Dearbh-aithne:AB_LL_COLIN_MACDONALD_03TUAIRISGEUL:This audio extract is from 'Echoes of the Glen or Mac-Talla Nan Gleann' by Colin MacDonald, first published in 1936. It is read by Colin's daughter, Margaret MacDonald Newton.
'The Muir-of-Ord is now a golf course - shade of Corry-choillie! (a noted worthy of the Market). It that was once the Falkirk Tryst of the north! Here in the old days, once every month, met farmers and flockmasters, crofters and shepherds, bringing with them thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle for the purpose of selling to each other and to the farmers and dealers and drovers that came from the south.
As a small boy I attended the Market for the first time well over forty years ago. Even then it was past its best, for the auction mart had carried its invasion to the north some years previously. But there was still a great gathering of men and dogs and beasts, and that first day stands out a landmark in the memory.
There were fair-haired Scandinavians from the plains of Caithness with never a word of Gaelic in their heads; they and their beasts had been on the road for ten days. Then there were the big flockmasters from Ross-shire and Sutherland, of whom not a few were the descendants of Border men who had migrated north some decades previously, and, in conclave with impecunious proprietors, appropriated extensive grazings that had previously belonged to the native peasantry. And there were big, bearded, picturesque man from Skye and the Hebrides, with their equally picturesque Highland cattle whose horns spanned six feet and more. There were also hundreds of small farmers and crofters from far and near. Men from north and south of the Border were there in plenty, mostly with clean or partly shaven faces, coloured by a sun-cum-whisky admixture to various tints of red and brown.
No two men were dressed alike; each man seemed to have a distinctive garb of his own. One gentleman I particularly noticed wore elastic-sided boots, trousers of the shepherd-tartan pattern, a blue-green coat with tails, a flaming red gravat, and a tall, tapered, flat-topped hat; and all over, there was a picturesque display of colour and individuality in dress and character that is woefully lacking at the ringside of the modern auction mart.'
Dh'fhàs Cailean MacDhòmhnaill suas air croit an teaghlaich air Àird Innis Mheannaidh, Srath Pheofhair, Siorrachd Rois. Dh'fhàg e an sgoil aig aois trì-deug ach an oibricheadh e a' chroit agus aig aois ochd air fhichead cheumnaich e o Cholaiste Marischal an Obar Dheathain. Às dèidh sin fhuair e àite na neach-obrach aig Colaiste Àiteachais Obar Dheathain agus Alba a Tuath agus mu dheireadh fhuair e àite na bhall le Gàidhlig aig Cùirt an Fhearainn an Alba.
Ann an 1914 phòs e Mairead Stiùbhairt Young agus chuir e seachad sia bliadhna às dèidh sin ann an Inbhir Theòrsa far an d' rugadh triùir den chlainn aca - Cailean, Bill agus Mairead. Rugadh an treas mac, Lewis, an dèidh do Chailean a bhith air a chur a Dhùn Èideann gu àrd-oifis Bòrd an Àiteachais. Ach ghlèidh iad an ceangal ris a' chroit, agus chaidh a' chlann a chur gu cunbhalach gu Innis Bhanaidh airson saor-làithean an t-samhraidh. 'S ann air a' chroit a bhàsaich Cailean ann an 1957.
A-rèir a nighean, Mairead, 's e duine foighidneach a bh' ann an Cailean ach dh'fhaodadh cuspairean mu bhreug-chràbhadh agus an-iochdmhorachd fearg a chur air. B' e sgeulaiche iongantach a bh' ann cuideachd agus fìor thart air airson fios. Chaidh a' chiad leabhar aige, 'Echoes of the Glen', fhoillseachadh ann an 1936, agus 's e dealbh fìrinneach agus dathach a bh' ann de bheatha làitheil air a' Ghàidhealtachd. Às dèidh sin, am measg nam foillseachaidhean aige bha 'Highland Journey' (1949), 'Croft and Ceilidh' (1947), 'Highland Memories' (1949), agus 'Crofts and Crofters' (1955). Chaidh 'Life in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland', measgadh de 'Echoes' agus 'Highland Journey', fhoillseachadh ann an 1991.ÀITE:Am Blàr DubhSGÌRE:Am Blàr DubhSIORRACHD/PARRAIST:ROS: UrrathDEIT:2009LINN:2000anNEACH-FIOSRACHAIDH:Am BaileCRUINNEACHADH:Literary Landscapes: Colin MacDonaldID Maoin:40972KEYWORDS_GAELIC:
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Tha sinn a’ cleachdadh chriomagan airson an làrach-lìn againn a dhèanamh cho math ’s a ghabhas. Ma leanas tu ort a’ cleachdadh na làraich seo, tha sinn a’ tuigsinn gu bheil thu riaraichte leis a seo.Glè mhath