Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2

THE CHEST. I 3
Mochthrath an la 'r na mhhireach bha fear an tighe 'dol gu ciiirt.
Thuirt e ritliese, mar an robh deifir urra a dh' fholbh, gum faodadh i
dol leisean a dh' eisdeachd na cùìrt. Thuirt i gum biodh i toileach, 's
gum bu mhath leatha a gille 'bhi leatha. Chaidh ise anns a' charbad
leis a chaibhtiun, 's mharcaich a gille 'na deigh. Nur a bha 'chiiirt
seachad, thuirt i gum robh lacal na dha aicese r'a radh, n'am b' e'n
toil leigeil leatha bruidhinn. Thuirt iad rithe leigeil a chluinntinu
daibh gu de 'bha aice r'a radh. Thuirt i r'a gille. " Eiridh suas 's
thoir dhaibh am paipeir sin a sgriobh thu 'rair." Nur a leubh iad am
paipeir, thuirt i de 'bu choir a dhèanadh air an fhear sin. " A
chrochadh na'm biodh e 'n so," urs' iadsan. " Sin agaibh e," urs' ise,
's deanaibh bhur roighinn ris." Fhuair i fein 'san righ tilleadh ah-
an ais d'an tigh fe'in, 's bha iad mar a bha iad roimhid.
This was written, April 1859, by Hector MacLean, " from the
dictation of Catherine Milloy, a Cowal woman, married to a farmer
at Kilmeny, Islay — one Angus MacGeachy. Mrs. MacGeachy
learned the story from a young man who resides in Cowal, Eobert
MacColl."
May 1860. — No other version of this story has come to me as
yet. It resembles Cymbeline in some of the incidents ; and one
incident, that of the blood, is like Portia's defencein the Jew of
Venice. It is worth remark that the scene of Cymbeline is partly
laid in Britain, partly in Italy.
In the Decameron, 2d day, novel 9, is the Italian story from
which Cymbeline is supposed to have originated. " Bernard of
Genoa is imposed upon by one Ambrose, loses his money, and
orders his wife, who is quite innocent, to be put to death. She
makes her escape, and goes in man's dress into the service of the
Sultan ; there she meets with the deceiver, and, sending for her
husband to Alexandria, has him punished ; she then resumes her
former habit, and returns with her husband rich to Genoa."
In the Decameron, the Italian merchants dispute at Paris,
and lay a bet. " A poor woman who frequented the house," re-
places the Gaelic " Hen wife." The man who was hid in the
chest took a ring, a girdle, a purse, and a gown, and in the Gaelic
be takes a ring and a chain. The wife disguises herself as a
man in both, but the service which she undertakes is different ;
and " the Sultan " is replaced by " a gentleman." In both stories
she discloses the cheat in open Court, — in the one, before " the