The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

ii6 Ike Highland Monthly.
The Eolais, which really means " knowledge," is probably
the most popular of our charms. The origin of Eolais in
the Western Islands is thus given :
St Columba had two tenants. One had a family, and
the other had not. The rent was the same in each case.
The one who had no family complained to the Saint of the
unfairness of his having to pay as much rent as the other
considering his circumstances. The Saint told him to steal
a shilling's worth from any person, and to restore it at the
end of a year. The man took the advice, and stole a small
book belonging to St Columba himself, and thereafter he
proceeded to the Outer Hebrides, where he permitted
people to read the book for a certain sum of money. The
book was read with great avidity, as it contained all the
' Eolais' composed by the Saint for the curing of men and
cattle. Thus it was that these '
Eolais' came to be so well
known in the Western Islands. The farmer went back to
St Columba at the end of a year, having amassed a considerable
fortune, and restored the book The Saint
immediately burned the book, so that he himself might
not on its account
did not deserve.
earn a reputation which he thought he
Finally, we have the 0}'r or orj'a, ortJia, or, as the Irish
have it, ordid. As the English word " charm" is derived
from the Latin carmen, a song ; and " incantation " from
cano, I sing ; so orr is derived from oro, I pray. Macalpine
in his Dictionary defines orra as " amulet or enchantment
to effect something wonderful ;" and he gives the following
list of examples :
—
Orra-ghraidh—An amulet ^ to provoke unlawful love.
Orra-sheamlachais—An amulet to make a cow allow
the calf of another cow to suck her.
Orra-chomais—An amulet to deprive a man of his
virility, by way of vengeance.
Orra-na-h-aoine—An amulet to drown a foe.
Orra-'n-donuis—An amulet to send one's foe to the
mischief
Orra-ghrudaire—An amulet to make every drop of the
wash to overflow the wash-tuns ; and
An orra-bhalbh—rAn amulet to prevent one's
make a defence in a court of justice.
agent to
^ Although "amulet" is the word used, it is obvious that "charm "or
" incantation" is meant.
—