Traditions of John MacCodrum – IV

Anecdotes about John MacCodrum, styled Iain mac Fhearchair ’ic Codruim, especially those that contain pithy witticisms, spread far and wide throughout the Highlands and Islands. Here, for example, is quite a well known one taken down on the 17th of August 1946  by Calum Maclean from the recitation of Angus MacDonald, then aged eighty-three, who has been described by John Lorne Campbell (known as Fear Chanaigh)  as the last storyteller or seanchaidh of Canna:

 

Bha MacCodrum (Iain MacCodrum) a’ dol le sgothaich às Uibhist a dh’Ghlas^acho, agus thadhaill iad aig Tobar Mhuire. Ann an sin thàinig fear a-nuas agus dh’fhaighneachd e cò an comaundair a bh’ air a’ luing.  

“Tha a’ stiùir,” orsa MacCodrum. 

“A! chan e sin a tha mi a’ ciallachdh idir, ach cò a’ sgiobair a th’ oirre?”  

“Tha an crann,” ors’ esan. 

“Cò às a thug sibh an t-iomradh?”  

“Às ar gàirdeannan,” orsa MacCodrum. 

Thubhair^st a’ fear eile ann an sin: 

“An ann fo thuath a thàinig sibh?” 

“Pàir^st fo thuath is pàir^st fo thighearnan,” thubhair^st MacCodrum.

 

And the translation goes something like the following:

 

John MacCodrum was going by boat from Uist to Glasgow and they stopped over in Tobermory. There a man came down agus asked who was the commander of the boat. 

“The rudder,” replied MacCodrum. 

“Ah! that wasn’t what I meant at all but rather who is her skipper?” 

“The mast,” he said. 

“From where did you row?” 

“From our shoulders,” replied MacCodrum. 

The other man then asked: 

“Was is from the north you came?” 

“Some of us are commoners and some of us are nobles,” answered MacCodrum.

 

References:

NFC MS 1028: 184–85

William Matheson (ed.), The Songs of John MacCodrum: Bard to Sir James MacDonald of Sleat (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1938)

 

Image:

Angus MacDonald (1865–1949), styled Aonghas Eachainn, by courtesy of Canna House Archives (National Trust for Scotland)