[1] Gheibh baoth ’guidhe ach cha-n fhaigh a h-anam tròcair.
[2] Prov., p. 143.
[3] Is mairg is màthair do mhacan baoth, dar is ann air Di’rdaoin bhios a Bhealltainn.
[4] In Germany it was a common belief that witches met on the night before first May (i.e. Beltane night) on the mountain called the Blockberg, to dance and feast with devils.
[5] The crook or pot-hanger seems to have been an important article of the witch’s paraphernalia. A shepherd in Mull, coming in late from the hill, with his feet wet, placed his stockings to dry on the pot-hanger. An old woman present pulled the stockings down again, saying to the shepherd, “Don’t do that; remember you are a person that travels the hill night and day.” (Cuimhnich gur duin’ thus’ tha siubhal a mhonaidh latha ’s a dh’oidhche.) He never could ascertain what she meant.
[6] The ancient churn was broader at one end than the other, and its narrow end, or mouth, was secured with a prepared sheepskin covering, called fùileach in Mull, iomaideil in Morven and on the mainland generally. The cross or hoop, that secured this covering in its place, should also be of mountain ash. The churn was worked by the small end being lifted up and let down repeatedly.
Badan de ni ’chaorruinn
Thig o aodunn Ealasaid,
Cuir snaithn’ dearg ’us sreang as