ALEXANDER GRANT, THE GREAT BARD OF SLAGGAN.
Alexander Grant, known as "Bard mor an t' Slaggan," or "the great bard
of Slaggan," was born at Mellon Charles about 1742. His ancestor came to
Gairloch from Strathspey, as attendant to Anne, daughter of Sir John
Grant of Grant, who was married in 1640 to Kenneth Mackenzie, sixth
laird of Gairloch. Most of the bard's life was passed at Slaggan, but
shortly before his death he removed with his son to Tournaig, where he
died in 1820 (or perhaps later), being about eighty years of age. The
title bestowed on Sandy Grant of the "great bard" would perhaps be more
correctly translated as the "big bard," for it was given him on account
of his enormous stature and strength rather than for his merits as a
poet. In height he was a giant, far exceeding in size any man then or
now living in Gairloch; nor had he his equal in point of muscular
strength. He did not fight; but on one occasion there was a row, to
quell which the great bard caught Donald Morrison, of Drumchork, and
held him fast by the hand. Donald, though himself a giant as compared
with most men, was a pigmy by the side of Sandy Grant, and neither he
nor all the bystanders could pull the bard's hand from his. Another
proof of his great strength is remembered. In that day black periwinkles
were plentiful, and were a favourite article of food; only two men in
the country could break or crush a handful of them by the mere force of
their grasp, viz., Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch and the "great
bard." It is doubtful whether any man could be found in Gairloch to
perform this feat in the present day.
Sandy Grant was not so eminent a bard as were his contemporaries William
Ross and Alastair Buidhe. He composed comparatively few songs or poems.
In manner he is described as having been a "blunt" man. In appearance he
was most remarkable for his gigantic form, already alluded to. I can get
no positive information what was his exact height in inches; he far
exceeded the height generally considered that of a tall man, and I am
told he certainly stood more than seven feet in his stockings. The bard
was a fine-looking man in face, features, and expression. A portrait of
him, which they say was an excellent likeness, appeared in the first
edition of John Mackenzie's "Beauties of Gaelic Poetry." John Mackenzie
made a collection of Sandy Grant's poems, intending to publish them in a
new edition of the "Beauties," but death frustrated this design, and the
poems seem to have been lost.
The "bard mor" was a canny man, if we may judge from the following
amusing anecdote, which is quite authentic, and illustrates the
superstitions of the times. It was told me by James Mackenzie:--There
was a man in Loch Carron who had his cheeses stolen from his barn by a
neighbour. Now Sandy Grant, the "bard mor," was reputed to have the
power of discovering things that had been lost, by the faculty of
second-sight. The worthy but simple-minded man who had been robbed of
his cheeses sent a message immediately he discovered his loss to the
bard at Slaggan, and requested that he would find out who had stolen
them. The bard, who thought he saw a chance of earning an "honest
penny," at once started on foot for Loch Carron. The man who had stolen
the cheeses heard that the bard had been sent for, and was terrified;
every day he walked out three miles on the road towards the north,
hoping to intercept Sandy Grant. At last he met Sandy. Says he, "Are you
not a stranger coming to Loch Carron?" "Yes," said Sandy, "I come from
Slaggan." "Well," he says, "I am the man that stole the cheeses, and
I'll give you fifteen shillings if you will not tell that I am the man."
The bard replied, "Of course I know it was you that stole the cheeses,
but where did you put them?" "Oh, dear!" said the man, "I put them in a
peat-stack at the back of the township." "Yes; I know that," said Sandy,
"but which stack did you put them in?" He replied, "The one that's
farthest from the township altogether." "Are you sure that you put all
the cheeses there?" again asked the cautious bard. "Yes," the man said,
"I put them all there, but one cheese is out of count." "Well," said the
bard, "I will not tell your name; when once they get the cheeses they
will be satisfied." The Loch Carron man gave him the fifteen shillings,
and as they passed his house he pressed the bard to come in and have a
dram. "Oh, no, no," said Sandy; "be off, that they may not suspect we
have been together." Then they parted, and the bard went to the house of
the man who had sent for him. After refreshing the inner man, Sandy was
asked to state who had stolen the cheeses, and where they now were.
"Well," he said, "I will not tell you who stole them, but I will tell
you where they are." He then asked what he was to receive for coming all
the way from Slaggan. The man inquired how much he asked. Sandy named
twenty-five shillings, and that sum was paid to him. "When to-morrow
comes," said he "I will tell you where the cheeses are; but I must warn
you that there will be one cheese missing." The next day the cheeses
were duly discovered and restored to their rightful owner, and the "bard
mor" returned to Slaggan with both the fifteen shillings and the
twenty-five shillings in his pocket, making two pounds,--in those days a
more considerable sum than it is now.
The Grants, who formerly lived at Mellon Udrigil but are now at Londubh,
are descendants of the "Bard mor an t' Slaggan."