The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Snatches of Song. 569
'S trie a ruisg mi mo bheachd riut,
'Nuair bhiodh smuairean no airtneal 'gam leon,
'S chuireadh sugradh do chnacais,
Air chul gach aon acaid bhiodh orm.
Gur a cruaidh learn do chlann,
'Bhi fo mhulad, fo ehampar, 's fo bhron ;
Dh' fhalhh an taiee 's iad fann de
O'n chaireadh do cheann-sa fo 'n fhoid.
Nam biodh eiridh 's a' Cheapaich,
'S gu-n eighte na gaisgich fo 'n t-srol,
Gu-n robh leus air a' bhrataieh,
Fear cho treun 's a bha ac' bhi fo 'n fhoid.
Ach 's e tha mi ag acain,
Thu bhi nis anns an Lagan a" tamh ;
Air do dhuineadh fo leacan,
'S nach duisg thu 's a' mhaduinn bho 'd phramh.
'S e mo dhiubhail mar thachair,
Thu bhi 's an uir an tasgaidh a' cnamh ;
Fhir mo ruin a bha smachdail,
Nach do chuir culaobh ri caraid no namh.
The next contribution is still another death-song con-
nected with Laggan. I took down these verses some sixteen
years ago, but I had mislaid the paper on which they were
written, and, indeed, had forgotten all about it, when
preparing the v^ersion which appeared in the Celtic Magazine^
and attracted considerable attention, notwithstanding its
imperfect state. I may be allowed to reproduce the
prefatory note with which it was then introduced. " The
cattle, at Blargie, in Upper Badenoch, being let loose on a
sunny day in early spring, became frantic with delight at
their novel and unexpectedly acquired freedom, and betook
themselves to the hills, heedless of consequences. The
herd—a young man named Macdonald— followed them as
far as Drumuachdar, which extends, as the reader is aware,
between Dalwhinnie and Dalnacardoch. While he traversed
that solitary and sterile tract, the weather, then proverbially
fickle, changed terribly. A blinding snow-storm set in,
and the unfortunate lad never more found his way home.
Among those who set out in quest of the lost herd was his