic stag
on Eoinaben, known as the groat Foinaben stag,
followed it into Cape Wrath forest, turned it
near the Cape, and back through the forest over
Bendearg, Greannan, and Benchroisk, swam
Loch Inchard, turned it in the Carriegarve
and again swam the loch, and brought it to bay
above Oldshore. But this great dog, like men
who have accomplished great feats in their time,
came to a very miserable death ; it was literally
killed by a she-goat, or a fiend in the shape of
a goat.
In those days there existed women called
witches possessed of a supernatural power, which
to-day puts the arch-fiend in the background.
Whether he exhausted all his gifts on them or
has turned from his evil, dark ways, we are
unable to say, but one thing we know, such
strange things as they were said to do cannot
be performed now. These witches generally
lived without any visible means of support,
yet their houses were plentifully supplied with
the choicest of viands. Milk, butter, and cheese
seemed to have been their chief diets, and
curiously they possessed no cows. Their ven-
geance and malice knew no bounds ; they
hesitated not at destroying man and beast.
Young men and maidens frequently fell victims
to their foul play, for the least ofience. They
could transform themselves into the shape of
any animal, but their favourites were a goat,
cat, pig, hare, and raven.
One of these was the witch of Cnoc-na-nioine,
a notorious creature that escaped the wiles of
the Church all her life. She was much dreaded
by men and women, and to go against her was
worse than death itself. William Buie used to
be on good terms with her as long as he provided
her with venison, but through some misunder-
standing they quarrelled. William dreaded her,
no doubt, and quietly she feared him, as he was
reckoned uncanny himself, and strange rumours
were afioat regarding Dusdini. Matters, however,
went pretty smoothly until William's cows began
to be emaciated and produced no milk, while
one after the other died. He knew well that
it was the work of the witch of Cnoc-na-moine,
and vowed openly that if he encountered her
in any transfiguration but that of her own, that
he would use his blunderbus with a silver coin
on her, and failing that, Busdhu would be let
loose on her.
The witch tried several of her cantrips on
William, but none of them apparently took any
effect. There was nothing for her but to wait
patiently until she got him alone, and then she
would make up for loss of time. In an evil
hour William left his home on a message to a