The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

ONE
Quern Songs. 623
QUERN SONGS.
of the oldest instruments for grinding corn is the
quern, or bratJi, as it is called in Gaelic. It was
used among all who cultivated the soil, and it is only of
late that its use has been limited to a {^w of the Hebridean
isles, and one or two remote parishes on the mainland of
Scotland. Long ago the Celt ground his own corn and
baked his own meal. His mode of operation was expedi-
tious if somewhat primitive. A few sheaves of corn were
taken, and the grain switched out of the ear and put in a
pot on the fire to dry. This hurried process is called
earraradh, while corn prepared by the usual kiln-drying
process was known as ealcJiadh. A still quicker mode of
drying was to set the sheaves standing against each other,
and set fire to the straw. This was known by the name of
gradan, from grad, quick, and meal made of the grain so
dried was called mm ghradain. The grain was then ground
in the quern, or brath^ and was ready for use, it being
possible to have the corn cut, and the grain dried, ground,
and baked in less than two hours. Before submitting any
examples of quern songs, it may be interesting to note that
a law was enacted in 1284, in the reign of Alexander III.
forbidding the use of " hand-mylnes" (hand-mills) in Scot-
land. The enactment ran as follows :— " That na man sail
presume to grind quheit, maisloch or rye, with hand-
mylnes, except to be compelled by storm, and be in lack of
mylnes quhilk should grind the samen. And in this ease
if a man grindes at hand-mylnes, he shall give the threittein
measure as multer; and gif any man contraveins this our
prohibition, he sail tyne his hand-mylnes perpetuallie."
An excellent example of a quern song will be found in
a valuable collection of Gaelic songs called An Duanaire.
It is reproduced with an excellent translation in Vol. II. of