The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present dayMacNeill, Nigel
History
The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present day
MacNeill, Nigel
Scottish Gaelic literature -- History and criticism
Beloved Dunfigha and Dunfin;
The Dun above them seen;
Beloved is Inis-Draighnde;
Beloved is fair Dun Sween.
Coille-Chuan! O Coille-Chuan!
Where Ainle comes no more!
Too short, I ween, was there my stay
With Naos on Albin’s shore.
Glen-Laye! O Glen-Laye!
Oft by its stream I lay;
Fish, flesh and fat of badger
My repast in sweet Glen-Laye.
Glen-Masan! O Glen-Masan!
Where fairest boughs are seen;
Lonely was my place of rest
By Inver-Masan green.
Glen-Eitive! O Glen-Eitive!
There my first home was raised;
Beautiful were its woods in morn
When there the sun had blazed.
Glen-Orchay! O Glen-Orchay!
Straight vale of ridges smooth,
Full joyful there round Naos
Were the Glen-Orchay youth.
Glen-Daruadh! O Glen-Daruadh!
I love its men—I love it!
Sweet are the cuckoos on the boughs
On the grey hills above it.
Beloved is Drayen—its sounding shore;
Beloved is Avich of pure sand;
Oh, that I might not leave the east,—
Beloved and happy land.
On this tale, and on its connection with Scottish topography, Dr
MacLauchlan says:—“This is one of the most touching in the catalogue
of Celtic tales, and it is interesting to observe the influence it
exerted over the Celtic mind by its effect upon the topographical
nomenclature of the country. There are several Dun Deirdres to
be found still. One is prominent on the vale of the Nevis, near
Fort-William, and another occupies the summit of a magnificent rock
overhanging Loch Ness, in Stratherrick.” _Ness_, the name of the
loch, is thought to be from Naos. Dr Skene remarks—“Adomnan, in
his life of St. Columba, written in the seventh century, appears
to mention only three localities in connection with St. Columba’s
journey to the palace of the King of the Picts, near Lochness, and
these are Cainle (Ainle), Arcardan (Ardan), and the flumen Nesae
(Naise). Two vitrified forts in the neighbourhood of Lochness
are called Dun-_Dearduil_.” The same authority also observes
that “the ancient legends of Cochulin and the sons of Uisneach
connect them with those remarkable structures termed vitrified
forts.” Dun-Sgathaig and Dun-mhic-Uisneachan are vitrified like
Dun-dhearduil. It is suggested that a mythic meaning underlies this
topography and story.
THE FINIAN BALLADS.
A class of ballads which is wholly taken up with the Finian heroes
proper—with their intercourse and doings among themselves—may be
described as _Finnic_ ballads. Finn is the central hero; and the
other Finian characters are his attendant satellites.
There was more than one class of heroes known as Féinn, or Fianna:—
1. Féinn of Albin: Albin was north of the firths of the Forth and
Clyde.
2. Féinn of Erin: The same class of heroes in Ireland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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