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THE SON OF THE SCOTTISH YEOMAN. 257
firesides of the old Highlanders as their chief auiuE
Some of them he heard hefore he was fourteen years of age, and
never heard since, and yet he retains them accurately.
It will be observed in the tale now given that some of the
terms used are modern, as, for instance, " Probhaisd " (Provost),
and not known in our older Gaelic. It is remarkable, also, that
the bishop of London is the party fixed upon to have his effects
stolen. This would seem to indicate that the tale originated at
a time when the Highlanders were acquainted with bishops, and
would carry it back to a period previous to the Reformation, the
inhabitants, both of Ardnamurchan and Mull, having been Pres-
byterians since that period ; unless, indeed, the story has been
imported into the Highlands from some other quarter. Its re-
semblance to the "Master Thief" in Mr. Dasent's "Tales from
the Norse," cannot fail to strike any one acquainted with these
interesting stories. The " Tuathanach " is translated " Yeoman,"
not that that term expresses with perfect accuracy the meaning
of the Gaelic word, but it is the English term which comes
nearest to it. The "Tuathanach" among the Celts isa "farmer,"
or one who holds his lands from another, but the word implies a
certain amount of consequence and dignity, which would indicate
that he must hold land of considerable extent. The term is mani-
festly either the radix, or a relative of the Latin " teneo," whence
the English "tenant," and it would seem also to be the real
source of the word " Thane," or one who held as tenant the lands
of the Crown. The tenants and their subholders were dis-
tinguished as " Tuatli 'us Ceatharn," from which last is the
Saxon "Kern."
T. M'L.
Edinburgh, May 1860.
2. Another version of this was told to me by Donald MacCraw,
drover, September 1859, as we walked along the road in North
IJist. It was given in return for a bit of another story, which
also treats of clever thieves, part of which I learned from my
piper guardian long ago. This was the fly which raised the fish.
Two thieves once came to a gallows, and the one said to the
other,
"We have often heard about this thing, now let us try how
VOL. II. S
firesides of the old Highlanders as their chief auiuE
Some of them he heard hefore he was fourteen years of age, and
never heard since, and yet he retains them accurately.
It will be observed in the tale now given that some of the
terms used are modern, as, for instance, " Probhaisd " (Provost),
and not known in our older Gaelic. It is remarkable, also, that
the bishop of London is the party fixed upon to have his effects
stolen. This would seem to indicate that the tale originated at
a time when the Highlanders were acquainted with bishops, and
would carry it back to a period previous to the Reformation, the
inhabitants, both of Ardnamurchan and Mull, having been Pres-
byterians since that period ; unless, indeed, the story has been
imported into the Highlands from some other quarter. Its re-
semblance to the "Master Thief" in Mr. Dasent's "Tales from
the Norse," cannot fail to strike any one acquainted with these
interesting stories. The " Tuathanach " is translated " Yeoman,"
not that that term expresses with perfect accuracy the meaning
of the Gaelic word, but it is the English term which comes
nearest to it. The "Tuathanach" among the Celts isa "farmer,"
or one who holds his lands from another, but the word implies a
certain amount of consequence and dignity, which would indicate
that he must hold land of considerable extent. The term is mani-
festly either the radix, or a relative of the Latin " teneo," whence
the English "tenant," and it would seem also to be the real
source of the word " Thane," or one who held as tenant the lands
of the Crown. The tenants and their subholders were dis-
tinguished as " Tuatli 'us Ceatharn," from which last is the
Saxon "Kern."
T. M'L.
Edinburgh, May 1860.
2. Another version of this was told to me by Donald MacCraw,
drover, September 1859, as we walked along the road in North
IJist. It was given in return for a bit of another story, which
also treats of clever thieves, part of which I learned from my
piper guardian long ago. This was the fly which raised the fish.
Two thieves once came to a gallows, and the one said to the
other,
"We have often heard about this thing, now let us try how
VOL. II. S
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| Early Gaelic Book Collections > J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 2 > (275) |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/81420361 |
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| Description | Volume II. |
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| Shelfmark | Cam.2.g.4(2) |
| Attribution and copyright: |
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| Description | Orally collected with a translation by J.F. Campbell. |
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| Shelfmark | Cam.2.g.4(1-4) |
| Additional NLS resources: | |
More information
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| Description | Volumes from a collection of 610 books rich in Highland folklore, Ossianic literature and other Celtic subjects. Many of the books annotated by John Francis Campbell of Islay, who assembled the collection. |
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| Description | Selected items from five 'Special and Named Printed Collections'. Includes books in Gaelic and other Celtic languages, works about the Gaels, their languages, literature, culture and history. |
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