Cumha Mhic an Tòisich – Mackintosh’s Lament III

Black Steed

Around this time last year two blogs were published with regard to Cumha Mhic an Tòisich, or Mackintosh’s Lament. This short anecdote was collected by Alexander Carmichael probably from the recitation of Marion MacNeil, styled Mòr nighean Alasdair ’ic Ruaraidh Bhàin (1843–1927), Kentangaval, Barra. She tells the background to how it was composed by a lady whose husband was killed on his return from being married. His death by a black horse had been predicted so he struck the black horse with his pistol and took a white horse instead but he was careless and his feet got tangled in the stirrups and he was dragged along the ground by the horse and was killed. Carmichael was later to publish a long article about this lament in The Highlander and the version given there is based upon this short note:

This cumha was comp[osed] by a

lady whose affianced was kil[led]

in riding home from being

married. He had a spl[e]nd[id] black

horse wild to a degree

and it was faisneac[hd] that the

black horse would kill him.

That morn[in]g the black [horse] was so restive

that he leapt off his back & struck

him with his pistol. He then

took a white horse & in set[tin]g home

the white horse saw the dead

horse lying. He start[ed] & the

young man riding gayly un

guarded lost his seat & his

feet get[tin]g entang[led] in the strirrips

he was dragged aft[er] the horse

& kil[led] ere he could be rescued.

The bride was riding on before

& some turn in the road took him

out of her sight till he was

bro[ugh]t home dead & thus taigh

solais was turn[ed] into tai[gh]

dolais.

References:

CW90, fos. 50v–51r.

Carmichael, Alexander, ‘Cumha Mhic-an-Toisich’, The Highlander, vol. IV, no. 165 (8 Jul., 1876), p. 3., cc. 3 –5.

Image: Black Steed.

The Pipers of Smerclete – II

In a previous blog from last year the well-known South Uist tradition regarding the Pipers of Smerclete was given and so, as a kind of reprise, here is another version. Alexander Carmichael was not adverse to take down the same stories – sometimes from the very same reciters – allowing comparisons to be made. This is clearly an advantage when looking at repeated versions of a tale or, for that matter, migratory legends or stories with an international resonance. In this instance, Carmichael neglected to take down the name of the reciter but it seems likely that it was collected in Kilpheder, a village in close proximity to where the action of the story takes place. Basically, as in the previous version of this story given in an earlier blog, as well as many other variants that have subsequently either been printed or collected, a fairy gifts an idiotic son – who was only good for looking after cattle – with such an ability to play music on the pipes that no one else could match his peerless skill. The crux of this particular version of tale hangs on the proverbial phrase: “ealain gun rath” skill without luck, or “rath gun ealain” luck without skill. The choice had to be a wise one, otherwise the fairies would get the upper hand. By making sure that the door of the fairy mound was closed by either a knife or a nail (something made of steel or iron in order to counteract fairy bewitchment), the so-called half-witted son managed to get both luck and skill which stood him in good stead, as he became a celebrated piper.

Sithein a Phiobaire Kil Pheadair
S[outh] Uist. Used to hear pip[ing] ther[e].
Clan[n] an t Saoir Smearcleit wer[e] c[e]lebr[ated]
pip[ers] a mach s a staigh cha
ro[bh] ann a gheo[bhadh] buai[dh] orra. One
son was a “lecheallach” unfit for a pip[er]
So he was sent to faire buaile crui[dh]
He saw the sith[ein] light & he ent[ered]. First
plac[in]g a Knife or nail in the door
aft[er] which the sith[ein] could close it.
“Rath us ealain rath us eal[ain]” said he
& all the sith[ein] pip[ers]. Rath gun eal[ain] rath
gun eal[eain] they rep[eated] & tried to close the door
& keep him but they could [not] so they
were obl[i]g[ed] to give him also the eal[ain] Go you
hom[e] said the sean bod[ach]. sì & send
the bones of the black dead horse
at y[ou]r fath[er’s] door & get a pipe made
& you shall be a pip[er] such as non[e]
of y[ou]r people nev[er] saw. He did & got a pipe & sett[led]
to piob[aireachd] & eclip[sed] them all. We may stop
if you re[frain] said his fath[er] and bro[ther] for no one
will list[en] to you so go you to [sic] out into
the world and not m[e]n[tion?] us. He did so
& he was celebr[ated].

References:

CW 160 ff., 22v–23r.

D.M.N.C., ‘Uamh an Oir’, An Ròsarnach (1917), pp. 159–71.

Ella C. Carmichael, ‘“Never was Piping so Sad, and Never was Piping so Gay”’, The Celtic Review, vol. II (1905–06), pp. 76–84

Fr. Allan McDonald, ‘Pìobairean Smearclait (The Pipers of Smerclait)’, The Celtic Review, vol. V (1908–09), pp. 345–47.

Image: Still from Pìobairean Bhòrnais. Many thanks to Catrìona Black http://www.ambocsa.co.uk/ for permission to use her image.

Suimir time

Alexander Carmichael’s manuscripts are a fount of information not just about the oral tradition of the Gàidhealtachd, but its material culture and environment as well. Here, for instance, is a note he wrote on Scottish Gaelic suimir. As Professor Angus Matheson states in the final volume of Carmina Gadelica, we clearly have here a loanword from Scots timmer, English timber. A perhaps suspiciously long and elaborate Dìon Oidhche or ‘Night Blessing’ apparently recorded from Alexander Maclean, Manal, Tiree, has the couplet ‘Eadar sùil agus suimir, / Eadar chas agus cheann’: ‘Both window and timber, / Both foot and head’. If this was indeed recorded by Carmichael himself, it would have been in late September 1887 during what appears to have been his one visit to the island.

Sumaire, in the sense of a big rough piece of wood, is used as an insult about a bagpipe chanter by Niall Mór MacMhuirich in the late sixteenth-century satire Seanchas na Pìob bho thùs. The battle Carmichael refers to is Bruce’s great victory at Brander Pass, probably in 1308. John Barbour refers to the episode in his epic The Bruce: ‘To that brig held thai fast thair way, / And till brek it can fast assay; / Bot thai that chassit, quehn thai thaim saw / Mak thair arest, but dreid or aw / Thai ruschit apon thame hardely, / And discomfit thame vtrely / And held the brig haill, quhill the king, / With all the folk of his leding, / Passit the bryg all at thair ese.’

Suimir, a pole, a rafter, as suimir taighe = house rafter called taobhair – a horizontal beam rafter on the side of a house for the support of the cabers leaning up on the side.

Leac an t-suimir – the flag rock of the suimir, the flag rock of the rafter. This is the name of a flattish rock on the bank of Ab[h]uinn Atha, the river Awe. There had been a foot bridge here in olden times. The bridge was composed of long poles long rafters spanning the river from side to side.

In the battle between Bruce and Macdougall when the latter gave way he tried to cut off the advance of the former by destroying the bridge behind him. Bruce however passed so hard upon the heels of Macdougall that Macdougall failed in accomplishing his purpose enabling Bruce to inflict severe defeat upon Macdougall.

References:
CW MS 502 fos.96–7.
Carmina Gadelica iii, 362; vi, 133.
John Barbour (ed. Walter W. Skeat), The Bruce (London, 1876), 229.
Image:
Brander Pass

The Pipers of Smerclete

A well-known piece of South Uist tradition is the story concerning the pipers of Smerclete. This version picked up by Alexander Carmichael, probably from Duncan Maclellan, a stonemason, from Carnan in South Uist, in April 1872, follows the general gist of other, and sometimes even more detailed, variations of this story:

The Macintires of Smearcleit were
celebrated pipers. Others came to try them.
One of the sons who had never tried the pipes
was coming home & a ban shi met him
& told him that 3 celeb[rated] pipers came to play
against his fath[er] & bro[ther] But said she you[r]
fath[er] & bro[ther] although good enough pipers are
no match against these men. Ach cuir
thusa do mhiar am bhialsa ’s cuiri[dh]
mise ceol ann s cha tig ad a nall
eir faothail s cha tig ad a nall eir
fairge na chuir fath no fiamh ort.
He put his finger in his mouth & he
went home. Cia phiob athar said he cluich mi fhe[in] porst dha
na na daoine coire tha[in]ig dhach[aidh] orm
a so “Us amad[an] dol a bhreith piob
ors athair amad[an] ’us dol a bhre[ith] eir piob
ors a bhrairean ’s nach d rug [th]u eir
piob ria[mh]. But he got hold of a pipe & he played[a]y[e]d so extra well as to astonish the stranger[s]
& to make his fa[ther] & bro[ther] stare with amasement.
The strang[ers] left with[out] divulg[ing] their errand say[ing]
to each other If this fel[low] be the worst ^[supra: piper] of the family
what must the others be […]

Unfortunately, though Carmichael stopped there – it would appear that a few words have been omitted – it could hardly be called a cliff hanger. The ‘celebrated pipers’ are usually namechecked as the MacCrimmons of Skye, the hereditary and famed pipers to the MacLeods of Dunvegan. Not surprisingly the gift of music from a fairy is also attributed to the MacCrimmon dynasty as well as other famous piping families. Such a story has an international resonance as classified by Annti Aarne and Stith Thompson as AT 503 The Gifts of the Little People [and latterly ATU 503]. Such stories inspired Alexander Carmichael’s daughter, Ella, to write an article about it that appeared in the second volume of The Celtic Review and in the same journal a posthumous article appeared from the pen of Father Allan McDonald, or Maighstir Ailein, a noted afficionado of bagpipe music, about the pipers of Smerclete. The story has also inspired a brilliantly animated version called Pìobairean Bhòrnais (2003) that seamlessly interweaves animated drawings with a narrative collected in South Uist as recently as 1975.

References:
CW 90, fol. 36v.

D.M.N.C., ‘Uamh an Oir’, An Ròsarnach (1917), pp. 159–71.

Ella C. Carmichael, ‘“Never was Piping so Sad, and Never was Piping so Gay”’, The Celtic Review, vol. II (1905–06), pp. 76–84

Fr. Allan McDonald, ‘Pìobairean Smearclait (The Pipers of Smerclait)’, The Celtic Review, vol. V (1908–09), pp. 345–47.

Image: Still from Pìobairean Bhòrnais. Many thanks to Catrìona Black www.ambocsa.co.uk for permission to use her image.

A Pipe Tune from the Fairies

In the Gaelic cosmological world fairies loom large and there is a significant amount of traditions where fairies have gifted a special instrument to middling musicians so that they could become great players as long as they kept to their side of the bargain. One instance of this is the famous silver chanter said to have been gifted by a fairy to a MacCrimmon piper. This piper went on to enthral audiences who disclaimed that they had never heard anyone better and that he was the best piper ever to have lived. There are many variations of this story but the essential element is that the musical gift derived from the fairy folk. Another strong tradition is of tunes that have been picked up from the fairy folk who were known to be renowned for their musical skills as well as their dancing. An instance of such a tradition was, of course, collected by Alexander Carmichael:

A Phiob Shith
Bha phiob gu tric agus gu minic air a
cluinntin s a bhruth-shith. Bhiodh puirt
shiubhlach shuigeartach aig na sithich anns
a bhruthain agus iomadaidh fonn aurain [òrain].
So fear dhiu –


Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Ris a chrodh-laoigh s i na h-onar.

The Fairy Pipes

The bagpipe was time and again heard in the fairy knowe. The fairies would play rhythmic, lively tunes in the knowe and many song tunes.
Here’s one of them –

Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Along with the calves and she all alone.

It appears that this is a port-à-beul or mouth music and may have been either a reel or strathspey. We are not certain of what the title would be called in English but like other ‘Gaelic’ tunes it is likely that it would have been given one.

Ref: CW 108, fol. 33r–34v.

Anon. ‘Fairy Tales (Gaelic and English)’, The Celtic Review, vol. 5 (1908–09), pp. 155–71 [This anonymous article in all likelihood stems from Carmichael’s collection and may have been edited by his daughter, Ella Carmichael].
Image: A' Phìob Mhòr or The Great Highland Bagpipe