DASG Blog

Sgeulachdan Dhonaidh MhicRuairidh

Over the last few days, I’ve been working on transcribing and subtitling a recording in the Mòthan Archive, Stories and Poems from Carinish. There are three recordings together under this title: one from 1996, one from 2000 and the stories were still flowing when Tracy Chipman recorded Donnie for the last time in 2004. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of information on this significant contributor, other than what is to be heard in these recordings.

He made his own poetry in English, some about fairies, some about planes... One in particular struck a chord with me about a calf called ‘Bambi’ on his croft as a young boy who died from lead poisoning after swallowing paint. But it was the stories about characters in the community that I particularly enjoyed. They cover many topics: foretelling death, the fairy host, monsters, beasts and customs connected to the moon and the sun, to name but a few.

Speaking of the supernatural and second sight, he said that his own mother had a particular gift. He told the story of ‘Bean Shandaidh (Sandy’s wife) whose daughter was very ill, and who bought white socks and a death shroud in preparation for the girl’s death. Anticipating someone’s death was frowned upon and it turned out to have unfortunate consequences. A short while after that, Donnie’s mother saw a vision of a funeral procession coming down from Sandy’s house, but Beileag, the sick daughter, was walking alongside the family. But where was her mother? Bean Shandaidh passed away just a few days after Donnie’s mother had her vision and, as a result, he warns against making preparation for anybody else’s death.

Late another evening, when Donnie was a bit older, his brother Iain was out on the ran-dan and Donnie was heading to bed. He asked his mother if she was going to bed too, but she said, looking out the window, that she was going to wait up for Iain to come home. Donnie thought this was unusual, but she was adamant that she was going to wait on him. Donnie realised she must have had some sort of foretelling and so he too waited up for his brother. When he did, he was covered – head to toe – in blood, after somebody had hit him over the head with a bottle. His mother knew something had happened and was waiting to make sure he was alright.

I would absolutely recommend a listen to Donnie’s recording. You’ll get an idea of the man, of his intelligence and of the community in which he lived. It doesn’t matter whether you’re interested in monsters, ghosts of famous bards, fairies or the stories of local people, there is something in this tape for everybody.

Did you know Donnie MacRury? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch at mail@dasg.ac.uk, on Facebook or on Twitter!