Prophecies (Fàisneachd).—In Argyllshire and Perthshire, the celebrated Thomas the Rhymer (Tòmas Reuvair, T. Réim) is as well known as in the Lowlands of Scotland. He is commonly called “the son of the dead woman” (mac na mna mairbh), but the accounts vary as to the cause of this name. One account says, he was, like Julius Caesar, taken out through his mother’s side, immediately after her death; another, that the cry of the child was heard in the mother’s tomb after her burial, and on the grave being opened Thomas was found in the coffin. A third accountsays, that a woman, whose husband had been cut in four pieces, engaged a tailor, at the price of the surrender of her person, to sew the pieces together again. He did so in two hours time. Some time after the woman died and was buried. Subsequently, she met the tailor at night, and leading him to her tomb, the child was found there. Both the Highland and Lowland accounts agree that Thomas’s gift of prophecy was given him by a Fairy sweetheart, that he is at present among the Fairies, and will yet come back.
Prophecies (Fàisneachd).—In Argyllshire and Perthshire, the celebrated Thomas the Rhymer (Tòmas Reuvair, T. Réim) is as well known as in the Lowlands of Scotland. He is commonly called “the son of the dead woman” (mac na mna mairbh), but the accounts vary as to the cause of this name. One account says, he was, like Julius Caesar, taken out through his mother’s side, immediately after her death; another, that the cry of the child was heard in the mother’s tomb after her burial, and on the grave being opened Thomas was found in the coffin. A third accountsays, that a woman, whose husband had been cut in four pieces, engaged a tailor, at the price of the surrender of her person, to sew the pieces together again. He did so in two hours time. Some time after the woman died and was buried. Subsequently, she met the tailor at night, and leading him to her tomb, the child was found there. Both the Highland and Lowland accounts agree that Thomas’s gift of prophecy was given him by a Fairy sweetheart, that he is at present among the Fairies, and will yet come back.
The Highland tradition is, that Thomas is in Dunbuck hill (Dùn buic) near Dunbarton. The last person that entered that hill found him resting on his elbow, with his hand below his head. He asked, “Is it time?” and the man fled. In the outer Hebrides he is said to be in Tom-na-heurich hill,73near Inverness. Hence MacCodrum, the Uist bard, says:
“When the hosts of Tomnaheurich come,Who should rise first but Thomas?”74
“When the hosts of Tomnaheurich come,Who should rise first but Thomas?”74
“When the hosts of Tomnaheurich come,Who should rise first but Thomas?”74
“When the hosts of Tomnaheurich come,
Who should rise first but Thomas?”74
He attends every market on the look-out for suitablehorses, as the Fairies in the north of Ireland attend to steal linen and other goods, exposed for sale. It is only horses with certain characteristics that he will take. At present he wants but two, some say only one, a yellow foal with a white forehead (searrach blàr buidhe). The other is to be a white horse that has got “three March, three May, and three August months of its mother’s milk” (trì Màirt, trì Màigh, agus trì Iuchara ’bhainne mhàthar); and in Mull they say, one of the horses is to be from the meadow of Kengharair in that island. When his complement is made up he will become visible, and a great battle will be fought on the Clyde.
“When Thomas comes with his horses,The day of spoils will be on the Clyde.Nine thousand good men will be slain,And a new king will be set on the throne.”75
“When Thomas comes with his horses,The day of spoils will be on the Clyde.Nine thousand good men will be slain,And a new king will be set on the throne.”75
“When Thomas comes with his horses,The day of spoils will be on the Clyde.Nine thousand good men will be slain,And a new king will be set on the throne.”75
“When Thomas comes with his horses,
The day of spoils will be on the Clyde.
Nine thousand good men will be slain,
And a new king will be set on the throne.”75
You may walk across the Clyde, the prophecy goes on to relate, on men’s bodies, and the miller of Partick Mill (Muilionn Phearaig), who is to be a man with seven fingers, will grind for two hours with blood instead of water. After that, sixteen ladies will follow after one lame tailor,76a prophecy copied from Isaiah iv. 1. A stone in the Clyde was pointed out as one, on which abird (bigein) would perch and drink its full of blood, without bending its head, but the River Trustees have blasted it out of the way that the prophecy may not come true. The same prophecy, with slight variation, has been transferred to Blair Athole in Perthshire. “When the white cows come to Blair, the wheel of Blair Mill will turn round seven times with people’s blood.”77The writer was told that the Duke of Athole brought white cattle to Blair more than fifteen years ago, but nothing extraordinary happened.
Other prophecies, ascribed to the Rhymer, are, “the sheep’s skull will make the plough useless,” “the south sea will come upon the north sea,” and “Scotland will be in white bands, and a lump of gold will be at the bottom of every glen.”78The former has received its fulfilment in the desolation caused by the extension of sheep farms, the second in the making of the Caledonian canal, and the last in the increase of highroads and houses.
In the North Highlands, prophecies of this kind are ascribed toCoineach Odhar(i.e.Dun Kenneth), a native of Ross-shire, whose name is hardly known in Argyllshire. He acquired his prophetic gift from thepossession of a stone, which he found in a raven’s nest. He first found a raven’s nest with eggs in it. These he took home and boiled. He then took them back to the nest, with a view to finding out how long the bird would sit before it despaired of hatching them. He found a stone in the nest before him, and its possession was the secret of his oracular gifts. When this became known an attempt was made to take the stone from him, but he threw it out in a loch, where it still lies.
He prophesied that “the raven will drink its fill of men’s blood from off the ground, on the top of the High Stone in Uig,”79a place in Skye. The High Stone is on a mountain’s brow, and it is ominous of the fulfilment of the prophecy, that it has fallen on its side. Of the Well of Ta, atCill-a-chròin Strath, in the same island, he said:
“Thou well of Ta, and well of Ta,Well where battle shall be fought,And the bones of growing men,Will strew the white beach of Laoras;And Lachlan of the three Lachlans be slainEarly, early,At the well of Ta.”80
“Thou well of Ta, and well of Ta,Well where battle shall be fought,And the bones of growing men,Will strew the white beach of Laoras;And Lachlan of the three Lachlans be slainEarly, early,At the well of Ta.”80
“Thou well of Ta, and well of Ta,Well where battle shall be fought,And the bones of growing men,Will strew the white beach of Laoras;And Lachlan of the three Lachlans be slainEarly, early,At the well of Ta.”80
“Thou well of Ta, and well of Ta,
Well where battle shall be fought,
And the bones of growing men,
Will strew the white beach of Laoras;
And Lachlan of the three Lachlans be slain
Early, early,
At the well of Ta.”80
In Harris a cock will crow on the very day on which it is hatched, and a white calf, without a single black hair, will be born, both which remarkable events have, it is said, occurred. A certain large stone will roll up the hill, turning over three times, and the marks of it having done so, and the proof of the prophecy, are still to be seen. On the top of a high stone in Scaristavor parks,81the raven will drink its fill of men’s blood, and the tide of battle will be turned back by Norman of the three Normans (Tormod nan trì Tormoidean) at the Steps of Tarbert (Càthaichean an Tairbeart).82