Translations of both “Ben Dorain” (in full) and of “Coire Cheathaich” (The Misty Corrie) are included in Pattison’s Gaelic Bards. Professor Blackie’s version of “Ben Dorain” is in his well-known book, Altavona.
MARY MACLEOD.
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The most famous of Hebridean poets was born in Harris of the Outer Hebrides in 1569. She may be regarded either as the last of the poets of the Middle Scoto-Celtic period, or, more properly, as the first of the moderns. She is generally spoken of in the Western Isles as Màiri nighean Alastair Ruaidh (Mary, daughter of Alexander the Red). “Although she could never either read or write, her poetry is pure and chaste in its diction, melodious, though complicated, in its metre, clear and graceful, and frequently pathetic” (Pattison). She died at Dunvegan, in the Isle of Skye, in 1674, at the great age of 105. For some reason, Mary Macleod was banished from Dunvegan by Macleod of Macleod, but his heart was melted by the song here given, and the exile was recalled, and that, too, with honour, and enabled to live in Macleod’s country thenceforth in prosperity and happiness.
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SCOTO-CELTIC
MONALTRI.
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These lines tell their own tale. The translation given is that of Thomas Pattison.
HIGHLAND LULLABY.
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This lullaby first appeared in the Duanaire, edited by D. C. Macpherson (1864). It is supposed to be sung by a disconsolate mother whose babe has been stolen by the fairies. In each verse she mentions some impossible task she has performed, but still she has not found her baby. Coineachan is a term of endearment applied to a child. (Quoted by “Fionn” in the Celtic Monthly for September 1893.)
BOAT SONG.
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This boat song, so familiar to West Highlanders, is in the rendering of Professor Blackie.