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A bheil sibh eòlach air a’ cheud-chasach? An centipede. A rèir beul-aithris, thug ceud-chasach air bàrd Gàidhlig dàn ainmeil a sgrìobhadh. Cò am bàrd agus dè an dàn?

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Seo beagan dhen dàn dhuibh. Tha an earrann seo mu dheidhinn stoirm aig muir:

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Anfhadh is confhadh na mara, is falbh na luinge, sradadh an eanchainnean geala feadh gach tuinne. Gach mion-iasg a bha san fhairge, tàrr-gheal tionndaidht’, le gluasad confhadh na gailbhinn, marbh gun chunntas.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý A bheil fios agaibh dè an dàn a tha sin? Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill le Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. Bha Alasdair, a bha beò eadar sia ceud deug, naochad ’s a còig (1695) agus seachd ceud deug is seachdad (1770), na bhàrd air leth. B’ e Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill fear de na dàin a b’ fheàrr aige. Bha e stèidhichte air turas mara ann am birlinn eadar Uibhist a Deas agus ceann a tuath na h-Èireann.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Bha Alasdair na bhàillidh aig Clann Raghnaill ann an Canaigh. Tha daoine ag ràdh gun do thòisich e Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill ann an Canaigh, agus gun do chuir e crìoch air ann an Uibhist fichead bliadhna às dèidh sin.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý A rèir beul-aithris, thòisich am bàrd air an dàn nuair a bha e na laighe anns an dorchadas fo bhata a bha bun-os-cionn ann an Canaigh. ’S dòcha nach robh sin annasach aig an àm sin. Seo na sgrìobh Màrtainn MacIlle-Mhàrtainn aig deireadh an t-seachdamh linn deug mu bhàird Ghàidhlig: They shut their Doors and Windows for a day’s time, and lie on their backs, with a Stone upon their Belly, and Plaids about their Heads, and their Eyes being cover’d, they pump their Brains for Rhetorical Encomium or Panegyrick…

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý A rèir beul-aithris, nuair a bha Alasdair na làighe fo shlige a’ bhàta, thuit ceud-chasach far tobhta. Bha an creutair bun-os-cionn ann an glumag. Bha e a’ dèanamh spàirn le chasan. Chuir sin ràimh birlinn ann an inntinn a’ bhàird, agus thòisich e air an dàn!

Do you know the ceud-chasach? The centipede. According to oral trad-ition, a centipede inspired a Gaelic poet to write a famous poem. Who was the poet and what was the poem?

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Here’s a bit of the poem for you. This verse is about a storm at sea:

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The rage and fury of the sea, and the movement of the ship, dashing the white brains [of the sea animals] throughout every billow. Every small fish that was in the sea, white-bellied, turned upwards, with raging storm, killed in their droves.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Do you know what poem that is? Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. Alasdair, who lived between 1695 and 1770, was a terrific poet. Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill was one of his finest poems. It was based on a sea voyage in a birlinn between South Uist and northern Ireland.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Alasdair was Clanranald’s factor in canna. People say that he started Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill in Canna, and that he finished it in Uist, twenty years later.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý According to oral tradition, the poet commenced the poem when he was lying in the dark under a boat that was upside-down on Canna. Perhaps that wasn’t strange at that time. Here’s what Martin Martin wrote at the end of the seventeenth century about Gaelic bards: They shut their Doors and Windows for a day’s time, and lie on their backs, with a Stone upon their Belly, and Plaids about their Heads, and their Eyes being cover’d, they pump their Brains for Rhetorical Encomium or Panegyrick…

        According to oral tradition, when Alasdair was lying under the hull of the boat, a centipede fell from a thwart. The creature was upside-down in a puddle. It was struggling with its legs. That reminded the poet of the oars of a birlinn and he started on the poem!