The Little Letter for Gaelic Learners

Understand the boat and the boat will understand you. I saw that proverb in a hotel on Mull. I was on a cruise [sailing journey] at the time. I was staying the night in Tobermory. But was the boat understanding me? And was I understanding the boat?

The story of Black-haired John of Lewis, the Sailor is going to come to an end today. Up to now – Black-haired John saved the life of the King of Spain’s daughter. They fled from the robbers’ house. They got married. On the way John helped three men at a shieling bothy. The robbers murdered the three. But their heads weren’t with the correct bodies. John put their heads in the correct place. The dead men now had peace. They promised to give John a reward.

Black-haired John of Lewis, the Sailor, was in the robbers’ house. The robbers weren’t there. There was a secret room in the house. John opened the door of the room. He saw a beautiful woman. She was hanging by her hair from the ceiling.

I’m telling you a story – Black-haired John of Lewis, the Sailor. John was on a ship for five years. He was getting a halfpenny at the end of the first month and two halfpennies at the end of the second month. His wages were going to double every month. He was going to get a fortune. But the ship folk [owners] didn’t have enough money.

Ruairidh would like to tell you a story. A story with the name of Black-haired John of Lewis, the Sailor. Black-haired John was the son of a fisherman. He lived with his uncle. That was near Stornoway in Lewis. This particular evening, John saw a beautiful ship. She was sailing into the harbour. John was greatly interested in boats. Learn more in this wee's podcast.

A wee book came out recently - The Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect. It's about the fisherfolk dialect in Cromarty. That dialect is a dialect of Scots. Only two people speak it fluently today.

A little book came out recently. It gives information about a dialect in the Highlands. There are only two people who speak the dialect today. It is not a Gaelic dialect, however, but a Scots dialect. It’s the “Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect” that people call this speech. The two who are fluent are the brothers Bobby and Gordon Hogg. They live in Cromarty. Their ancestry in Cromarty goes back as far as 1698.

There’s a place in Islay called Lochan na Nigheadaireachd (little loch of the washing). It’s near Laggan Point. Ruairidh reckons people did washing in the lochan. That was in the old days. But how did they do the washing? Well, he was reading a book recently. The author gave a description of washing at that time, listen to that description in this week's podcast.

In Raasay there is a loch called Loch na Mnà. That means “the loch of the woman”. It is said that she was a young woman. She was killed by a water-horse. It’s an old story. It was told to Boswell and Johnson in 1773. Ruairidh re-tells it in Gaelic in this week's podcast

Archibald Cook was a famous preacher. He was a minister in the Free Church in Daviot, near Inverness. That was in the middle of the 19th Century. Hundreds went to listen to his sermons. He was preaching in Gaelic and English. It is Gaelic congregations he had in every place where he was a minister. That was in Caithness, Inverness and Daviot.

Ruairidh talks of Archibald and Finlay Cook from the island of Arran. They were ministers. Many Gaelic-speaking ministers in the 19th Century were from Arran.

Robert Cunninghame Graham belonged to the gentry. But he was a socialist. He was also a Scottish nationalist. To start with he was a Liberal member of parliament. But they weren’t far enough on the left wing.

This week's podcast starts with a puzzle. Can you work out what is the “wee lass”? Once you solve that you can learn of a fascinating Scot, who became a Gaucho in Argentina and then stood as a liberal candidate!

The Battle of Kringen took place in 1612. It was in Norway. The battle was between Norwegians and Scots. Five hundred Norwegians were waiting for the Scots. The Scots were on their way to Sweden. But the Swedes and the Norwegians were enemies [to each other]. The Norwegians were hiding in the forest. The Scots were in the glen. find out what happened at this battle in this week's podcast

Roddy examines how in 1612 a Scottish military force was destroyed at the famous Battle of Kringen in Norway.