Matheson Collection > Gaelic songs of Mary MacLeod

INTRODUCTION xiii
of Harris it is even said that Sir Norman's regard for her
was due to his knowing that her blood was not inferior
to his own. On one occasion Mary and Sir Norman's
son Iain fell into a dispute as to which of them was
more nearly related to the line of the chiefs ; Mary de-
clared with confidence that in that respect she was no
whit inferior, perhaps superior, to him and his father,
which so stung the boy that he begged Sir Norman to
punish her. " Gabh mo chomhairle, a dheagh mhic,"
ars' esan, " leig le Màiri Ruadh agus na cuir an còrr
dragha oirre." (" Take my advice, my good son," said
Sir Norman, " leave Màiri Ruadh alone and don't trouble
her further.") The interpretation put on this in Bernera
seems to be that Sir Norman knew that Mary, if pressed
too far, might disclose what would be better hidden. ^
Her father is said to have been called Alasdair Ruadh na
Droighnich, and those in Harris who gave this informa-
tion say that he came from Drynoch in Skye — the only
Drynoch in the Isles. The late Alexander Mackenzie
says^ that she was the daughter of Alexander second
son of Norman second son of William fifth chief of
MacLeod; but this, though stated as a fact, is pure
conjecture, and is demolished by the date of William's
death, which occurred in 1405. Descendants of her
father are or recently were living in Harris; one of them
still alive gives his own genealogy: Tormod mac Thor- i(*»vii6w- **k
moid mhic Dhomhnaill mhic Iain mhic Thormoid mhic itA/'.**-,^.!*^
Dhornhnaill mhic Neill mhic Alasdair Ruaidh; while a(*''*-'^»-^''
woman who died at Obbe in Harris about twenty years ^*5tF!a^ ^
ago, named Màiri Ruadh, herself something of a poetess, iC^ ^^Mf ^j.
was generally known to be descended from or related to
Mary MacLeod and named after her.
John Mackenzie, as we have seen, records that she
' " Màiri Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh ": Trans. Gael. Soc. Invss., Vol. xxii,
43 ff.
Hs /*t4 *%..4.-*.--JuL->c^-»^ , S%.),