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
which command they obeyed by making at once for Stornoway; and thus was
fulfilled Coinneach Odhar’s apparently ludicrous prediction, that the
brave Lewsmen would be turned back from battle with the jaw-bone of an
animal smaller than an ass.
Mr. Maclennan supplies us also with the following:—“In the parish of
Avoch is a well of beautiful clear water, out of which the Brahan Seer,
upon one occasion, took a refreshing draught. So pleased was he with the
water, that he looked at his Blue Stone, and said—‘Whoever he be that
drinketh of thy water henceforth, if suffering from any disease, shall,
by placing two pieces of straw or wood on thy surface, ascertain whether
he will recover or not. If he is to recover, the straws will whirl
round in opposite directions; if he is to die soon, they will remain
stationary.’ The writer (continues Mr. Maclennan) knew people who went
to the well and made the experiment. He was himself once unwell, and
supposed to be at the point of death; he got of the water of the well,
and he still lives. Whether it did him good or not, it is impossible to
say, but this he does know, that the water pleased him uncommonly well.”
With reference to Lady Hill, in the same parish, the Seer said—“Thy name
has gone far and wide; but though thy owners were brave on the field of
battle, they never decked thy brow. The day will come, however, when a
white collar shall be put upon thee. The child that is unborn shall see
it, but I shall not.” This prediction has been fulfilled a few years ago,
by the construction of a fine drive right round the hill.
The Seer said, speaking of Beauly—“The day will come, however distant,
when ‘Cnoc na Rath’ will be in the centre of the village”. It certainly
would appear incredible, and even absurd, to suggest such a thing in
Coinneach’s day, for the “village” then stood at a place south of the
present railway station, called, in Gaelic, “Bealaidh-Achadh,” or the
Broom field, quite a mile from Cnoc na Rath. The prophecy has to some
extent been fulfilled, for the last erection at Beauly—the new public
school—is within a few yards of the Cnoc; and the increasing enterprise
of the inhabitants is rapidly aiding, and, indeed, will soon secure, the
absolute realisation of the Seer’s prediction. In connection with this
prophecy we think that we have discovered a Celtic origin for the term
Beauly. It is generally supposed to have been derived from the French
word “Beaulieu”. The village being originally at “Bealaidh-Achadh,” and
so called when the present Beauly was nowhere, what can be more natural
than the supposition that the inhabitants carried the original name of
their original village along with them, and now present us with the
Gaelic “Bealaidh,” anglified into Beauly. This is not such a fine theory
as the French one, but it is more likely to be the true one, and is more
satisfactory to the student of Gaelic topography.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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