Matheson Collection > Popular tales of the west Highlands > Volume 1

AN NIGHINN AGUS AN DUINE MARBH. 225
the kilns, where the people were kiln-drying their corn ; and
where she was frequently rewarded, for amusing them in this
manner, by supjjlies of meal. She was paralytic ; her head shook
like an aspen leaf, and whenever she repeated anything that was
very exciting, her head shook more rapidly ; which impressed
children with great awe."
Some of the phrases are evidently remembered, and said by
heart ; the maid's wages, for instance ; and the creatures that
came to the wandering daughters. The vessel of Balsam occurs
often in Gaelic stories, and I cannot make out what it really
means. Ballan iocshlaint, teat, of ichor, of health, seems to
be the meaning of the words.
In former days the kilns were not always used for drying corn.
It is related that one of the first excisemen who went to the
West, found and caught a large party of men kiln-drying malt.
He made a seizure of course, and was not a little surprised when
he was seized himself, and his arms tied fast behind him. His
eyes were bound also ; and then he was led to the kiln and set
down near the Kre ; and they gave him the malt to smell and
taste ; and then they told him it was to be used in making
whiskey ; and then they gave him a drop, and then a dram, till
the gauger was so drunk that they left him there, and departed
with their malt kiln-dried and ground.
This I have heard told of the very place which Margaret
Conal used to haunt, and of a time when she might have been a
little girl ; I cannot vouch for the truth of my story, but the kiln
and the men about it may be seen now ; and such scenes may
well account for the preservation of wild stories. A child would
not easily forget a story learned amongst a lot of rough farmers,
seated at night round a blazing fire, listening to an old crone
with palsied head and hands ; and accordingly, I have repeatedly
heard that the mill, and the kiln, were the places where my
informants learned their tales.
There is a word in this tale which the narrator, the translator,
the transcriber, the dictionary, and the " old men," have failed
to explain.
Sreath [?] SoiGH, a bitch (Ross-shire, etc.) ciiuileanach -à^
means some kind oC bird, and she has twelve "puppies, "da
CHUILEAN deug. The narrator maintains that the words are
right as she heard them.
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