Gaelic Literature of the Isle of Skye: an annotated bibliography

Gaelic Literature of the Isle of Skye: an annotated bibliography

Traditional Prose: collections and collectors

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MACKAY, J. G.

There were two J. G. Mackays with overlapping areas of interest.

J. G. (John Gunn) Mackay (1848-1924)) was born in Lochalsh of a Sutherlandshire father and a Skye mother. He was prominent in the Land Agitation movement. After some years in Glasgow he settled in Skye and ran a successful business in Portree and was active in local affairs. He also contributed many articles on Highland culture and history to a number of publications.

(See Celtic Monthly, 1:145-146)

J. G. Mackay (1869-1942) lived for some years in Hertfordshire, England, where he died in 1942. He is probably best-known for his work in editing and translating many of the folktales collected by J. F. Campbell. He edited More West Highland Tales (Mackay 1940; Mackay 1960).

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‘Baillidh Throndarnais agus a’ Bhan-Bhuidseach’

i Celtic Annual: Yearbook of the Dundee Highland Society, (1912), 18-19.

ii TGSI, 30 (1919-1922), 19-24.

The author of these items was J. G. Mackay (1848-1924) of Portree. Both versions are accounts of an incident in 16th Century Skye, when a heartless bailiff’s treatment of a poor widow was thwarted by trickery. The second version is preceded by an English translation.

The Rev. Alexander MacGregor gives an English language version of this tale (Celtic Magazine, 5:426-429). There is a short Gaelic version in the Portree High School Magazine (1937:31), where the widow’s name is given as Nic Ruairidh.

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I. G. MacAoidh. ‘Torran nan Gillean: Sgeula Sgitheanach’. Celtic Annual: Yearbook of the Dundee Highland Society, (1914), 55.

The author of this item was J. G. Mackay (1848-1924) of Portree. It is the tale of a bloody long-ago encounter at New Year between some MacLeods and the lads of Portree. The MacLeods killed in the fight were buried at Goirtean na Creige (Viewfield), on a small hill which became known as Torran nan Gillean.

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[J. G. Mackay]. ‘Trod nam Ban mu ‘n Sgarbh’. An Deò-Gréine, 12 (1916-1917), 54.

From J. F. Campbell’s MSS. Tale about a dispute among a group of Eigg women over possession of a sgart. While the dispute is in progress the bird flies off. There is a parallel English translation. This item is unascribed, but as J.G. Mackay (1869-1942) of Herts., was responsible for the editing and translating of other material from J. F. Campbell’s MSS presented in An Deò-Gréine it is likely that he was also responsible for this.

‘Trod nam Ban mu ‘n Sgarbh’ is similar in theme to a poem by Iain Dubh Mac Iain ‘Ic Ailein, ‘Trod nam Ban Eigeach’. See entry for Iain Dubh in the section for poetry and song of known authorship.

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J. G. Mackay. ‘An Uair a Bha Gàidhlig aig na h-Eòin’. An Deò-Gréine, 15 (1919-1920), 11.

The author of this item was J. G. Mackay (1848-1924) of Portree. Tale of two tipsy travellers on their way home from Portree, one of whom is convinced that he can hear the birds speaking. The Rev. Tormod Domhnallach has also written of this belief that birds have Gaelic: see ‘Eòin Shealbhach agus Mhi-Shealbhach ann an Saobh-Chrabhadh nan Gaidheal’ in the Tormod Domhnallach Collection. (1). See also Vol. 4 of Carmina Gadelica (Watson 1941: 20-21), and Kenneth MacLeod’s ‘Là is Bliadhna leis na h-Eòin’ (MacLeod 1988: 38-49).

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‘An Dà Mharsanta’

i An Deò-Gréine, 15 (1919-1920), 135-137, 148-150.

ii More West Highland Tales. Vol. 2. John G. MacKay. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1960, pp. 316-323.

The first version (in An Deò-Gréine) is unascribed), but as J.G. Mackay (1869-1942) of Herts. was responsible for the second version (in More West Highland Tales) one might assume that he was also responsible for the first.

Tale of lovers parted by the girl’s father and the young man’s adventures in foreign lands before he returns and at last wins his bride. From the MSS of J. F. Campbell of Islay. The tale had been told by Joanna MacCrimmon, a native of Skye, who had learnt it from her grand-uncle Angus MacCrimmon about 1835.

The first version has more extensive annotation than the second. Both versions have parallel English translations.

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J. G. Mackay. ‘Social Life in Skye from Legend and Story’. TGSI, 29 (1914-1919), 260-290, 335-350; 30 (1919-1922), 1-26, 128-174.

The author of this account was J. G. Mackay (1848-1924) of Portree. It is written in English, but includes several items in Gaelic. See in this bibliography’s section for poetry and song of known authorship details of poems attributed to Domhnall Gorm Mór and a verse attributed to Domhnall Mór MacCruimein. In the section for anonymous poetry and song see: ‘Tàladh MhicLeòid’ and ‘Iain Dubh mac Ni ‘n Ailein’. The prose tale ‘Baillidh Throndarnais agus a’ Bhan-Bhuidseach’ is noted here. There are several epigrammatic items which I have not listed separately.

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J. G. Mackay. ‘Gruagach an Eilein Uaine’. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 1 (1926), 156-187.

From the MSS of J. F. Campbell of Islay. Noted by Alexander Carmichael in 1861 from the recitation of Domhnall MacCuithein of Fernilea in Skye, who had learnt it as a boy from Donald MacPhee, a miller of Talisker and Waternish.

One might assume that the J.G. Mackay here is J.G. Mackay (1869-1942) of Herts.

The King of Greece and his son, when on a voyage, discover by chance an enchanted Green Isle. The prince falls in love with a beautiful girl who lives there, and his attempts to win her involve him in a series of voyages. One of these takes him to Eilean na h-Oige, the Isle of Youth. He loses the girl in the end, but falls in love with and marries an even more beautiful girl.

There is a parallel English translation, with notes and a summary of the tale. In his notes J. G. MacKay writes that the theme of a journey to the Celtic Otherworld is embodied in several ancient Gaelic MS tales, but that this is the only orally preserved Scottish Gaelic tale known to him in which such a journey is the main theme. For a discussion of the ancient Gaelic voyage-tales to which J. G. MacKay refers, see Myles Dillon’s Early Irish Literature (Dillon 1948: 101-131).

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‘An Tuairisgeal’

i An Gaidheal, 4 (1875), 303-310.

ii TGSI, 34 (1927-1928), 1-112.

A tale noted from the recitation of Angus MacKay of Galmasdale in Eigg, originally contributed to An Gaidheal by Donald C. MacPherson under the pen name ‘Abrach’. Re-presented in TGSI by J.G. Mackay (1869-1942) of Herts. with an introduction (pp. 1-13) which includes lists and descriptions of the several Scottish and Irish versions of the tale, as well as related tales. There follows the text of the tale with an English translation and footnotes (pp. 14-51). Finally, the various versions of the tale are discussed in detail with particular attention being paid to the Eigg version (pp. 52-112).

The Tuairisgeal is a fierce sea giant. The King of Erin’s son is put under geasa to find out how the Tuairisgeal Mór met his death. This results in his embarking on a series of hazardous journeys. All ends happily with the hero marrying the beautiful girl whom he met on his travels.

J. G. Mackay, whose edition of the text differs in some regards from that in An Gaidheal, comments upon the excellent Gaelic idiom of the Eigg version (p. 1). In his concluding notes he remarks that the were-wolf which is a feature of the tale does not, as far as he is aware, occur in any Highland tale other than the five Scottish versions of the ‘Tuairisgeal’. Two of these tales, from Uist, are in the first volume of More West Highland Tales (MacKay 1940: 2-47).

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