Editorial note: Many paragraphs in the original text ended without
punctuation, and this state has been preserved in
this Project Gutenberg edition.
ELVES AND HEROES
BY
DONALD A. MACKENZIE.
1909
TO
Miss YULE, of TARRADALE.
PREFACE.
THE ELVES.
The immemorial folk-beliefs of our native land are passing away, but
they still retain for us a poetic appeal, not only on account of the
glamour of early associations, but also because they afford us inviting
glimpses of the mental habits and inherent characteristics of the men
and women of past generations. When we re-tell the old tales of our
ancestors, we sit beside them over the peat-fire; and, as we glory with
them in their strong heroes, and share their elemental joys and fears,
we breathe the palpitating air of that old mysterious world of theirs,
peopled by spirits beautiful, and strange, and awe-inspiring.
The attitude of the Gael towards the supernatural, and his general
outlook upon life in times gone by, was not associated with unbroken
gloom; nor was he always an ineffectual dreamer and melancholy fatalist.
These attributes belong chiefly to the Literary Celt of latter-day
conception--the Celt of Arnold and Renan, and other writers following in
their wake, who have woven misty impressions of a people whom they have
met as strangers, and never really understood. Celtic literature is not
a morbid literature. In Highland poetry there is more light than shadow,
much symbolism, but no vagueness; pictures are presented in minute
detail; stanzas are cunningly wrought in a spirit of keen artistry; and
the literary style is direct and clear and comprehensible. In Highland
folklore we find associated with the haunting "fear of things
invisible," common to all peoples in early stages of development, a
confident feeling of security inspired by the minute observances of
ceremonial practices. We also note a distinct tendency to discriminate
between spirits, some of which are invariably friendly, some merely
picturesque, and perhaps fearsome, and others constantly harbouring a
desire to work evil upon mankind. Associated with belief in the efficacy
of propitiatory offerings and "ceremonies of riddance," is the ethical
suggestion that good wishes and good deeds influence spirits to perform
acts of kindly intent.
Of fairies the Highlanders spoke, as they are still prone to do in these
districts where belief in them is not yet extinct, with no small degree
of regard and affection. It may be that "the good folk" and the
"peace-people" (_sitchean_) were so called that good intention might be
compelled by the conjuring influence of a name, as well as to avoid
giving offence by uttering real names, as if it were desired to exercise
a magical influence by their use. Be that as it may, it is evident from
Highland folk-tales that the fairies were oftener the friends than the
foes of mankind. When men and women were lured to their dwellings they
rarely suffered injury; indeed, the fairies appeared to have taken
pleasure in their company. To such as they favoured they imparted the
secrets of their skill in the arts of piping, of sword-making, etc. At
sowing time or harvest they were at the service of human friends. On the
needy they took pity. They never failed in a promise; they never forgot
an act of kindness, which they invariably rewarded seven-fold. Against
those who wronged them they took speedy vengeance. It would appear that
on these humanised spirits of his conception the Highlander left, as one
would expect him to do, the impress of his own character--his shrewdness
and high sense of honour, his love of music and gaiety, his warmth of
heart and love of comrades, and his indelible hatred of tyranny and
wrong.
The Highland "wee folk" are not so diminutive as the fairies of
England--at least that type of fairy, beloved of the poet, which hovers
bee-like over flowers and feeds on honey-dew. Power they had to shrink
in stature and to render themselves invisible, but they are invariably
"little people," from three to four feet high. It may be that the Gael's
conception of humanised spirits may not have been uninfluenced by the
traditions of that earlier diminutive race whose arrow-heads of flint
were so long regarded as "elf-bolts." The fairies dwelt only in grassy
knolls, on the summits of high hills, and inside cliffs. Although
capable of living for several centuries, they were not immortal. They
required food, and borrowed meal and cooking utensils from human beings,
and always returned what they received on loan. They could be heard
within the knolls grinding corn and working at their anvils, and they
were adepts at spinning and weaving and harvesting. When they went on
long journeys they became invisible, and were carried through the air on
eddies of western wind.
At the seasonal changes of the year, "the wee folk" were for several
days on end inspired, like all other supernatural furies, with enmity
against mankind. Their evil influences were negatived by spells and
charms. We who still hang on our walls at Christmas the mystic holly,
are unconsciously perpetuating an old-world custom connected with belief
in the efficacy of the magical circle to protect us against evil
spirits. And in our concern about luck, our proneness to believe in
omens, the influence of colours and numbers, in dreams and in prophetic
warnings, we retain as much of the spirit as the poetry of the religion
of our remote ancestors.
THE HEROES.
The heroes, with the exception of Cuchullin, who appear in this volume,
figure in the tales and poems of the Ossianic or Fian Cycle, which is
common to Ireland and to Scotland. They have been neglected by our
Scottish poets since Gavin Douglas and Barbour. In Ireland the Fians are
a band of militia--the original Fenians. In Scotland the tales vary
considerably, and belong to the hunting period before the introduction
of agriculture. But in this country, as well as in Ireland, they are
evidently influenced by historic happenings. There are tales of Norse
conflicts, as well as tales of adventure among giants and spirits.
The cycle had evidently remote beginnings. When we find Diarmid and
Grainnè, like Paris and Helen, the cause of conflict and disaster; and
Diarmid, like Achilles, charmed of body, and vulnerable only on his
heel-spot, we incline to the theory that from a mid-European centre
migrating "waves" swept over prehistoric Greece, and left traces of
their mythology and folk-lore in Homer, while other "waves," sweeping
northward, bequeathed to us as a literary inheritance the Celtic
folk-tales, in which the deeds and magical attributes of remote tribal
heroes and humanised deities are co-mingled and perpetuated.
On fragments of these folk-tales the poet Macpherson reared his Ossianic
epic, in imitation of the Iliad and Paradise Lost.
The "Death of Cuchullin" is a rendering in verse of an Irish prose
translation of a fragment of the Cuchullin Cycle, which moves in the
Bronze Age period. Cuchullin, with "the light of heroes" on his
forehead, is also reminiscent of Achilles. One of the few Cuchullin
tales found in Scotland is that which relates his conflict with his son,
and bears a striking similarity to the legend of Sohrab and Rustum.
Macpherson also drew from this Cycle in composing his Ossian, and
mingled it with the other, with which it has no connection.
The third great Celtic Cycle--the Arthurian--bears close resemblances,
as Campbell, of "The West Highland Tales," has shown, to the Fian Cycle,
and had evidently a common origin. Its value as a source of literary
inspiration has been fully appreciated, but the Fian and Cuchullin
cycles still await, like virgin soil, to yield an abundant harvest for
the poets of the future.
Notes on the folk-beliefs and tales will be found at the end of this
volume.
Some of the short poems have appeared in the "Glasgow Herald" and
"Inverness Courier"; the three tales appeared in the "Celtic Review."
CONTENTS.
Preface
The Wee Folk
The Remnant Bannock
The Banshee
Conn, Son of the Red
The Song of Goll
The Blue Men of the Minch
The Urisk
The Nimble Men
My Gunna
The Gruagach
The Little Old Man of the Barn
Yon Fairy Dog
The Water-Horse
The Changeling
My Fairy Lover
The Fians of Knockfarrel
Her Evil Eye
A Cursing
Leobag's Warning
Tober Mhuire
Sleepy Song
Song of the Sea
The Death of Cuchullin
Lost Songs
OTHER POEMS.
The Dream
Free Will
Strife
Sonnet
"Out of the Mouths of Babes"
Notes
THE WEE FOLK.
In the knoll that is the greenest,
And the grey cliff side,
And on the lonely ben-top
The wee folk bide;
They'll flit among the heather,
And trip upon the brae--
The wee folk, the green folk, the red folk and grey.
As o'er the moor at midnight
The wee folk pass,
They whisper 'mong the rushes
And o'er the green grass;
All through the marshy places
They glint and pass away--
The light folk, the lone folk, the folk that will not stay.
O many a fairy milkmaid
With the one eye blind,
Is 'mid the lonely mountains
By the red deer hind;
Not one will wait to greet me,
For they have naught to say--
The hill folk, the still folk, the folk that flit away.
When the golden moon is glinting
In the deep, dim wood,
There's a fairy piper playing
To the elfin brood;
They dance and shout and turn about,
And laugh and swing and sway--
The droll folk, the knoll folk, the folk that dance alway.
O we that bless the wee folk
Have naught to fear,
And ne'er an elfin arrow
Will come us near;
For they'll give skill in music,
And every wish obey--
The wise folk, the peace folk, the folk that work and play.
They'll hasten here at harvest,
They will shear and bind;
They'll come with elfin music
On a western wind;
All night they'll sit among the sheaves,
Or herd the kine that stray--
The quick folk, the fine folk, the folk that ask no pay.
Betimes they will be spinning
The while we sleep,
They'll clamber down the chimney,
Or through keyholes creep;
And when they come to borrow meal
We'll ne'er them send away--
The good folk, the honest folk, the folk that work alway.
O never wrong the wee folk--
The red folk and green,
Nor name them on the Fridays,
Or at Hallowe'en;
The helpless and unwary then
And bairns they lure away--
The fierce folk, the angry folk, the folk that steal and slay.
BONNACH FALLAIDH.
(THE REMNANT BANNOCK.)
O, the good-wife will be singing
When her meal is all but done--
Now all my bannocks have I baked,
I've baked them all but one;
And I'll dust the board to bake it,
I'll bake it with a spell--
O, it's Finlay's little bannock
For going to the well.
The bannock on the brander
Smells sweet for your desire--
O my crisp ones I will count not
On two sides of the fire;
And not a farl has fallen
Some evil to foretell!--
O it's Finlay's little bannock
For going to the well.
The bread would not be lasting,
'Twould crumble in your hand;
When fairies would be coming here
To turn the meal to sand--
But what will keep them dancing
In their own green dell?
O it's Finlay's little bannock
For going to the well.
Now, not a fairy finger
Will do my baking harm--
The little bannock with the hole,
O it will be the charm.
I knead it, I knead it, 'twixt my palms,
And all the bairns I tell--
O it's Finlay's little bannock
For going to the well.
THE BANSHEE.
Knee-deep she waded in the pool--
The Banshee robed in green--
She sang yon song the whole night long,
And washed the linen clean;
The linen that would wrap the dead
She beetled on a stone,
She stood with dripping hands, blood-red,
Low singing all alone--
_His linen robes are pure and white,
For Fergus More must die to-night!_
'Twas Fergus More rode o'er the hill,
Come back from foreign wars,
His horse's feet were clattering sweet
Below the pitiless stars;
And in his heart he would repeat--
"O never again I'll roam;
All weary is the going forth,
But sweet the coming home!"
_His linen robes are pure and white,
For Fergus More must die to-night!_
He saw the blaze upon his hearth
Come gleaming down the glen;
For he was fain for home again,
And rode before his men--
"'Tis many a weary day," he'd sigh,
"Since I would leave her side;
I'll never more leave Scotland's shore
And yon, my dark-eyed bride."
_His linen robes are pure and white,
For Fergus More must die to-night!_
So dreaming of her tender love,
Soft tears his eyes would blind--
When up there crept and swiftly leapt
A man who stabbed behind--
"'Tis you," he cried, "who stole my bride,
This night shall be your last!" ...
When Fergus fell, the warm, red tide
Of life came ebbing fast ...
_His linen robes are pure and white,
For Fergus More must die to-night!_
CONN, SON OF THE RED.
The Fians sojourned by the shore
Of comely Cromarty, and o'er
The wooded hill pursued the chase
With ardour. 'Twas a full moon's space
Ere Beltane[1] rites would be begun
With homage to the rising sun--
Ere to the spirits of the dead
Would sacrificial blood be shed
In yon green grove of Navity--[2]
When Conn came over the Eastern Sea,
His heart aflame with vengeful ire,
To seek for Goll, who slew his sire
When he was seven years old.
Finn saw
In dreams, ere yet he came, with awe
The Red One's son, so fierce and bold,
In combat with his hero old--
The king-like Goll of valorous might--
A stormy billow in the fight
No foe could ere withstand.
He knew
The strange ship bore brave Conn, and blew
Clear on his horn the Warning Call;
And round him thronged the Fians all
With wond'ring gaze.
The sun drew nigh
The bale-fires of the western sky,
And faggot clouds with blood-red glare,
Caught flame, and in the radiant air
Lone Wyvis like a jewel shone--
The Fians, as they stared at Conn,
Were stooping on the high Look-Out.
They watched the ship that tacked about,
Now slant across the firth, and now
Laid bare below the cliff's broad brow,
And heaving on a billowy steep,
Like to a monster of the deep
That wallowed, labouring in pain--
And Conn stared back with cold disdain.
Pondering, he sat alone behind
The broad sail swallowing the wind,
As over the hollowing waves that leapt
And snarled with foaming lips, and swept
Around the bows in querulous fray,
And tossed in curves of drenching spray,
The belching ship with ardour drove;
Then like a lordly elk that strove
Amid the hounds and, charging, rent
The pack asunder as it went,
It bore round and in beauty sprang--
The sea-wind through the cordage sang
With high and wintry merriment
That stirred the heart of Conn, intent
On vengeance, and for battle keen--
So hard, so steadfast, and serene.
Then Ossian, sweet of speech, spake low,
With musing eyes upon the foe,
"Is Conn more noble than The Red,
Whom Goll in battle vanquished?"
"The Red was fiercer," Conan cried--
"Nay, Conn is nobler," Finn replied,
"More comely, stalwart, mightier far--
What sayest thou, Goll, my man of war?"
Then Goll made answer on the steep,
Nor ceased to gaze on Conn full deep--
"His equal never came before
Across the seas to Alban shore,
Nor ever have I peered upon
A nobler, mightier man than Conn"
The ship flew seaward, tacking wide,
Contending with the wind and tide,
And when upon the broad stream's track
It baffled hung, or drifted back,
With grunt and shriek, like battling boars,
The shock and swing of bladed oars
Came sounding o'er the sea
The dusk
Grew round the twilight, like a husk
That holds a kernel choice, and keen,
Cold stars impaled the sky serene,
When Conn's ship through the slackening tide
Drew round the wistful bay and wide,
Behind the headlands high that snout
The seas like giant whales, and spout
The salt foam high and loud
Then sighed
The gasping men who all day plied
Their oars in plunging seas, with hands
Grown stiff, and arms, like twisted bands
Drawn numbly, as they rose outspent,
And staggering from their benches went
The sail napped quarrelling, and drank
The wind in broken gasps, and sank
With sullen pride upon the boards,
And smote the mast and shook the cords
Darkly loomed that alien land,
And darkly lowered the Fian band,
For hovering on the shoreland grey
The ship they followed round the bay
Nor sought the sheltering woods until
The shadows folded o'er the hill
Full heavily, and night fell blind,
And laid its spell upon the wind
The swelling waters sank with sip
And hollow gurgle round the ship,
The long mast rocked against the dim,
Soft heaven above the headland's rim
But while the seamen crouched to sleep,
Conn sat alone in reverie deep,
And saw before him in a maze
The mute procession of his days,
In gloom and glamour wending fast--
His heart a-hungering for the past--
Again he leapt, a tender boy,
To greet his sire with eager joy,
When he came over the wide North Sea,
Enriched with spoils of victory--
Then heavily loomed that fateful morn
When tidings of his fall were borne
From Alban shore ... Again he saw
The youth who went alone with awe
To swear the avenging oath before
The smoking altar red with gore.
Ah! strange to him it seemed to be
That hour was drawing nigh when he
Would vengeance take ... And still more strange,
O sorrow! it would bring no change
Though blood for blood be spilled, and life
For life be taken in fierce strife;
'Twill ne'er recall the life long sped,
Or break the silence of the dead.
But when he heard his mother's wail,
Once more uplifted on the gale,
Moaning The Red who ne'er returned--
His cheeks with sudden passion burned;
And darkly frowned that valiant man,
As through his quivering body ran
The lightnings of impelling ire
And impulses of fierce desire,
That surged, with a consuming hate
Against a world made desolate,
Unceasing and unreconciled,
And ever clamouring ... like wild,
Dark-deeded waves that stun the shore,
And through the anguished twilight roar
The hungry passions of the wide
And gluttonous deep unsatisfied.
II.
The shredding dawn in beauty spread
Its shafts of splendour, golden-red,
High over the eastern heaven, and broke
Through flaking clouds in silvern smoke
That burst aflame, and fold o'er fold,
Let loose their oozing floods of gold,
Splashed over the foamless deep that lay
Tremulous and clear. In fiery play
The rippling beams that swept between
The sea-cleft Sutor crags serene,
Broke quivering where the waters bore
The soft reflection of the shore.
The pipes of morn were sounding shrill
Through budding woods on plain and hill,
And stirred the air with song to wake
The sweet-toned birds within the brake.
The Fians from their sheilings came,
With offerings to the god a-flame,
And round them thrice they sun-wise went;
Then naked-kneed in silence bent
Beside the pillar stones ...
But now
Brave Conn upon the ship's high prow
Hath raised his burnished blade on high,
And calls on Woden and on Tigh
With boldness, to avenge the death
Of his great sire ... In one deep breath
He drains the hero's draught that burns
With valour of the gods; then turns
His long-sought foe to meet ... Great Conn
Sweeps, stooping in a boat, alone.
Shoreward, with rapid blades and bright,
That shower the foam-rain pearly white,
And rip the waters, bending lithe,
In hollowing swirls that hiss and writhe
Like adders, ere they dart away
Bright-spotted with the flakes of spray.
When, furrowing the sand, he drew
His boat the shallowing water through,
A giant he in stature rose
Straight as a mast before his foes,
With head thrown high, and shoulders wide
And level, and set back with pride;
His bared and supple arms were long
As shapely oars: firm as a thong
His right hand grasped his gleaming blade,
Gold-hilted, and of keen bronze made
In leafen shape.
With stately stride
He crossed the level sands and wide,
Then on his shield the challenge gave--
His broad sword thund'ring like a wave--
For single combat.
Red as gold
His locks upon his shoulders rolled;
A brazen helmet on his head
Flashed fire; his cheeks were white and red;
And all the Fians watched with awe
That hero young with knotted jaw,
Whose eyes, set deep, and blue and hard,
Surveyed their ranks with cold regard;
While his broad forehead, seamed with care,
Drooped shadowily: his eyebrows fair
Were sloping sideways o'er his eyes
With pondering o'er the mysteries.
The eyes of all the Fians sought
Heroic Groll, whose face was wrought
With lines of deep, perplexing thought--
For gazing on the valiant Conn,
He mourned that his own youth was gone,
When, strong and fierce and bold, he shed
The life-blood of the boastful Red,
Whom none save he would meet. He heard
The challenge, and nor spake, nor stirred,
Nor feared; but now grown old, when hate
And lust of glory satiate--
His heart took pride in Conn, and shared
The kinship of the brave.
Who dared
To meet the Viking bold, if he
The succour of the band, should be
Found faltering or in despair?
Until that day the Fians ne'er
Of one man had such fear.
Old Goll
Sat musing on a grassy knoll,
They deemed he shared their dread ... Not so
Wise Finn, who spake forth firm and slow--
"Goll, son of Morna, peerless man,
The keen desire of every clan,
Far-famed for many a valiant deed,
Strong hero in the time of need.
I vaunt not Conn ... nor deem that thou
Dost falter, save with meekness, now--
But why shouldst thou not take the head
Of this bold youth, as of The Red,
His sire, in other days?"
Goll spake--
"O noble Finn, for thy sweet sake
Mine arms I'd seize with ready hand,
Although to answer thy command
My blood to its last drop were spilled--
By Crom! were all the Fians killed,
My sword would never fail to be
A strong defence to succour thee."
Upon his hard right arm with haste
His crooked and pointed shield he braced,
He clutched his sword in his left hand--
While round that hero of the band
The Fian warriors pressed, and praised
His valour ... Mute was Goll ... They raised,
Smiting their hands, the battle-cry,
To urge him on to victory.
The one-eyed Goll went forth alone,
His face was like a mountain stone,--
Cold, hard, and grey; his deep-drawn breath
Came heavily, like a man nigh death--
But his firm mouth, with lips drawn thin,
Deep sunken in his wrinkled skin,
Was cunningly crooked; his hair was white,
On his bald forehead gleamed a bright
And livid scar that Conn's great sire
Had cloven when their swords struck fire--
Burly and dauntless, full of might,
Old Goll went humbly forth to fight
With arrogant Conn ... It seemed The Red
In greater might was from the dead,
Restored in his fierce son ...
A deep
Swift silence fell, like sudden sleep,
On all the Fians waiting there
In sharp suspense and half despair ...
The morn was still. A skylark hung
In mid-air flutt'ring, and sung
A lullaby that grew more sweet
Amid the stillness, in the heat
And splendour of the sun: the lisp
Of faint wind in the herbage crisp
Went past them; and around the bare
And foam-striped sand-banks gleaming fair,
The faintly-panting waves were cast
By the wan deep fatigued and vast.
O great was Conn in that dread hour,
And all the Fians feared his power,
And watched, as in a darksome dream,
The warriors meet ... They saw the gleam
Of swift, up-lifted swords, and then
A breathless moment came, as when
The lithe and living lightning's flash
Makes pause, until the thunder's crash
Is splintered through the air.
Loud o'er
The blue sea and the shining shore
Broke forth the crash of arms ... The roll
Of Conn's fierce blows that baffled Goll
On sword and shield resounding rang,
While that old warrior stooped and sprang
Sideways, and swerved, or backward leapt,
As swiftly as the bronze blade swept
Above him and around ... He swayed,
Stumbling, but rose ... But, though his blade
Was ever nimble to defend,
The Fians feared the fight would end
In victory for Conn.
... 'Twas like
As when an eagle swoops to strike,
But swerves with flutt'ring wings, as nigh
Its head a javelin gleams ... A cry
That banished fear of Conn's great blows
From out the Fian ranks arose,
As, like a plumed reed in a gust,
Goll suddenly stooped--a deadly thrust
That drew the first blood in the fray
He darting gave ... With quick dismay
The valiant Conn drew back ...
Again
He leapt at Goll, but sought in vain
To blind him with his blows that fell
Like snowflakes on a sullen well--
For Goll was calm, while great Conn raged,
As hour by hour the conflict waged;
He was a blast-defying tree--
A crag that spurned a furious sea,
And all the Fians with one mind
Set firm their faith in Goll
The wind
Rose like a startled bird from out
The heather at the huntsman's shout
In swift and blust'ring flight At noon
The sun rolled in a cloudy swoon
Dimly, and over the rolling deep
Gust followed gust with shadowy sweep;
And waves that streamed their snowy locks
Were tossing high against the rocks
Seaward, while round the sands ebbed wide
Scrambled the fierce devouring tide
O, Conn was like a hound at morn,
That springs upon an elk forlorn
Among the hills. He was a proud
Cascade that leaps a cliff with loud
Unspending fall So fierce, so fair
Was arrogant Conn, but Goll fought there
Keen-eyed, with ready guard, at bay--
He was as a boar in that fierce fray.
The waves were humbled on the shore,
And silent fell, amid the roar
And crash of battle Mute and still
The Fians watched; while on the hill
The little elves came out and gazed,
To be amused and were amazed ...
They saw upon the shrinking sands
The warriors with restless hands
And busy blades, with shields that rose
To buffet the unceasing blows;
They saw before the rising flood
The flash of fire, the flash of blood;
And watched the men with panting breath,
Striving to be the slaves of death;
Now darting wide, now swerving round,
Now clashed together in a bound,
With splitting swords that smote so fast,
As hour by hour unheeded past.
The sands were torn and tossed like spray
Before the whirlwind of the fray,
That waged in fury till the sun
Sank, and the day's last loops were spun--
Then terrible was Goll ... He rose
A tempest of increasing blows,
More furious and fast, as dim,
Uncertain twilight fell ... More grim
And great he grew as, looming large,
He fought, and pressing to the marge
Of ocean, he o'erpowered and drave
The Viking hero back; till wave
O'er ready wave that hurried fleet,
Snuffled and snarled about their feet ...
Then with a mighty shout that made
The rocks around him ring, his blade
Swept like a flash of fire to smite
The last fell blow in that fierce fight--
So great Conn perished like The Red
By Goll's left hand ... his life-blood spread
Over the quenching sands where rolled
His head entwined with locks of gold.
Then passed like thunder o'er the sea
The Fian shout of victory.
And, trembling on the tossing ships,
The Vikings heard, with voiceless lips
And dim, despairing eyes ... Alone
Stood Goll, and like a silent stone
Bulking upon a ben-side bare,
He bent above the hero fair--
Remembering the mighty Red,
And wondering that Conn lay dead.
[Footnote 1: May Day.]
[Footnote 2: Traditional Holy Hill]
THE SONG OF GOLL.
O Son of The Red,
Undone and laid dead--
The blood of a hero
My cold blade hath shed.
Who fought me to-day?
Who sought me to slay?--
The son of yon High King
I slew in the fray.
O blade that yon brave
Low laid in the grave,
Ye gladdened the Fians
But grief to Conn gave.
Stone-hearted and strong,
Lone-hearted with long,
Dark brooding, he sought to
Avenge his deep wrong.
Fair Son of The Red,
Care none thou art dead?--
Old Goll of Clan Morna
Will mourn thou hast bled.
O where shall be found
To share with thee round
The halls of Valhalla
Thy glory renowned?
O true as the blade
That slew thee, and made
My fear and thine anger
For ever to fade--
Ah! when upon earth
Again will have birth
A son of such honour
And bravery and worth?
Above thee in splendour
A love that could render
Brave service, burned star-like
And constant and tender.
With fearing my name,
With hearing my fame,
O none would dare combat
With Goll till Conn came? ...
O great was thine ire--
The fate of thy sire,
Awaiting thy coming,
Consumed thee like fire.
O Son of The Red,
Undone and laid dead--
The blood of a hero
My cold blade hath shed.
THE BLUE MEN OF THE MINCH.
When the tide is at the turning and the wind is fast asleep,
And not a wave is curling on the wide, blue Deep,
O the waters will be churning on the stream that never smiles,
Where the Blue Men are splashing round the charmèd isles.
As the summer wind goes droning o'er the sun-bright seas,
And the Minch is all a-dazzle to the Hebrides;
They will skim along like salmon--you can see their shoulders gleam,
And the flashing of their fingers in the Blue Men's Stream.
But when the blast is raving and the wild tide races,
The Blue Men ere breast-high with foam-grey faces;
They'll plunge along with fury while they sweep the spray behind,
O, they'll bellow o'er the billows and wail upon the wind.
And if my boat be storm-toss'd and beating for the bay,
They'll be howling and be growling as they drench it with their spray--
For they'd like to heel it over to their laughter when it lists,
Or crack the keel between them, or stave it with their fists.
O weary on the Blue Men, their anger and their wiles!
The whole day long, the whole night long, they're splashing round the isles;
They'll follow every fisher--ah! they'll haunt the fisher's dream--
When billows toss, O who would cross the Blue Men's Stream?
THE URISK.
O the night I met the Urisk on the wide, lone moor!
Ah! would I be forgetting of The Thing that came with me?
For it was big and black as black, and it was dour as dour,
It shrank and grew and had no shape of aught I e'er did see.
For it came creeping like a cloud that's moving all alone,
Without the sound of footsteps ... and I heard its heavy sighs ...
Its face was old and grey, and like a lichen-covered stone,
And its tangled locks were dropping o'er its sad and weary eyes.
O it's never the word it had to say in anger or in woe--
It would not seek to harm me that had never done it wrong,
As fleet--O like the deer!--I went, or I went panting slow,
The waesome thing came with me on that lonely road and long.
O eerie was the Urisk that convoy'd me o'er the moor!
When I was all so helpless and my heart was full of fear,
Nor when it was beside me or behind me was I sure--
I knew it would be following--I knew it would be near!
THE NIMBLE MEN.
(AURORA BOREALIS.)
When Angus Ore, the wizard,
His fearsome wand will raise,
The night is filled with splendour,
And the north is all ablaze;
From clouds of raven blackness,
Like flames that leap on high--
All merrily dance the Nimble Men across the Northern Sky.
Now come the Merry Maidens,
All gowned in white and green,
While the bold and ruddy fellows
Will be flitting in between--
O to hear the fairy piper
Who will keep them tripping by!--
The men and maids who merrily dance across the Northern Sky.
O the weird and waesome music,
And the never-faltering feet!
O their fast and strong embraces,
And their kisses hot and sweet!
There's a lost and languished lover
With a fierce and jealous eye,
As merrily flit the Nimble Folk across the Northern Sky.
So now the dance is over,
And the dancers sink to rest--
There's a maid that has two lovers,
And there's one she loves the best;
He will cast him down before her,
She will raise him with a sigh--
Her love so bright who danced to-night across the Northern Sky.
Then up will leap the other,
And up will leap his clan--
O the lover and his company
Will fight them man to man--
All shrieking from the conflict
The merry maidens fly--
There's a Battle Royal raging now across the Northern Sky.
Through all the hours of darkness
The fearsome fight will last;
They are leaping white with anger,
And the blows are falling fast--
And where the slain have tumbled
A pool of blood will lie--
O it's dripping on the dark green stones from out the Northern Sky.
When yon lady seeks her lover
In the cold and pearly morn,
She will find that he has fallen
By the hand that she would scorn,--
She will clasp her arms about him,
And in her anguish die!--
O never again will trip the twain across the Northern Sky.
MY GUNNA.
When my kine are on the hill,
Who will charm them from all ill?
While I'll sleep at ease until
All the cocks are crowing clear.
Who'll be herding them for me?
It's the elf I fain would see--
For they're safe as safe can be
When the Gunna will be near.
He will watch the long weird night,
When the stars will shake with fright,
Or the ghostly moon leaps bright
O'er the ben like Beltane fire.
If my kine would seek the corn,
He will turn them by the horn--
And I'll find them all at morn
Lowing sweet beside the byre.
Croumba's bard has second-sight,
And he'll moan the Gunna's plight,
When the frosts are flickering white,
And the kine are housed till day;
For he'll see him perched alone
On a chilly old grey stone,
Nibbling, nibbling at a bone
That we'll maybe throw away.
He's so hungry, he's so thin,
If he'd come we'd let him in,
For a rag of fox's skin
Is the only thing he'll wear.
He'll be chittering in the cold
As he hovers round the fold,
With his locks of glimmering gold
Twined about his shoulders bare.
THE GRUAGACH.
(MILKMAID'S SONG.)
The lightsome lad wi' yellow hair,
The elfin lad that is so fair,
He comes in rich and braw attire--
To loose the kine within the byre--
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
He's dressed so fine, he's dressed so grand,
A supple switch is in his hand;
I've seen while I a-milking sat
The shadow of his beaver hat.
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
My chuckling lad, so full o' fun,
Around the corners he will run;
Behind the door he'll sometimes jink,
And blow to make my candle blink.
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
The elfin lad that is so braw,
He'll sometimes hide among the straw;
He's sometimes leering from the loft--
He's tittering low and tripping soft.
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
And every time I'll milk the kine
He'll have his share--the luck be mine!
I'll pour it in yon hollowed stone,
He'll sup it when he's all alone--
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
O me! if I'd his milk forget,
Nor cream, nor butter I would get;
Ye needna' tell--I ken full well--
On all my kine he'd cast his spell.
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
On nights when I would rest at ease,
The merry lad begins to tease;
He'll loose the kine to take me out,
And titter while I move about.
My lightsome lad, my leering lad,
He's tittering here; he's tittering there--
I'll hear him plain, but seek in vain
To find my lad wi' yellow hair.
THE LITTLE OLD MAN OF THE BARN.
When all the big lads will be hunting the deer,
And no one for helping Old Callum comes near,
O who will be busy at threshing his corn?
Who will come in the night and be going at morn?
The Little Old Man of the Barn,
Yon Little Old Man--
A bodach forlorn will be threshing his corn,
The Little Old Man of the Barn.
When the peat will turn grey and the shadows fall deep,
And weary Old Callum is snoring asleep;
When yon plant by the door will keep fairies away,
And the horse-shoe sets witches a-wandering till day.
The Little Old Man of the Barn,
Yon Little Old Man--
Will thresh with no light in the mouth of the night,
The Little Old Man of the Barn.
For the bodach is strong though his hair is so grey,
He will never be weary when he goes away--
The bodach is wise--he's so wise, he's so dear--
When the lads are all gone, he will ever be near.
The Little Old Man of the Barn,
Yon Little Old Man--
So tight and so braw he will bundle the straw--
The Little Old Man of the Barn.
YON FAIRY DOG.
'Twas bold MacCodrum of the Seals,
Whose heart would never fail,
Would hear yon fairy ban-dog fierce
Come howling down the gale;
The patt'ring of the paws would sound
Like horse's hoofs on frozen ground,
While o'er its back and curling round
Uprose its fearsome tail.
'Twas bold MacCodrum of the Seals--
Yon man that hath no fears--
Beheld the dog with dark-green back
That bends not when it rears;
Its sides were blacker than the night,
But underneath the hair was white;
Its paws were yellow, its eyes were bright,
And blood-red were its ears.
'Twas bold MacCodrum of the Seals--
The man who naught will dread--
Would wait it, stooping with his spear,
As nigh to him it sped;
The big black head it turn'd and toss'd,
"I'll strike," cried he, "ere I'll be lost,"
For every living thing that cross'd
Its path would tumble dead.
'Twas bold MacCodrum of the Seals--
The man who ne'er took fright--
Would watch it bounding from the hills
And o'er the moors in flight.
When it would leave the Uist shore,
Across the Minch he heard it roar--
Like yon black cloud it bounded o'er
The Coolin Hills that night.
THE WATER-HORSE.
O the Water-Horse will come over the heath,
With the foaming mouth and the flashing eyes,
He's black above and he's white beneath--
The hills are hearing the awesome cries;
The sand lies thick in his dripping hair,
And his hoofs are twined with weeds and ware.
Alas! for the man who would clutch the mane--
There's no spell to help and no charm to save!
Who rides him will never return again,
Were he as strong, O were he as brave
As Fin-mac-Coul, of whom they'll tell--
He thrashed the devil and made him yell.
He'll gallop so fierce, he'll gallop so fast,
So high he'll rear, and so swift he'll bound--
Like the lightning flash he'll go prancing past,
Like the thunder-roll will his hoofs resound--
And the man perchance who sees and hears,
He would blind his eyes, he would close his ears.
The horse will bellow, the horse will snort,
And the gasping rider will pant for breath--
Let the way be long, or the way be short,
It will have one end, and the end is death;
In yon black loch, from off the shore,
The horse will splash, and be seen no more.
THE CHANGELING.
By night they came and from my bed
They stole my babe, and left behind
A thing I hate, a thing I dread--
A changeling who is old and blind;
He's moaning all the night and day
For those who took my babe away.
My little babe was sweet and fair,
He crooned to sleep upon my breast--
But O the burden I must bear!
This drinks all day and will not rest--
My little babe had hair so light--
And his is growing dark as night.
Yon evil day when I would leave
My little babe the stook behind!--
The fairies coming home at eve
Upon an eddy of the wind,
Would cast their eyes with envy deep
Upon my heart's-love in his sleep.
What holy woman will ye find
To weave a spell and work a charm?
A holy woman, pure and kind,
Who'll keep my little babe from harm--
Who'll make the evil changeling flee,
And bring my sweet one back to me?
MY FAIRY LOVER.
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, for thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
Thine eyes were glowing like blue-bells blowing,
With dew-drops twinkling their silvery fires;
Thine heart was panting with love enchanting,
For mine was granting its fond desires.
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, for thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
Thy brow had brightness and lily-whiteness,
Thy cheeks were clear as yon crimson sea;
Like broom-buds gleaming, thy locks were streaming,
As I lay dreaming, my love, of thee.
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, for thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
Thy lips that often with love would soften,
They beamed like blooms for the honey-bee;
Thy voice came ringing like some bird singing
When thou wert bringing thy gifts to me.
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, for thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
O thou'rt forgetting the hours we met in
The Vale of Tears at the even-tide,
Or thou'd come near me to love and cheer me,
And whisper clearly, "O be my bride!"
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, for thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
What spell can bind thee? I search to find thee
Around the knoll that thy home would be--
Where thou did'st hover, my fairy lover,
The clods will cover and comfort me.
My fairy lover, my fairy lover,
My fair, my rare one, come back to me--
All night I'm sighing, on thee I'm crying,
I would be dying, my love, for thee.
THE FIANS OF KNOCKFARREL.
(A Ross-shire Legend.)
I.
On steep Knockfarrel had the Fians made,
For safe retreat, a high and strong stockade
Around their dwellings. And when winter fell
And o'er Strathpeffer laid its barren spell--
When days were bleak with storm, and nights were drear
And dark and lonesome, well they loved to hear
The songs of Ossian, peerless and sublime--
Their blind, grey bard, grown old before his time,
Lamenting for his son--the young, the brave
Oscar, who fell beside the western wave
In Gavra's bloody and unequal fight.
Round Ossian would they gather in the night,
Beseeching him for song ... And when he took
His clarsach, from the magic strings he shook
A maze of trembling music, falling sweet
As mossy waters in the summer heat;
And soft as fainting moor-winds when they leave
The fume of myrtle, on a dewy eve,
Bound flush'd and teeming tarns that all night hear
Low elfin pipings in the woodlands near.
'Twas thus he sang of love, and in a dream
The fair maids sighed to hear. But when his theme
Was the long chase that Finn and all his men
Followed with lightsome heart from glen to glen--
His song was free as morn, and clear and loud
As skylarks carolling below a cloud
In sweet June weather ... And they heard the fall
Of mountain streams, the huntsman's windy call
Across the heaving hills, the baying hound
Among the rocks, while echoes answered round--
They heard, and shared the gladness of the chase.
He sang the glories of the Fian race,
Whose fame is flashed through Alba far and wide--
Their valorous deeds he sang with joy and pride ...
When their dark foemen from the west came o'er
The ragged hills, and when on Croumba's shore
The Viking hordes descending, fought and fled--
And when brave Conn, who would avenge the Red,
By one-eyed Goll was slain. Of Finn he sang,
And Dermaid, while the clash of conflict rang
In billowy music through the heroes' hall--
And many a Fian gave the battle-call
When Ossian sang.
Haggard and old, with slow
And falt'ring steps, went Winter through the snow,
As if its dreary round would ne'er be done--
The last long winter of their days--begun
Ere yet the latest flush of falling leaves
Had faded in the breath of chilling eves;
Nor ended in the days of longer light,
When dawn and eve encroached upon the night--
A weary time it was! The long Strath lay
Snow-wreathed and pathless, and from day to day
The tempests raved across the low'ring skies,
And they grew weak and pale, with hollow eyes,
The while their stores shrank low, waiting the dawn
Of that sweet season when through woodlands wan
Fresh flowers flutter and the wild birds sing--
For Winter on the forelock of the Spring
Its icy fingers laid. The huntsmen pined
In their dim dwellings, wearily confined,
While the loud, hungry tempest held its sway--
The red-eyed wolves grew bold and came by day,
And birds fell frozen in the snow.
Then through
The trackless Strath a balmy south wind blew
To usher lusty Spring. Lo! in a night
The snows 'gan shrinking upon plain and height,
And morning broke in brightness to the sound
Of falling waters, while a peace profound
Possessed the world around them, and the blue
Bared heaven above ... Then all the Fians knew
That Winter's spell was broken, and each one
Made glad obeisance to the golden sun.
Three days around Knockfarrel they pursued
The chase across the hills and through the wood,
Round Ussie Loch and Dingwall's soundless shore;
But meagre were the burdens that they bore
At even to their dwellings. To the west
"But sorrow not," said Finn, when all dismay'd
They hastened on a drear and bootless quest--
With weary steps they turned to their stockade,
"To-morrow will we hunt towards the east
To high Dunskaith, and then make gladsome feast
By night when we return."
Or ever morn
Had broken, Finn arose, and on his horn
Blew loud the huntsman's blast that round the ben
Was echoed o'er and o'er ... Then all his men
Gathered about him in the dusk, nor knew
What dim forebodings filled his heart and drew
His brows in furrowed care. His eyes a-gleam
Still stared upon the horrors of a dream
Of evil omen that in vain he sought
To solve ... His voice came faint from battling thought,
As he to Garry spake--"Be thou the ward
Strong son of Morna: who, like thee, can guard
Our women from all peril!" ... Garry turned
From Finn in sullen silence, for he yearned
To join the chase once more. In stature he
Was least of all the tribe, but none could be
More fierce in conflict, fighting in the van,
Than that grim, wolfish, and misshapen man!
Then Finn to Caoilte spake, and gave command
To hasten forth before the Fian band--
The King of Scouts was he! And like the deer
He sped to find if foemen had come near--
Fierce, swarthy hillmen, waiting at the fords
For combat eager, or red Viking hordes
From out the Northern isles ... In Alba wide
No runner could keep pace by Caoilte's side,
And ere the Fians, following in his path,
Had wended from the deep and dusky strath,
He swept o'er Clyne, and heard the awesome owls
That hoot afar and near in woody Foulis,
And he had reached the slopes of fair Rosskeen
Ere Finn by Fyrish came.
The dawn broke green--
For the high huntsman of the morn had flung
His mantle o'er his back: stooping, he strung
His silver bow; then rising, bright and bold,
He shot a burning arrow of pure gold
That rent the heart of Night.
As far behind
The Fians followed, Caoilte, like the wind,
Sped on--yon son of Ronan--o'er the wide
And marshy moor, and 'thwart the mountain side,--
By Delny's shore far-ebbed, and wan, and brown,
And through the woods of beautous Balnagown:
The roaring streams he vaulted on his spear,
And foaming torrents leapt, as he drew near
The sandy slopes of Nigg. He climbed and ran
Till high above Dunskaith he stood to scan
The outer ocean for the Viking ships,
Peering below his hand, with panting lips
A-gape, but wide and empty lay the sea
Beyond the barrier crags of Cromarty,
To the far sky-line lying blue and bare--
For no red pirate sought as yet to dare
The gloomy hazards of the fitful seas,
The gusty terrors, and the treacheries
Of fickle April and its changing skies--
And while he scanned the waves with curious eyes,
The sea-wind in his nostrils, who had spent
A long, bleak winter in Knockfarrel pent
Over the snow-wreathed Strath and buried wood,
A sense of freedom tingled in his blood--
The large life of the Ocean, heaving wide,
His heart possessed with gladness and with pride,
And he rejoiced to be alive.... Once more
He heard the drenching waves on that rough shore
Raking the shingles, and the sea-worn rocks
Sucking the brine through bared and lapping locks
Of bright, brown tangle; while the shelving ledges
Poured back the swirling waters o'er their edges;
And billows breaking on a precipice
In spouts of spray, fell spreading like a fleece.
Sullen and sunken lay the reef, with sleek
And foaming lips, before the flooded creek
Deep-bunched with arrowy weed, its green expanse
Wind-wrinkled and translucent ... A bright trance
Of sun-flung splendour lay athwart the wide
Blue ocean swept with loops of silvern tide
Heavily heaving in a long, slow swell.
A lonely fisher in his coracle
Came round a headland, lifted on a wave
That bore him through the shallows to his cave,
Nor other being he saw.
The birds that flew
Clamorous about the cliffs, and diving drew
Their prey from bounteous waters, on him cast
Cold, beady eyes of wonder, wheeling past
And sliding down the wind.
II.