The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Gaelic Incantations. 281
and prevent the butter from coming !
To
avert such a
calamit}^ the visitor got a drink out of the churn. In
order to avoid such interruptions, the churning was usually
made after bedtime, when the dangers of interruption from
without were few.
A certain preparation of water was one of the prevail-
ing remedies when either man or beast was supposed
to be suffering from the Evil Eye. At page 126 of Vol.
VIII. of the Gaelic Society's Transactions, I gave a short
account of the ceremony. According to the description
then given, coins of gold, silver, and copper were put
into a basin of water. The person performing the Eolas
repeated the undernoted words over the dish, at the
same time blowing the water with his or her breath. The
water v/as then sprinkled on the person supposed to
be suffering from the malady. The words given on that
occasion were :
Translated
—
—
'S i 'n t-suil a chi,
'S e 'n cridhe a smuainicheas,
'S i 'n teanga 'labhras ;
'S mise 'n triuir gu tilleadh so ortsa, A. B.
An ainm an Athar, a Mhic, 's an Spioraid JNaoimh.
'Tis the eye that sees,
'Tis the heart that thinks,
'Tis the tongut that speaks ;
I am the three to turn this off you.^
In the name of the Father,* of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.
So much by way of introduction. I will now proceed
with the mode of curing the sufferer from the supposed
effects of the Evil Eye, as the same is practised in Uist.
In the first place, the performer goes for water, and, if pos-
sible, it is taken out of a burn across which the living pass,
and over which the bodies of the dead are from time to
time carried. Having brought the water into the house, he
' Here the name of ihe afflicted j)erson is to be said.