The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Gaelic Incantations. T^yj
sidered medicinal. As the cow was being thus milked, the
following incantation was saiu :
Translated
—
—
Fhaic thu, Chriosd, a' chioch
Gur a h-i tha goirt ;
Innis sin do Alhoire mhin,
Bho'n 'si-fhein a rug am Mac.
Gu'm bu slan a' chioch,
Gu'm bu crion an t-at.
Teich !
teich
! a Ruaidhe !
— — ! —
Christ behold the teat
In which there is [great] pain
Tell that to gentle Mary,
For she brought forth the Son
Whole may the teat be,
Let the Rash depart
Rash !
away
!
away
!
The following is an Irish charm for the cure of the
Rash, given me by Professor O'Growney :
Ruadh ramhar cijl connaideach.
D' iarr Colm Cille de Chathach :
Cia'rd a leisfas an Ruadh ?
Nimh a chuir air g-cid agus an t-at a chur air lar,
Gan de bhrigh 's an Ruadh, an oiread a bheith slan.
THE TOOTHACHE.
I will now briefly deal with the toothache charm. The
formula seems to be the same, or substantially the same in
all Christian countries, and has reference to St Peter sitting
on a marble stone suffering from toothache, and the Lord
passing by and healing him. The words of this charm are
met with all over the Highlands, but strange to say
they are rarely met with in Gaelic. This is probably
owing to the fact that few old Highlanders can write
Gaelic. Even in the districts where English is practically
unknown to the old people, one gets this charm
in English. In Badenoch it is called Toisgeal,2LX\il formerly
it was only known to a ie.\\ who professed to cure toothache.
The words were written on a small piece of paper, the
paper folded up and handed to the sufferer, who was not