Mythical Sea Creatures (1)
In the autumn of last year I was in Mull. I was speaking to young and
old about the Gaelic heritage associated with marine mammals. I gave
them this traditional rhyme:
Seven herrings will fill a salmon,
Seven salmon will fill a seal,
Seven seals will fill a whale,
Seven whales will fill a Cìrean
Cròin.
Do you understand ‘sàth’? It means what something or somebody has to
eat in order to be full or replete. A salmon will eat seven herrings
before it is satisfied.
Seven herrings will fill a salmon,
Seven salmon will fill a seal,
Seven seals will fill a whale,
Seven whales will fill a Cìrean
Cròin.
What on earth (under the sun) is, or was, a Cìrean Cròin? Nobody knows
what it looked like. The primary school children, where I was working,
made amazing drawings of it. Some of them were like large crabs. Some
were like big octopuses. And some were like whales with scary teeth in
their head!
Another form of the rhyme was recorded. And it isn’t
Cìrean Cròin that the animal was called, but Cionaran-crò.
This time, however, there is another creature even bigger than the
Cionaran-crò:
Seven herrings will fill a salmon,
Seven salmon will fill a seal,
Seven seals will fill a small whale,
Seven small whales will fill a
large whale,
Seven large whales will fill a cionaran-crò,
Seven cionaran-crò will fill a great
sea leviathan.
What on earth is
mial mhòr a’ chuain
? Well, it has been translated as Great Leviathan of the Sea. And the
word
mial
is known in old Gaelic, meaning ‘great creature’ and ‘whale’. In Irish
Gaelic a whale is called a
míol mór.
And do we have anything in oral tradition about the
Cionaran-crò ? Well, yes, in Carmina Gadelica, from Ness in the north of Lewis.
Alexander Carmichael got the story from a certain Angus Gunn. Angus was 84
years old. He was living for a long time on the island of Rona – a small
island in the ocean north of Lewis. I’ll give an account of Angus’s story
about the Cionaran-cò in the next Litir.
Creutairean Macmeanmnach a’ Chuain (1)
As t-fhoghar an-uiridh bha mi ann am Muile. Bha mi a’ bruidhinn ri sean is
òg mu dhualchas na Gàidhlig co-cheangailte ri mamailean mara. Thug mi an
rann traidiseanta seo dhaibh:
Seachd sgadain sàth bradain,
Seachd bradain sàth ròin,
Seachd ròin sàth muice-mara,
Seachd mucan-mara sàth Cìrein Cròin.
A bheil sibh a’ tuigsinn ‘sàth’? Tha e a’ ciallachadh na dh’fheumas
rudeigin ithe airson a bhith làn no sàsaichte. Bidh bradan ag ithe seachd
sgadain mus bi e sàsaichte. Seo agaibh an rann a-rithist:
Seachd sgadain sàth bradain,
Seachd bradain sàth ròin,
Seachd ròin sàth muice-mara,
Seachd mucan-mara sàth Cìrein Cròin.
Dè fon ghrèin a tha ann, no a bha ann, an Cìrean Cròin? Chan eil fios aig
duine dè an coltas a bha air. Rinn clann na bun-sgoile, far an robh mi ag
obair, dealbhan iongantach dheth. Bha cuid dhiubh coltach ri crùbagan mòra.
Bha cuid coltach ri ochd-chasaich mhòra. Agus bha feadhainn coltach ri
muc-mhara le fiaclan eagallach na ceann!
Chaidh dreach eile dhen rann a chlàradh. Agus chan e Cìrean Cròin a tha air
a’ bheathach, ach Cionaran-crò. An turas seo, ge-tà, tha creutair
eadhon nas motha ann na ʼn Cionaran-crò:
Seachd sgadain sàth bradain,
Seachd bradain sàth ròin,
Seachd ròin sàth muc-mhara bheag,
Seachd mucan-mara beaga, sàth muc-mhara mhòr,
Seachd mucan-mara mòra, sàth cionarain-crò,
Seachd cionarain-crò, sàth mial mhòr a’ chuain.
Dè fon ghrèin a tha ann am mial mhòr a’ chuain? Uill, chaidh
eadar-theangachadh a dhèanamh air mar Great Leviathan of the Sea.
Agus tha am facal mial aithnichte anns an t-seann Ghàidhlig, a’
ciallachadh ‘creutair mòr’ agus ‘muc-mhara’. ʼS e míol mór a
chanas daoine ri ‘muc-mhara’ ann an Gàidhlig na h-Èireann.
Agus a bheil càil againn ann am beul-aithris mun Chionaran-crò? Uill, tha
ann an Carmina Gadelica à Nis ann an ceann a tuath Leòdhais.
Fhuair Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil an stòiridh bho fhear, Aonghas Gunnach. Bha
Aonghas ochdad ʼs a ceithir bliadhn’ a dh’aois. Bha e a’ fuireach fad ùine
mhòr ann an Eilean Rònaigh – eilean beag anns a’ chuan, tuath air Leòdhas.
Nì mi cunntas air aithris Aonghais mun Chionaran-crò anns an ath Litir.
