The witches' brooms (2)
I was telling you about Alex and Archie. Archie was starting to make
heather brooms. He pulled heather – a heap of it – and he went home
with it. He made a broom but it was incredibly large and heavy.
He went from house to house. But nobody would buy the broom. It was too
big. Finally, he saw a white house on a hilltop. He went there. He
knocked on the door. A woman came. She was extremely fat. ‘I’m selling
a brush,’ said Archie.
‘Oh,’ said she. ‘I’m looking for a large one. Is your own one big
enough for me?’
‘This is the biggest broom you’ll see,’ said Archie. He dropped the
broom from his shoulder.
‘Itʼs great,’ said the fat woman. ‘What does it cost?’
‘Sixpence,’ said Archie.
The woman found a sixpence and she said, ‘Here is a magic coin. Every
time you spend it, it will reappear anew.’
Archie was happy. He went home with the magic coin and he leaves my
account.
But Fat Maggie – for that was the womanʼs name – well, you’ll
understand that she was a witch. She had been stuck at home as she did
not have a large enough broom for travelling. The other witches were
pleased as they didn’t like Fat Maggie. She was a bully.
Next day, the witches were meeting in a clearing in a birch wood. They
were thinking that Fat Maggie wouldn’t be there because she didn’t have
a broom. Suddenly, however, Maggie appeared on her new broom.
‘Ha ha!’ she said, ‘I’m here now. You’ll all do what I want. And in
addition, I’m the only one who’ll fly home. She went around every other
witch. She grabbed everybodyʼs broom and threw them up into the foliage of
the birch trees. And you can see them there still – witches’ brooms –
reminding us of how Fat Maggie threw them there a long time ago.
Sguaban nam bana-bhuidseach (2)
Bha mi ag innse dhuibh mu Ailig is Eairdsidh. Bha Eairdsidh a’ tòiseachadh
air sguaban fraoich a dhèanamh. Tharraing e fraoch – tuilleadh ʼs a chòir
dheth – agus chaidh e dhachaigh leis. Rinn e sguab ach bha i cianail mòr is
trom.
Chaidh e bho thaigh gu taigh. Ach cha cheannaicheadh duine an sguab. Bha i
ro mhòr. Mu dheireadh, chunnaic e taigh geal air mullach cnuic. Chaidh e
ann. Ghnog e air an doras. Thàinig boireannach. Bha i uabhasach reamhar.
‘Tha mi a’ reic sguab,’ thuirt Eairdsidh.
‘O,’ ars ise. ‘Tha mi a’ coimhead airson tè mhòr. A bheil an tè agaibhse
mòr gu leòr dhomh?’
‘Seo an sguab as motha a chì sibh,’ thuirt Eairdsidh. Leig e an sguab far a
ghuailne.
‘Tha i sgoinneil,’ thuirt an tè reamhar. ‘Dè chosgas i?’
‘Bonn-a-sia,’ ars Eairdsidh.
Lorg am boireannach bonn-a-sia agus thuirt i, ‘Seo agaibh bonn draoidheil.
Gach turas a chosgas tu e bidh e a’ nochdadh às ùr.’
Bha Eairdsidh sona. Chaidh e dhachaigh leis a’ bhonn draoidheil agus tha e
a’ falbh às mo chunntas.
Ach Magaidh Reamhar – oir b’ e sin ainm na tè – uill, tuigidh sibh gur e
bana-bhuidseach a bha innte. Bha i air a bhith glaiste a-staigh oir cha
robh sguab mòr gu leòr aice airson a bhith a’ siubhal. Bha na
bana-bhuidsich eile toilichte oir cha robh iad measail air Magaidh Reamhar.
ʼS e burraidh a bha innte.
An ath latha, bha na bana-bhuidsich a’ coinneachadh ann an innis ann an
coille-bheithe. Bha iad a’ smaoineachadh nach biodh Magaidh Reamhar ann oir
cha robh sguab aice. Gu h-obann, ge-tà, nochd Magaidh air an sguaib ùir
aice.
‘Ha ha!’ thuirt i, ‘tha mi ann a-nise. Nì sibh uile na tha mi ag iarraidh
oirbh. A bharrachd air sin, ʼs e mi fhìn an aon duine a dh’itealaicheas
dhachaigh. Chaidh i timcheall a h-uile bana-bhuidseach eile. Thog i sguab a
h-uile tè agus thilg i iad suas a dhuilleach nan craobhan-beithe. Agus chì
sibh iad an sin fhathast – sguaban bhana-bhuidseach – a’ cur nar cuimhne
mar a thilg Magaidh Reamhar iad ann o chionn fhada.
