Lorne Campbell / Macpherson Tales From Barra

told by the Coddy
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-0-85790-977-0
Verlag: Origin
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 160 Seiten

The Coddy was one of the most renowned storytellers and characters of the Western Isles at the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth and beyond, and was the inspiration for Compton MacKenzie's Whisky Galore. His warmth and personality shine through these stories, which are a wonderful mix of myth, tradition and anecdote. This edition includes a large number of traditional tales told in the inimitable style of The Coddy, grouped in a number of themed sections: Tales of the Macneils of Barra and Other Lairds - The MacLeods of Dunvegan - The Laird of Boisdale - Stories of Olden Times - Ecclesiastical Traditions - Place-names - Tales of Treasure - Tales of Local Characters - Stories of the Politician - Stories of Sea Monsters - Fairies, Second Sight and Ghost Stories - Witchcraft. For any student of folklore, for anyone interested in the traditions and history of the islands, or for anyone who simply likes a tale well told, The Coddy is essential reading. This edition is enhanced with a plate section consisting of period photographs of the Western Isles and informative notes on The Coddy and his stories.

John Lorne Campbell was the author of numerous books and articles, including Canna: the Story of a Hebridean Island, the island that was his home from 1938 to his death in 1996. He was instrumental in ensuring that the island pass into the care of the National Trust for Scotland in order that its natural and cultural heritage be protected. He was honoured with numerous awards during his life, including honorary degrees from the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford, fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 1990 an OBE.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Macpherson, John

Lorne Campbell, John

Leseproben

Introduction

My first meeting with the Coddy – a nickname bestowed in boyhood and persisting, like so many Barra nicknames, throughout a lifetime – was a brief one in August 1928. Later the same year I had the pleasure of travelling with him by bus on the old Loch Nessside road from Fort William to Inverness, where we were both going to attend a Mòd, and Coddy, who represented the northern half of Barra on the Inverness-shire County Council, was also to attend a Council meeting. An invitation to return to Barra for the purpose of studying colloquial Gaelic was warmly extended. My only regret now is that I was unable to take advantage of it until 1933.

Coddy was in appearance rather short, thick-set and Napoleonic; he had an extremely fine-looking head and was quick of movement – and of speech, whether in English or Gaelic. His MacPherson forebears came originally from Benbecula. Sixty years ago the late Fr Allan McDonald of Eriskay recorded a South Uist saying, ‘’, ‘, a smart-tongued fellow. The MacPhersons or Curries or MacVurichs are considered sharp on their tongues and apt scholars.’ This was very true of the Coddy, one of whose chief characteristics was aptness of speech, both in Gaelic and English, and a talent for both anecdote and diplomacy which might, as I have heard it said, have made him Mayor of a large American city, had he been a citizen of that republic. As it was, his talents did much for his native island, and delighted a very large circle of friends.

There is considerable interest in Coddy’s family tree. It belies completely the popular notion that the inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides formed isolated and inbred communities. On the paternal side his people came from Benbecula and South Uist, on the maternal from the Island of Mull, both sides eventually marrying into Barra families after settling on the island, so that both the Coddy’s grandmothers, Mary MacNeil and Flora MacPhee, were Barra-born. But perhaps his descent can best be described in the words of his eldest daughter, Miss Kate MacPherson, into which I have interpolated some dates and other information obtained from the Barra Baptismal Register and from Mr Roderick MacMillan, Gerinish, South Uist, one of Coddy’s cousins.

Miss Kate MacPherson writes: ‘My father’s maternal grandfather, Robert MacLachlan, was gardener at Aros Castle in Mull and came from there to be gardener for Colonel MacNeil of Barra at Eoligarry. When telling this, my father always said that his grandfather came to Barra ‘after the Napoleonic wars,’ but apart from that I regret I cannot give a date. Robert MacLachlan became a Catholic and married Flora MacPhee’ [daughter of Alexander Macphee, Vaslain, and Flora Maclnnes, Greian, his wife, born 6th September 1815. The marriage took place at Eoligarry on 10th March 1834 and was performed by Fr Neil MacDonald]. ‘Robert and Flora subsequently moved to Talisker in Skye, but later returned to Barra and settled on a croft at Buaile nam Bodach. My great-grandmother brought her children from Skye to be baptized at Craigstone.’ [Of the five youngest children of Robert MacLachlan and Flora MacPhee, Archibald was born on 3rd April 1840 and baptized on 23rd August of the same year; Janet was born on 4th November 1841 and baptized on 22nd June 1844; and Margaret born on 15th April 1843, Ann (Coddy’s mother), born on 11th November 1845, and Neil, born 12th June 1848, were all baptized together on 21st June 1848. It therefore looks as if Robert MacLachlan and his family left Barra not long after the sale of the estate to Colonel Gordon in 1838, when Eoligarry ceased to be a laird’s residence, and returned to Barra in 1848, when the potato famine may have made things difficult on Skye.]

‘One of their daughters, Ann, married Neil MacPherson – Niall mac Iain ’ic Aonghuis ’ic Caluim ’ic Iain. I am sorry I cannot go further with the , but my father’s cousin Roderick Mac Pherson tells me that my father could go back fourteen or fifteen generations. Ann and Neil settled with my great-grandfather, Robert MacLachlan, on the croft at Buaile nam Bodach, and there my father was born on 26th December 1876.

‘Now as to the MacPhersons. Iain and his father Angus were both joiners and came from South Uist to work on the priest’s house at Craigstone, Taigh a’ Ghearraidh Mhóir (the house of the big wall).’

[The priest in question was Fr Angus MacDonald, who was in Barra from 1805 to 1825, when he became Rector of the Scots College at Rome. Some of his correspondence is printed in the . His account book shows that Angus MacPherson came in April 1819 to start work on his house, bringing his wife Mary MacIntyre and his son Iain with him. Another son, Lachlan MacPherson, was born on Barra and baptized on 3rd April 1820, when his parents were described in the Barra baptismal register as ‘natives of South Uist, now residing in this parish,’ and the godfather was Allan MacArthur of the sloop . Angus MacPherson, besides being a well-known joiner, was a bard. Here are two of his best-known songs, as taken down by Fr Allan McDonald in 1887 and 1897:

‘The following comical song was composed by a carpenter of the name of McPherson, commonly called Aonghus mac Caluim ’ic Iain:

Tha Siosalaich is Griogalaich tric ’ga mo bhòdadh,

Iad trom orm uile, ’s mi umhail gu leòr dhaibh,

Air son siochaire botuil bhith ’ga chosg’ san taigh òsda,

’S mi fhin bhith ’ga chosnadh le locraichean gròbaidh,

Mo chailin donn òg.

Chuir mi fios air an t-sagart bha stad anns an Iochdar,

Bho’n a bha e n’a dhotair gu socair dhomh dhianamh;

’S nuair bha e ’gam shealltainn, bha mo cheann-sa gun riaghailt,

’S ann thuirt e ‘Tha’m bàs ort, cha n-fhàg e thu ’n dìochainn,’

Mo chailin donn òg.

’S tric tha mi smaointinn na daoine nach maireann

A dh’òladh ’s a phàigheadh ’s nach fhàgadh mi falamh

Nam biodh fios agam fhìn nach eil sìth aig an anam

’S e ’n obair nach fhiach a bhith dianamh an drama,

No idir ’ga h-ò1.

Tha mo bhean-sa air a marbhadh a’ falbh feadh an fhearainn,

A’ tional ’s ag iarraidh gach sian dhomh gu fallus,

A dh’aindeoin a pianadh ’s a riasladh ’s a caithris,

A dh’aindeoin a saothair, tha ’n saor gu bhith thairis,

Mo chailin donn òg.

Ach ma leighiseas mo shùilean, bheir mi ’n ionnsaigh so fhathast,

Null far a’ chaoil far bheil gaolach nam fearaibh,

Far bheil ceannard na cléire nach leubhadh a’ ghainne,

’S beag iùnadh do threud gun dhol ceum ann am mearachd,

Mo chailin donn òg.’

Translation

‘Chisholms and MacGregors are often putting me under the pledge, they are all hard on me, though I am obedient enough to them, because I consumed a trifling bottle at the inn, which I earned with grooving planes – My young brown lass (chorus).

I sent for the priest who was living at Iochdar, because he was a doctor, to restore me to health; when he was looking at me, my head was out of order; he said, ‘Death is coming for you, he will not leave you forgotten’ – My young brown lass.

Often I think of the men once alive, who used to drink and pay and would not leave me empty; if I knew that their souls were not in peace, it would be worthless work to be taking a dram, or drinking one at all.

My wife is worn out going through the land, collecting and seeking every herb that would make me perspire; in spite of her pain and her discomfort and her watching, in spite of her work, the joiner [himself] is nearly done for – My young brown lass.

But if my eyes are cured, I will make the attempt yet to go across the sound [Barra Sound] where is the dearest of men; where there is the chief of the clergy who does not expatiate on scarcity; little wonder your flock does not go one step into error – My young brown lass.’

Fr Allan says that, ‘The Siosalach and Griogalach were the Rev. John Chisholm of Bornish and the Rev. James MacGregor of Iochdar. The priest of Barra was the Rev. Neil McDonald who died afterwards at Drimnin, Morvern.’

The priest of Barra must, however, have been the Rev. Angus MacDonald, for whom Angus MacPherson went to work in 1819 at Craigstone.

The other song is:

‘Oran a rinn Aonghus Mac Caluim do sgothaidh a bha ’m Barraidh , Cille Brighide ris an canadh iad “An Cuildheann” – Coolin Hills.

Hug a rì hu gu gù rìreamh

Air a’ bhàta làidir dhìonach,

Do Not Faro ’s do na h-Innsibh

Bheir i sgriob o thìr a h-eòlais.

Thug iad an Cuildheann a dh’ainm ort,

Beanntannan cho àrd ’s tha ’n Alba;

Cuiridh canbhas air falbh iad,

Ged tha siod ’na sheanchas neònach.

Gaoth an iardheas far an fhearainn,

’S ise ’g iarraidh tighinn a Bharraidh;

Chuir i air an t-sliasaid Canaidh,

’S i ’n cala gu Maol-Dòmhnaich.

Bàta luchdmhor làidir dìonach

Gum bu slàn an làmh ’ga dianamh;

i na bha ‘n taobh-sa Ghrianaig

Ach a cunntas liad ’san t—seòl dhi.

Gaoth an iardheas as an Lingidh

Toiseach lionaidh, struth ’na mhire,

’S ise mach iarradh gu tilleadh

Ach a gillean a bhith deònach.’

Translation

‘A song which Angus son of Calum made to a boat which was in Barra ( Kilbride Kilbride is in South Uist) which was called .

Chorus: ...