THIS poem was obtained in 1891 from Malcolm Macmillan, crofter, Grimnis, Benbecula. Macmillan was then an old man. He heard this and many other poems when a boy from old people who, when evicted in Uist, emigrated to Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and other parts of the Canadian Dominion, and p. 163 to Australia. These old people took great quantities of traditional Gaelic lore with them to their new homes, some of which still lingers among their descendants. Many original and translated songs of the Highlands and Islands are sung among these settlers, whose hearts still yearn towards their motherland.
|
| ||
CHAIDH Eosai is Mairi Bha ’n dithis a siubhal slighe, Sin an t-am an robh ise torrach, Is labhair Mairi ri Eosai, Is labhair Eosai ri Mairi, |
|
JOSEPH and Mary went The two were walking the way, That was the time when she was great, Then spoke Mary to Joseph, And Joseph spoke to Mary, | |
|
| ||
|
Sin ’d uair labhair an Leanabh, ’S o ’n mheanglan is airde, An sin thuirt Eosai ri Mairi, |
|
Then it was that the Babe spoke, And from the bough that was highest, Then Joseph said to Mary, |