Thàine i an sin is
cha robh fhios cò às a thàine i. Tha iad ag ràitinn gur h-ann dèidh stoirm mhòr
a thàine i. Bhiodh i aig Ceann Loch Trèig a’ beireachd air an iasg le làimh is
iad ga faicinn. Chaidh a faicinn uair neo dhà aig Bràigh Eas Bhàin, Bràigh
Ghlinn Nibheis. Chaidh a faicinn a’ bleoghan nan agh uair neo dhà. Nam faiceadh
poitsear i, bha e tilleachd dhachaigh. Chan fhaigheadh e beothach nam faiceadh
ise e. Bha fiaclan innte is cha robh mac-samhail ann dhaibh ach fiaclan
cliath-chliait, an fheadhainn a chunna i. Bha òran air a dhèanamh dhith
cuideachd:
Cailleach Beinne Bric ho rò,
Bric ho rò, Bric ho rò,
Cailleach Beinne Bric ho rò,
Cailleach Mhòr an fhuarain àird.
Cailleach Mhòr nam mogan liath,
Na mogain liath, na mogain liath,
Cailleach Mhòr nam mogan liath,
Chan fhacas do leithid riamh.
’S ann an siud bha a’ ghroighean fhiadh,
A’ ghroighean fhiadh, a’ ghroighean fhiadh,
’S ann an siud bha a’ ghroighean fhiadh,
Seachad sìos an cathair ud thall.
Cailleach Mhòr nam mogan fhada
Nam mogan fhada, nam mogan fhada,
Cailleach Mhòr nam mogan fhada,
B’ astarach i san
talamh dhearg.
And
the translation goes something like the following:
She came here but no
one knows where she came from. They say that she came after a great storm. She
would be at the head of Loch Treig catching fish by hand when they used to see
her. She was seen once or twice at Bràigh Eas Bhàin, at the Brae of Glen Nevis.
She was seen milking hinds once or twice. If a poacher saw her, he would go
return home. He would not get a beast if she saw him. She had teeth and there
is no other way describe them than harrow-like to those few who saw her. There
was a song about her as well:
The carlin of Ben Breck, ho ro,
Breck ho ro, Breck ho ro;
The carlin of Ben Breck ho ro,
The great carlin of
the mountain spring.
The great carlin of
the grey hose,
The grey hose, the
grey hose,
The great carlin of
the grey hose,
The like of which has
never been seen.
Yonder was the herd
of deer,
The herd of deer, the
herd of deer,
Yonder was the herd
of deer,
That passed beyond
the seat over yonder.
The great carlin of
the long hose,
The long hose, the
long hose,
The great carlin of
the long hose,
She sped over the red
earth.
According to John MacDonald
of Highbridge, another local tradition bearer, she was a common talking point
during a ceilidh. She was well-known figure throughout the Highlands and
Islands. Another of her manifestations occurs in other localities such as Cailleach
a’ Bheinn Mhòir, the witch of Jura, and Cailleach Chlì-Bhric, in Sutherland and
as far east in the Highlands as Braemar. The Sutherland tradition is briefly
mentioned in Popular Tales of the West
Highlands, as indeed is Cailleach Beinne na Brice herself. A longer version of the
above song entitled Cailleach
Beinn a’ Bhric was contributed by Donald C. MacPherson (1838–1880), a
native of Brae Lochaber, to the periodical An
Gàidheal in 1874.
References:
Abrach
[Donald C. MacPherson], ‘Cailleach Beinn a’ Bhric’, An Gàidheal, vol. II, no. 26 (April, 1874), pp. 369–71
Gearóid
Ó Crualaoich, ‘Continuity and Adaptions in Legends of Cailleach Bhéarra’, Béaloideas, vol. 56 (1988), pp. 153–78
─────,
The Book of the Cailleach: Stories of the
Wise Woman Healer (Cork: Cork University Press, 2003)
J.
G. MacKay, ‘Comh-Abartachd Eadar Cas-Shiubhal-an-t-Sléibhe agus A’ Chailleach
Bheurr’, Scottish Gaelic Studies,
vol. 3 (1930), pp. 10–51
─────,
‘The Deer-Cult and the Deer-Goddess of the Ancient Caledonians’, Folklore, vol. XLIII (1932), pp. 144–74
SSS
NB 1, p. 17
Image:
A’ Chailleach Bheurr
Anabarrach fhèin math.
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