7 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
Well, I'm here late after a much longer and busier day than yesterday was in lngwstksgk land to do a run down of my two, ArdnamurchanPoet and AbercalderNoMore (I am very sorry someone already nabbed LochaberNoMore).
I just did an explanation on AbercalderNoMore here[1], so if you would like to know more about early Canadian settlement, the Gaelic influence in Ontario, and three fascinating Scottish brothers, check that out.
For ArdnamurchanPoet, I was writing about the situation in which Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair (aka Alexander MacDonald--yeah I wasn't thinking when I picked all these super super similar named guys) found himself after the failed Jacobite Rising of 1746. I did play a little bit in implying he left his wife and child homeless in the hills, but what exactly became of Alasdair in his later years is not known. He went into hiding at the same time Prince Charles Edward Stuart did, shortly after his lands and properties were seized, and likely the family did camp in caves in the Highlands. During this time as well, Alasdair wrote a series of poems called the *As-Eiridh*, which he was able to get published with some of the money from the Loch Arkaig treasure. This is what ArdnamurchanPoet is referencing with regard to French and Spanish coin.
One of the poems in this book is called *An Airce*, The Ark, and it is from Ronald Black's translation of that that I quoted in response to /u/RealUEL. Since I got a nice Gaelic judgement from /u/Kelpie-Cat, I returned back another piece of Alasdair's poetry in Gaelic, with only a minor change at the end to customize to our scenario. Translated, that becomes,
You've a hedgehog's visage, a boar's belly-face,
The bone-raven's bosom and the nature of a pig,
The mouth of a catfish and the badger's stench,
Splay feet, heels full of kibes,
The legs of a heron, the lobster's breast,
Festering, scaly, watering eyes--
With inches of bardic satire
I measure you from your brow to your heel
And, you slave, I flay your hide off you
Because you have defamed me, the bold dark Moidartman.
Again, translation credit to Ronald Black. I only changed the last line to put in a phrase Alasdair assigned to himself, instead of the original (better metered) *an Caimbeullach dhubh*, the Black Campbell.
Fun detail, my two are subtly related. Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair fostered Alexander Ruadh's nephew (this is the Glengarry chief and spy), and both men were Captains under Prince Charles, so certainly knew each other.
Comment by lngwstksgk at 03/04/2020 at 00:15 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Also, /u/Kelpie-Cat I am not sure how fluent you are or if a native speaker, but I do apologize for Alasdair's over-the-top poetry. I hope you took it in the spirit of fun in which it was intended.