Goats
I saw goats in the summer. I don’t
mean a farmer’s goat. I mean wild
goats on the hills.
I was walking in the deer forest
of Letterewe. I was in Glen Bianasdail. Close by there was Meallan
Ghobhar [little rounded hill of the
goats]. I saw tracks in the heather.
The ground was steep. It is goats
that made the paths.
My dog was ahead of me. He
stopped. He was looking at
something. It was a billy goat. The
billy goat was big and had big
horns.
I was reading an unusual thing
about goats. The old people were
saying that goats ate snakes. We
have a proverb that concerns that.
Alexander Nicolson collected that
proverb for his book “Gaelic
Proverbs”.
Here is the proverb: The goat’s
trick is to eat the snake, eating away
and still complaining. The goat’s
trick is to eat the snake, eating away
and still complaining. The goat’s
trick is to eat the snake, eating away
and still complaining.
Nicolson tells us that the Gaels – in some places at least – were of the opinion that goats ate snakes. To begin with a goat was stamping on a snake’s head. Then it was eating the snake. It started with the tail. While the goat was doing that, it was making a noise. It was like [it was] complaining.
I was wanting to find out if that is recorded in other places. I went to the wellspring of knowledge. What do I mean by that? “The wellspring of knowledge”. Aye – the internet.
There are videos on the internet of snakes eating goats. They’re not nice at all. But I found one account of a goat which ate a snake. There is a man in India. His name is Mohammed Pasha. Mohammed sells fish.
Mohammed had a goat. And the goat was eating the fish! One time, according to Mohammed, the goat ate a snake. Perhaps the proverb was telling the truth!
Gobhair
Chunnaic mi gobhair as t-samhradh.
Chan eil mi a’ ciallachadh gobhair aig
tuathanach. Tha mi a’ ciallachadh
gobhair fhiadhaich anns a’ mhonadh.
Bha mi a’ coiseachd ann am Frìth
Leitir Iù. Bha mi ann an Gleann
Bianasdail. Faisg air làimh bha Meallan
Ghobhar. Chunnaic mi ceumannan anns
an fhraoch. Bha an talamh cas. ’S iad
gobhair a rinn na ceumannan.
Bha an cù agam air thoiseach
orm. Stad e. Bha e a’ coimhead air
rudeigin. ’S e boc gobhair a bha ann.
Bha am boc mòr agus bha adharcan
mòra air.
Bha mi a’ leughadh rudeigin
annasach mu ghobhair. Bha na seann
daoine ag ràdh gun robh gobhair ag ithe
nathraichean. Tha seanfhacal againn a
tha a-mach air sin. Chruinnich Alasdair
MacNeacail an seanfhacal sin airson an
leabhair aige “Gaelic Proverbs”.
Seo an seanfhacal: Cleas na
goibhre ’g ith’ na nathrach, ga sìor
itheadh, ’s a’ sìor thalach. The goat’s
trick is to eat the snake, eating away and
still complaining. Cleas na goibhre ’g
ith’ na nathrach, ga sìor itheadh, ’s a’
sìor thalach.
Tha MacNeacail ag innse dhuinn
gun robh na Gàidheil – ann an cuid de cheàrnaidhean co-dhiù – dhen bheachd gun robh gobhair ag ithe nathraichean. An toiseach bha gobhar a’ stampadh air ceann nathrach. An uair sin bha e ag ithe na nathrach. Bha e a’ tòiseachadh leis an earball. Fhad ’s a bha gobhar a’ dèanamh sin, bha e a’ dèanamh fuaim. Bha e coltach ri bhith a’ talach no a’ gearain.
Bha mi ag iarraidh faighinn a-mach a bheil sin clàraichte ann an àiteachan eile. Chaidh mi gu màthair-uisge an fhiosrachaidh. Dè tha mi a’ ciallachadh le sin? “The wellspring of knowledge”. Seadh – an t-eadar-lìon.
Tha bhidiothan air an eadar-lìon de nathraichean ag ithe ghobhar. Chan eil iad snog idir. Ach lorg mi aon chunntas de ghobhar a dh’ith nathair. Tha fear anns na h-Innseachan. ’S e Mohammed Pasha an t-ainm a tha air. Bidh Mohammed a’ reic èisg.
Bha gobhar aig Mohammed. Agus bha an gobhar ag ithe an èisg! Aon turas, a rèir Mhohammed, dh’ith an gobhar nathair. ’S dòcha gur e an fhìrinn a tha anns an t-seanfhacal!
