The Little Letter for Gaelic Learners

Have you ever heard of Keith Norman MacDonald? He was a Skyeman. He was born in 1834. He was a doctor. But he was famous for collecting and publishing the music of the Gaels. This year, his collection of puirt-à-beul appeared anew in print. Find out more about the man in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

This week, Ruairidh concludes the exciting story about The Boy and the Blacksmith. John, the blacksmith, had met a princess whose head was on backwards. He promised the king, her father, that he would fix her head. After the disaster with his own wife’s head, can this tale have a happy ending for John? You’ll have to read this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh began to tell us the tale of The Lad and the Blacksmith. John, the blacksmith, saw how a young man fixed a woman’s head, which had been on backwards. He attempted to fix his wife’s twisted neck in the same manner. Is he successful? You’ll have to read this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

There was once a blacksmith living in the Highlands. He was called John. He had a smiddy and he had a wife. She had a twist in her neck. One day, a young man came to John's smiddy. He had green clothes on. He was carrying a young woman on his shoulders. What is the significance of this couple? Find out in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Between Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye, the passes through Glenmoriston. There is a cairn in the glen, beside the main road. The cairn commemorates a Jacobite hero, one Roderick MacKenzie. He was killed in that place in 1746. That was three months after the Battle of Culloden. But why was Roderick famous? Find out why in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

You’ll remember last week that Ruairidh was talking about Coinneach Odhar, or The Brahan Seer. Coinneach’s mother was given a special stone from the ghost of a Viking princess. The stone had a hole in it that Coinneach used to look through to foretell the future. What happened to the stone though? That is the subject of this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh has another tale about Coinneach Odhar, or Brahan Seer. It is a story about his mother. She received a present from the ghost of a Scandinavian princess. Find out what that gift was and what she had to do with it in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Have you heard of Coinneach Odhar [“Sallow Kenneth”]? He’s known in English as The Brahan Seer. He had the second sight and made predictions. How did Coinneach get the second sight? Ruairidh reveals all in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Here is a story for you – The One-eyed Miller and the mute Englishman. There was a Scotsman and an Englishman. “There is a mute man in England,” said the Englishman, “who can ask questions nobody can answer.” Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh has a story for us this week, it is about a man called Red-haired Donald and a skull. Let’s join Donald in the woods where he finds the skull. What is so special about the skull? Listien to this week’s letter to find out. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh takes inspirationfor this week’s letter from a book about mammals in the Highlands. In this book there is a description of the Feral Goat: unlikely to be confused with any other British mammal. That’s true. Goats are different from sheep. They’re different from roe deer and red deer. But not everybody can tell the difference. In his book In The Shadow of Cairngorm, the Rev. Dr. William Forsyth gives an account of an English hunter. The hunter thought he had killed a roe deer. But it was a goat! Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

In his book In The Shadow of Cairngorm, the Rev. Dr. William Forsyth says that families of goats would rank themselves in the fold when sleeping at night. At the top would be the mother. Then the daughter. Then the grand-child, and so on, down the generations. This lead Ruairidh to think about the Gaelic terms for the different generations among a person’s descendants. If it’s true for goats, it’s also true for people. Find out more in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

You will remember that Ruairidh was telling us about Tannochbrae, Balamory and Glendarroch. They are three fictional places in Scottish television programmes. The names are all Gaelic or semi-Gaelic. This week Ruairidh looks at other popular fictional placenames based in Scotland. Find out more about places like Auchenshoogle and Sheildinch in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh has a question for you this week? What do Tannochbrae, Balamory and Glendarroch have in common? Well, they’re all Scottish towns/villages. They were all on television programmes. And they are not real places. The names were made deliberately for a book or TV programme. In each name there is at least one Gaelic element. Balamory and Glendarroch are entirely from Gaelic. Rauiridh takes a deeper look at the Gaelic elements in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh continues to discuss the Knights Templar, following on from the rumour that they were at Bannockburn. He wonders what happens to them. They were declared illegal by the Pope in 1307 and their buildings, land and finance were confiscated. What happened to the knights themselves? Did they come to Scotland? This is what Ruairidh ponders in this week’s letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag