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42 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
Blacker than the raven his hair,
Redder than calf's blood his cheek,
Softer tlian the froth on the stream,
Whiter than snow the body of Fraoch.
—
Though seldom mentioned in the poetry, there is no other bird I
know of so often mentioned in the proverbs of the Gael, generally
not to its credit, though all showing an intimate knowledge of the
nature and habits of the raven. Alluding to the ravages it commits
amongst lambs, the old nursery rhyme, imitating the croak
of the raven, says— " Gi'oc, groc', ars am litheach, 'se mo mhac-sa
chrimeas na h-uain"—Groc, groc, says the raven, it is my son that
will pick the lambs' bones. From its being a great glutton, whit-li
often leads it into danger, we have— " Meallaidh am biadh am
fitheach blio'n cliraoibh"—Food will lure the raven from the tree;
and from its so quickly finding out any carrion or carcase we have
" Fios tithicli gu ruic"—The raven's boding of a feast. And also
" Cruinnichidh na tithich far am bi a chaii-bh"—Where the carcase
is the ravens will gather. We cannot l)lame it for this, as we have
it on the high authority of the Bible that the eagle, the king of
l)irds, does the same— " Wheresoever the carcase is, there will tlie
eagles be gathered togetlier"—Matthew xxiv. 28. From its wellknown
habit of always attacking the eyes of an animal first, we
have— " Am fitheach a dh' eireas moch, 's ann leis a bhios suil a'
bheothaich a tha 's a' ph6H" —The raven that rises early gets the
eye of the beast in the bog. So very fond is the raven of the eye
of an animal that it wont even share that tit-bit with its own
young, so the old saying is— " Cha toir am fitheach an t-suil dlia
'isean fhoin"— The raven wont give the eye to his own chicken.
When a raven liajjpened to perch on a house-top, or on a tree neaia
house, it was sui)posed to portend death to one of the inmates,
which explains the old saying— " Fitheach dubh air an tigh, fios
gu nighean an dathadair"—A black raveji on the roof, a warning
to the dyer's daugliters. This dyer's daughter was a famous Athole
witch, who lived to an extreme old age, and when she was dying an
old i-aven came andi)erched on the t(»pof the house, and croaked tlien;
till she died, and vv;is suppo.sed to have been the messenger sent to
claim her by the Evil One, to whom she had sold herself nearly a
century before. If the old witch and her master were the company
the raven kept, no wonder though another old Gaelic proverb says--
"Ma s olc amfitheach, cha'nfliearrachomunn"—If badbetheraven,
his company is no lietter. Another common old saying is— "Tlia
fios fithich agad"— You liave a raven's knowledge. Of this Sheriti'