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Gaelic Literature
of the Traditional Prose: collections and
collectors |
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This page is best viewed on a
desktop or laptop PC MACLEAN,
Calum I. (1915-1960) A native of Raasay and brother of the
poet Sorley MacLean
(Somhairle MacGill-Eain), Calum I. MacLean was a distinguished collector of
both Irish and Scottish Gaelic oral literature. He started his career with the Irish
Folklore Commission, collecting, recording and cataloguing, and then in 1951
he joined the staff of the Upon the twenty-fifth anniversary of
Calum MacLean’s death, the School of Scottish Studies published a
commemorative issue of its periodical Tocher(39:
Spring 1985), with memoirs from his brothers Alasdair and Sorley and several
friends and colleagues, as well as transcriptions of a selection of the material
in the School’s Sound Archives which had been recorded by him. Details of poetry and song collected by Calum
MacLean in his native Raasay and in Skye will be found in the Calum
I. MacLean Collection.
Listed below is prose material from Raasay, Skye and Canna which has
been collected by him. A considerable
amount of material recorded by him in other parts of the Gaidhealtachd has been published, and much more is
to be found in the archives of the Irish Folklore Commission and the ____________ Calum Mac
Gilleathain. ‘Sgéalta an Albain’. Béaloideas:
the Journal of the Folklore of Four tales noted by Calum MacLean from his aunt,
Peggie MacLean, who had learnt them from Caitriona Uilleim of Raasay. The introductory note is in Irish Gaelic
(p. 227), the texts of the tales are in Scottish Gaelic (pp. 237-244), and
summaries and notes are in English (pp. 244-246). i ‘Conall Ulaban, Mac Righ Cruachan’, pp.
237-242. A romantic folktale which includes
aspects of the heroic tales and tales of magic. Conall is lost in a magic mist through the machinations of his jealous
stepmother. His adventures start with
the rescue of a woman and a child from a man-eating giant. After many more adventures he comes before
the king, who turns out to be the child whom he rescued long ago and all ends
happily. The tale has several verse ‘runs’
and fragments of these are given by Calum’s brother Sorley on pp. 393-395 of
his ‘Some Raasay Traditions’ (TGSI,
49:377-397). These fragments amount to
just under half of the total ‘runs’ in Peggie MacLean’s version
of ‘Conall’. There are textual
variations as well, although Sorley’s source was Caitriona Uilleim, who had
also been Peggie MacLean’s source. See also ‘Latha dhomh air Sliabh an
Deirg an Erinn’ in the section for anonymous poetry and song. ii ‘Uilleam Bi ‘d Shuidhe’, pp. 242-243. Uilleam, by means of trickery and
quick wit, gets the better of a mean old woman. For another version of this tale, see ‘Cas
Shiubhail an t-Sléibhe’ noted below.
J. G. MacKay discusses the variety of Scottish and Irish versions of this tale in ‘Comh-Abartachd
Eadar Cas-Shiubhal-an-t-Sléibhe agus a’ Chailleach Bheurr’ (Scottish Gaelic Studies 3:10-51). iii ‘Sgrìob Liath an Earraich’, pp. 243-244. A foolish woman is tricked into
giving the family store of food to a man who claims to be ‘Sgrìob Liath an
Earraich’. iv ‘Na Sìthichean agus an Coire’, p. 244. Tale of a woman whose cauldron is
borrowed every day by a fairy woman and returned each evening with meat in
it. ____________ A version of ‘Uilleam Bi ‘d
Shuidhe’ noted above. An old woman’s
long lost son returns and, before revealing his identity, engages in a
contest of wit with his mother. Calum MacLean noted this tale from
the recitation of Aonghus MacDhomhnaill, who had been born and brought up in
Kilmuir, Skye and had spent all his working life in To the list of published versions
of this tale which Calum MacLean gives in his notes, may be added one from
Berneray, Harris (An Gaidheal Og,
11:9-10). ____________ Account of two children’s games,
recorded from the Rev. Tormod Domhnallach.
See the Tormod Domhnallach
Collection. ____________ Calum
Mac ‘Ill’ Eathain. ‘Clann ‘ic Nìll
an Canaidh’. Canna: the Story of a An account of the
MacNeills of Canna. Recorded by Calum
MacLean from Angus MacDonald, Aonghus Eachainn, with English translation by
J. L. Campbell. |
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© Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 2018