Volume II. Guth na Bliadhna ' leabhar II.]
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foghlum naomh anns a' ghaidhealtachd Bha ceasnachadh ann o chionn beagan mhiosan a thaobh foghluim naoimh anns a' Ghàidhealtachd. Is e mo bheachd-sa gu'n robh feum againn air, gu fior; oir tha a' Ghàidhealtachd glè bhochd a thaobh nan nithe sin. Bha e air a ràdh le cuid, gu'n robh mòran leabhraichean naomha anns a' Ghàidhealtachd; ach tha e 'cur mòran duilichinn orm ri ràdh gu'n deachaidh a' chuid is mò de na leabhraichean so à clodh-bhualadh o chionn fada. Mur 'eil mi air mo mhealladh, cha 'n 'eil e comasach do neach sam bith leabhar urnuigh Chaitliceach 'fhaotainn ann an Alba air an là an diugh. Tha e air a ràdh le cuid nach 'eil iarrtas ann airson nan leabhraichean so ; ach tha fios agam nach 'eil e mar tha iad ag ràdh, agus gur mòran a tha ag iarraidh aig a' cheart àm so nach biodh soirbheas sam bith aig na leabhraichean so. Thugamaid fainear a nis ciod a chaidh a dheanamh a thaobh nan nithe so anns na h-àmannan a chaidh seachad. Gun teagamh, bha roimh so, eud mòr ann thaobh sgrìobhaidh ; agus bha mòran leabhraichean naomh' air an cur a mach ann an Alba air son Chaitliceaich na dùthcha so. Cha 'n urrain domh ainmeannan nan leabhraichean sin uile a thoirt seachad, a chionn 's nach 'eil iad aig mo làimh an dràsda, agus tha iad ro ghann co-dhiù; ach dh'ionnsuich mi cuid dhiubh air mo chridhe, agus mu'n timchioll-san, bheir mi oidhirp air labhairt gu h-aithgheàrr agus gu math. Gun teagamh, is e an Tiomnadh Nuadh a bha air eadar-theangachadh leis an Athair Mac 150 Foghlum Naomh anns a' Ghàidhealtachd Eachainn agus an Athair Grannda, an leabhar naomh a's mò agus is feàrr a th'againn anns a' Ghàidhealtachd. Bha an obair so air a cur a mach anns a' bhliadhna 1875 ; agus tha mi 'n dùil nach 'eil an clòdh-bhualadh fathast air a ruith a mach. Tha 'n eadar-theangachd so 'n a deagh eadar-theangachd air an Sgrìobtur Naomh. Tha e air a sgrìobhadh air dòigh a's ro thaithniche ann an cainnt nan Gàidheal; agus, a bhàrr air sin, cha 'n 'eil mearachdan clòdh-bhualaidh ann ach glè ainmig. Ach, a nis, tha feum aig litreachadh na h-eadar-theangachd so a bhi air a cheartachadh air chor 's gu'm bi i a rèir litreachadh an là an duigh. A thuilleadh air sin, tha feum aig na comharraidhean-fhocal a bhi air an ceartachadh cuideachd. A rèir mo bheachd-sa, bha sùil aig na h-eadar-theangairean ri nithibh àrda ; ach tha mi 'cur an teagamh ma rinn iad gu tur glic an uair a dh'fhàg iad a mach na h-uibhir de chomharraidhean-fhocal, agus an uair a cheadaich iad na h-uibhir de ghiorrachadh ann. Bithidh fhios aig neach air bith air an ni a tha mi a' ciallachadh leis na briathran so, ma ni e coimeas eadar an da roinn a leanas, a thagh mise a thaobh tuairimeis as an Sgrìobtur Naomh :— N. Luc. xvi. Caib.
22. Agus thachair gun d'fhuair an diol-deirc Foghlum Naomh anns d Ghàidhealtachd 151 bàs, 's gun do ghiulaineadh e le ainglean gu uchd Abrahaim. Us fhuair an duine saibhir e fhein bàs: agus thiodhlaiceadh ann an iutharna e,
So againn a' cheart roinn cheudna mar is còir dha bhi air a sgrìobhadh:— 19. Bha duine saoibhir àraidh ann, a bha air 'eideadh le purpur, agus anart grinn, 'sa bha ag ithe gu soghail a h-uile là. 152 Foghlum Naomh anns a Ghàidhea'ltffiM
Foghlum Naomh anns a' Ghàidhealtachd 153
Dh'eadar - theangaich, mar an ceudna, an t-Athair Mac Eachainn (a bha '11 a eadar-thean-gair air an Sgrìobtur Naomh) An Cath Spioradail, le Scupoli. Bha an obair so air a cur a mach ann am Peart, anns a' bhliadhna 1835, ach chaidh e à clòdh-bhualadh o chionn fada. Tha eiseamplairean an leabhair so ro dhuilich ri fhaotainn aig an àm so. Chuir an Sagart easgaidh, ionnsuichte, ceudna, eadar-theangachd a mach air De Imitatio Cristi, le Tomas à Cempis, ann am Peart, anns a' bhliadhna 1826. Mheal an leabhar, sin, mar an ceudna, meas mòr o shluagh na Gàidhealtachd, ach, mo thruaighe! tha e 'nis mar a tha iomadh leabhar math eile air an là an duigh—is e sin ri ràdh chaidh e à clòdh-bhualadh o chionn fada. A bharrachd orra so, chuireadh a mach Leabhar-Cheist ann an Inbhirnis anns a' bhliadhna 1869. Chlòdh-bhualadh a rìs an obair so o chionn ghoirrid ; agus is e an Leabhar-Cheist a tha 'san fhasan air feadh dùthaich nan Gàidheal aig an là an diugh. A thaobh Leabhraichean - Urnuigh, chaidh iomadh seorsa a chur a mach anns a' Ghàidhealtachd 0 àm gu àm; ach chaidh iad so uile, mar an ceudna, à clòdh-bhualadh o chionn fada. Gun teagamh, is e an Leabh-TJrnuigh, ris an goirear Iul a' Chrìostaidh, a rinneadh leis an Easbuig Abareadhain, agus leis an Easbuig Earraghaidheal *s nan Eilean, an Leabhar-Urnuigh a's feàrr a th'againn, ach tha eiseamplairean na h-oibre so ro 154 Foghlum Naomh anns a' Ghàidhealtachd dhuilich ri faotainn a nis. Chuireadh a mach clòdh-bhualadh air an Leabhair-Urnuigh so ann an Canada o chionn ghoirrid; ach tha e làn de mhearachdan clòdh-bhualidh. Chuireadh a mach Ordo Missce ann an Dun-eideann anns a' bhliadhna 1877; agus chuireadh a mach air feadh nan ceud bliadhna deireannach, beagan de dh'oibrichean naomha ; ach mu thimchioll nan leabhraichean so cha 'n 'eil feum againn 'innseadh gu poncail an dràsda. Gideadh, tha feum agam ri ainmeachadh an so an deadh Leabhar-Luaidh a chuir a mach an t-Athair Mac Dhòmhnuill à Erisgaidh o chionn ghoirrid. Bha, air lorg sin, eud mòr ann, a thaobh nan nithe sin, anns a' Ghàidhealtachd anns an àm a chaidh seachad; ach, mo thruaighe! ciod tha sinn a' deanamh a nis ? Tha e 'cur mòran dorain orm ri ràdh gur e beagan gu fior a tha sinn a' deanamh anns a' ghinealach chum foghlum naomh a' chumail fa chomhair muinntir Caitliceach na Gàidhealtachd. Leugh sinn anns an àireamh dheireannaich de Ghuth na Bhliadhna mu'n ni a tha muinntir na h-Eirinn a' deanamh a thaobh nan nithe so; agus is còir dhuinn gluasad agus car a chur dhinn cuideachd. Tha mòran oibrichean math againn, agus, ann mo bheachd-sa, is math is fhiach a' chuid a's mò de na leabhraichean so a bhi air an ath chlòdh-bhualadh, agus air an cur a mach cho luath agus is urrainn duinn. Nach 'eil e 'n a nàire agus 'n a mhasladh gu'm biodh e neo-chomasach do Gàidheal na h-Alba, a tha 'n a Chaitliceach, Leabhar-Urnuigh fhaotainn ann an Gàidhlig, anns an dùthaich so? Tha mise 'foighneach oirbh, cia an dùthaich eile air feadh an t-saoghail gu lèir, anns am fuiligeadh sluagh na nithe so ? Tha e air a ràdh, agus sin gu math, gu bheil aobhar creidimh agus aobhar dùtcha 'n an aon aobhar; agus nach 'eil e comasach do Tobar na Reil neach sam bith fear dhiubh a dhearmad gun dearmad ni's miosa a dheanamh air an fhear eile-Is e creidimh agus cànain maoin dhligheach choitchionn nan Gàidheal; agus is e an dòigh a's-feàrr a th'ann, agus a bu chòir a bhi againn, an t-aon a' chumail suas le brosnachadh an fhir eile. Iain Mac An Abba. tobar na reil Right at the summit of the pass it lies, nothing; above it but the sky. On every side the billowing heath-clad hills engirdle it about. Flat stones encircle it, and on its surface water spiders walk. Red persicaria, with wax-like stalks and ragged leaves, grows by its edge. Below it stretches out. a vast brown moss, honeycombed here and there with black peat hags, and a dark lake spreads out, ringed on one side with moss, and on the other set like a jewel in a pine wood, with a white stretch of intervening sand. On it are islands with great sycamores and chestnuts, stag-headed but still vigorous, and round their shores the bulrushes keep watch like sentinels. Mists rise from moss and lake and creep about the corries of the hills, blending the woods and rocks into a steamy chaos, vast and unfathomable, through which a little burn, unseen, but musical, runs tinkling through the stones. So at the little bealach the well lies open to the sky, too high for the lake mists to touch it, as it looks up at the stars. They say that on a certain day in midsummer,, a star when at its zenith shines into the well. Which the star is, if Rigel or Algol or Aldebàran with his russet fire, is clean forgotten, for nowadays-tradition has scant place in men's imagining. He who looks on the water at the fateful hour, and sees the star reflected in the well, acquires again the ancient universal tongue, by which in ages past men and the animals held speech. For him the language of the birds becomes intelligible. The trees that groan or whisper in the breeze divulge their lore, and disclose all that they have seen in their long peaceful lives. Fish in the rivers and the lakes have no more dread of him, and, rising to the surface of the linns, tell him the marvels of the deep, whilst snakes and lizards, with newts, the moles and bats, impart their troubles or their joys, making their little secrets plain, by the strange virtues of the mystic star transmitted through the well. There is no record of any one who, having drunk, obtained the power and straightway got into communication with all animals and things. No doubt if at the appointed hour the fountain had turned all to gold, a town would have arisen on the pass, and Baal's priesthood or an aristocracy would have reserved the right to drink and gaze upon the well, and temples of Algol or Alde-bàran would have sprung up as if by magic from the hill. But man, who lives an outcast from all living things, cut off by pride and want of sympathy from beasts and birds, and careless of his own connexion with the world except so far as it may bring him the twin curses, wealth and power, which have combined to make him vile, cared not for such a gift. So trees and animals and beasts, with stones and streams, watched vainly every recurring year throughout the centuries for some adventurer who should break through the bonds which held the self-crowned monarch of the world in silence, condemned for ever to live dumb but to his own kind's speech, whilst on all sides secrets he never dreamed Tobar na Reil 157 of were waiting to be heard. So as a Highlander went past, driving his cattle from the low country in Menteith, or in the summer evenings a group of men wrapped in their plaids, with curly hazel shepherd's sticks, and carrying long single-barrelled Spanish guns, trotted along the steep and winding path, their deerskin shoes making no sound upon the stones, the rabbits sitting at their holes watched them expectantly. The birds upon the branches turned their round heads and looked towards the well. The trees and plants and heather on the hill seemed to sigh softly in the summer air, as if inviting them to halt until the mystic star should rise, then drink and break the spell. But they, absorbed in the affairs of life, which lead men onward prisoners to the grave, discoursed of hogs and pownie-beasts, of trysts and markets, and of the price of hirsells and of queys. At times they stopped and drank, but never lingered, scooping the water in their palms or in their cuachan of birch-wood hooped with silver, drawing their hands across their mouths, and sometimes murmuring, "Aye, och aye, they say that when a body drinks here, when the stars are up, he learns a vast o' things, that's why they ca' it Tobar na Reil, but I mind lying here aince o' a summer's nicht, sleeping ye ken, after some awqua that I had doon by at old McKurston's, and never learned a thing ". And whilst they talked, the trees and stars,, half-sleeping in the cold moon's light, listened but drowsily, and all they heard was Angus answer Finlay, " Och aye, McKurston just keeps the finest awqua that I ever tasted no more, Finlay McLach-lan," and his compeer and fellow-driver, looking up whilst kneeling by the spring, would answer sapiently, "And neither did I too". And so the Tobar na Reil Tobar na Reil 159 Tvell slept on, having for its one tragedy the fight between the Grahams of Menteith, and Stuarts on a raid from Appin, whose leader's head, struck by a sword-cut from his body at a blow, rolled down the pass, calling out imprecations even after death. With the exception of this brief tragedy, history the well has none. Its very name means nothing to the men who now inhabit where once its namers dwelt. The legend lives as a tradition, to be laughed or wondered at, according to the attitude of mind of him who hears it, for education has new superstitions of its own, which have expelled those of the older race. Who that to-day, when all flee from responsibility as from the plague, who would incur the burden of the sorrow of the trees, the winds, the beasts ? for man aspires not to equality but to command, by which, when he possesses it, he instantly becomes an outcast from his kind. Yet, had it been but for the pleasure of another sorrow to his life, 'tis strange that no one quenched his thirst, for joy is transient, whilst sorrow lives for ever, and to prove sorrows yet unknown might have stirred some one with imagination, had there been any such a traveller on the road which winds by Glenny to the valley of the Teith. And yet the district set with Sith-bhrughan and with traditions of a fairy causeway in the lake, a borderland of races in the past, a frontier where the Lowland hob and Highland pixie met on neutral ground, to dance up the green, seemed to invite experiment, and call for its Columbus to explore a newer world than that he saw in Guanahàni from his caravel. A gentle world in which no hatred reigns; where envy and all malice are unknown, where each one tells his secret to his friend unwittingly, ^because the speech they use is universal and without volition, and not as ours, confined to persons and articulate. The speech that lives in the clear water of the well, at the conjuncture of the star, has no vocabulary, no rules, no difficulties, but he who has it, speaks as does the wind, and saying nothing in particular, is understood of all. Thus it can never lie, or lead astray, and so is valueless to us, as valueless as gold upon a desert island, with no one to enslave. No one has claimed it since the first framers of the legend paddled their coracles upon the lake; no one will claim it, or ever think but for an instant of the treasure waiting to be grasped. Red-deer and roe and kyloes on the hills are all born free of it, and swallows from the south need no interpreter, but straightway tell their travels to the birds who but a week ago have left the pole, or to the weasels and the wrens who never wandered more than a mile or two from where they saw the light, and find themselves as much at home amongst the scrubby copse, as they were, only a month ago, in cane brakes and in palms. But if the birds and beasts, the trees and grasses and the stones, mourn the estrangement and the want of faith of man, so does mankind feel vaguely its own loneliness amongst created things with which it cannot have communication, and before which it always must be dumb. What tender idylls moss and lichens could unfold, if only some one of the passers by throughout the centuries had learned their speech, and taught his children, taking them, as the most sacred duty in his power, upon the star's appearance in its round, to drink and learn, and thus transmit their knowledge to their children, making them all hereditary dragomen by right divine, betwixt their race and the creation of the beasts. Yüklə 1,92 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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