Lismore
At the beginning of the autumn I was on the isle of Lismore in Argyll.
I really like Lismore. I was there for a reason – to guide people to
the seashore to look at seaweed. We went to a bay that was beside an
old castle.
There is a story connected to the castle, Castle Coiffin. Coiffin was a
Scandinavian. He was a prince. The castle was a home to him. He had a
sister called Beothail. She was beautiful in her appearance and kind in
her demeanour. She built a reputation among the islanders.
Beothail was in love with a young Scandinavian man. But her sweetheart
left for a war in Scandinavia. The months elapsed and there was no
sight or sound of the hero. Eventually, news came. He was killed in a
bloody battle.
Beothail suffered a broken heart. She went to bed and never got out of
it. She died [‘changed’] or, as they say in Lismore, she died
[‘travelled’]. She was buried near the castle.
Beothail was at rest but her ghost was not. People would hear it on
stormy nights, saying, ‘My brother is going past. I hope he’ll listen
to me and hear my plea.’ It was her plea that her earthly remains would
be taken to Scandinavia to be next to her sweetheart.
Coiffin heard her. He removed her bones from the grave. He cleaned them
in a well called ‘the well of the bones’. He sailed to Scandinavia and
he put Beothail’s bones in her sweetheart’s grave.
However, shortly after Coiffin returned to Lismore, his sister’s ghost
started to call again. It had the same plea. People searched where she had
been buried before. And they found one extra bone – a finger bone. They
sailed back to Scandinavia again, with the wee bone. They put the bone in
her grave. And, since then, her ghost has not been heard on Lismore
Lios Mòr
Aig toiseach an fhoghair bha mi air Eilean Lios Mòr ann an Earra-Ghàidheal.
ʼS fìor thoigh leam Lios Mòr. Bha mi ann air adhbhar – airson daoine a
stiùireadh don chladach a choimhead air feamainn. Chaidh sinn gu camas a
bha ri taobh seann chaisteal.
Tha sgeulachd co-cheangailte ris a’ chaisteal, Caisteal Chaifinn. ʼS e
Lochlannach a bha ann an Caifinn. ʼS e prionnsa a bha ann. Bha an caisteal
na dhachaigh dha. Bha piuthar aige air an robh Beothail mar ainm. Bha i
àlainn na coltas is coibhneil na dol a-mach. Choisinn i cliù am measg
muinntir an eilein.
Bha Beothail ann an gaol le fear òg Lochlannach. Ach dh’fhalbh a leannan a
chogadh ann an Lochlann. Chaidh na mìosan seachad agus cha robh sgeul no
guth air a’ ghaisgeach. Mu dheireadh, thàinig fios. Chaidh a mharbhadh ann
am blàr fuilteach.
Dh’fhuiling Beothail bristeadh-cridhe. Chaidh i a laighe na leabaidh agus
cha do dh’èirich i aiste. Chaochail i no, mar a chanas iad ann an Lios Mòr,
shiubhail i. Chaidh a tiodhlacadh faisg air a’ chaisteal.
Bha Beothail aig fois ach cha robh a taibhs. Bhiodh daoine ga cluinntinn
air oidhcheannan stoirmeil, ag ràdh, ‘Tha mo bhràthair a’ dol seachad. Tha
mi ʼn dùil gun èist e rium agus gun cluinn e m’ iarrtas.’ B’ e an t-iarrtas
aice gum biodh an dust aice air a thoirt a Lochlann airson a bhith ri taobh
a leannain.
Chuala Caifinn i. Thog e na cnàmhan aice às an uaigh. Ghlan e iad ann an
tobar ris an canar Tobar nan Cnàmh. Sheòl e gu ruige Lochlann agus chuir e
cnàmhan Beothail ann an uaigh a leannain.
Ge-tà, goirid an dèidh do Chaifinn tilleadh a Lios Mòr, thòisich taibhs a’
pheathar air èigheachd a-rithist. Bha an aon iarrtas aice. Rùraich daoine
far an robh i air a tiodhlacadh roimhe. Agus lorg iad aon chnàimh a
bharrachd – cnàimh meòir. Sheòl iad air ais a Lochlann turas eile, leis a’
chnàimh bheag. Chuir iad an cnàimh don uaigh aice. Agus, bhon uair sin, cha
chualas a taibhs a-rithist ann an Lios Mòr.
