The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer (Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche)Mackenzie, Alexander
History
The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer (Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche)
Mackenzie, Alexander
Precognition; Prophecies
The following is one which we trust may never be realized in all its
details, though some may be disposed to think that signs are not wanting
of its ultimate fulfilment:—“The day will come when the jaw-bone of the
big sheep, or ‘caoirich mhora,’ will put the plough on the rafters (air
an aradh); when sheep shall become so numerous that the bleating of the
one shall be heard by the other from Conchra in Lochalsh to Bun-da-Loch
in Kintail they shall be at their height in price, and henceforth will
go back and deteriorate, until they disappear altogether, and be so
thoroughly forgotten that a man finding the jaw-bone of a sheep in a
cairn, will not recognise it, or be able to tell what animal it belonged
to. The ancient proprietors of the soil shall give place to strange
merchant proprietors, and the whole Highlands will become one huge deer
forest; the whole country will be so utterly desolated and depopulated
that the crow of a cock shall not be heard north of Druim-Uachdair;
the people will emigrate to Islands now unknown, but which shall yet
be discovered in the boundless oceans, after which the deer and other
wild animals in the huge wilderness shall be exterminated and drowned by
horrid _black_ rains (siantan dubha). The people will then return and
take undisturbed possession of the lands of their ancestors.”
We have yet to see the realization of the following:—“A dun, hornless,
cow (supposed to mean a steamer) will appear in the Minch (off Carr
Point, in Gairloch), and make a ‘geum,’ or bellow, which will knock the
six chimneys off Gairloch House.” (Thig bo mhaol odhar a steach an
t-Aite-mor agus leigeas i geum aiste ’chuireas na se beannagan dheth an
Tigh Dhige.) Gairloch House, or the Tigh Dige of Coinneach’s day, was
the old house which stood in the park on the right, as you proceed from
the bridge in the direction of the present mansion. The walls were of
wattled twigs, wicker work, or plaited twig hurdles, thatched with turf
or divots, and surrounded with a deep ditch, which could, in time of
approaching danger, be filled with water from the river, hence the name
“Tigh Dige,” House of the Ditch. It has been suggested that the Seer’s
prediction referred to this stronghold, but a strong objection to this
view appears in the circumstance that the ancient citadel had no chimneys
to fall off. The present mansion is, however, also called the “Tigh
Dige,” and it has the exact number of chimneys—six.
“The day will come when a river in Wester Ross shall be dried up.” “The
day will come when there shall be such dire persecution and bloodshed in
the county of Sutherland, that people can ford the river Oykel dryshod,
over dead men’s bodies.” “The day will come when a raven, attired in
plaid and bonnet, will drink his full of human blood on ‘Fionn-bheinn,’
three times a day, for three successive days.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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