The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Gaelic Incantations. 239
another by the name of the Son, and the third by the
name of the Holy Ghost, would commence pulling the tufts,
at the same time saying
Translated
—
—
Buainidh mise a' Mothan,
An luibh a bheannaich an Domhnach ;
Fhad 'sa ghleidheas mise a' Mothan
Cha 'n 'eil e beo air thalamh
Gin a bheir bainne mo bho bhuam.
I will pull the Moan,
^
The herb blessed by the Domhnach ;
So long as I preserve the Moan
There lives not on earth
One who will take my cow's milk from me.
The three tufts having thus been pulled, they were care-
fully taken home, rolled up in a small piece of cloth, and
concealed in some corner of the dairy or milk-kist— " ciste-a'-
bhainne." I have here a specimen of the M6an which was
in actual use as an amulet.
As an illustration of the virtues of the Moan as a Fnga
Dmnonum, my informant narrated a story, which may be
briefly given here :—A certain woman in the Western
Islands was delivered of a son. As usual on such occa-
sions, there was a group of admiring females round the fire
attending to the wants of the new arrival. While thus
employed, they saw a shaggy little creature— " creutar beag
loireach"—traddling in at the door. He stood bewildered ;
and in an instant they heard a voice without, " Nach toir
thu mach e ?"—-(Will you not bring it out ?) The " creutar
loireach" responded, " Cha toir ; cha 'n urrainn mi, 's bainne
na ba a dh' ith a' Mothan 'na bhroinn " — (No, I cannot ;
for the milk of the cow that ate the Moan is in his
stomach). The stranger, who was believed to be a Fairy
anxious to "lift" the child before it was baptised, then
vanished.-
^ i.e., the Church.
" It was the custom at one time in the Island of Colonsay to put an old
shoe to burn at the fireside when a woman was in travail, in order to keep
away the fniries that were always ready to " lift" an infant.