Biography

We have very little information about the Skye-born bard, Beathag MacDonald (Beathag Mhòr).

She came from Kilmuir and according to Reverend Donald Budge, who gave a speech about her to the Inverness Gaelic Society in 1973, people in his own lifetime still knew the location of her house, Tobhta Beathaig, "in view of Duntulm Castle and above Càrn Sgoire, looking out over the Minch."

When Beathag was young, she worked as a dairymaid for the Martins of Duntulm and Bealach. As heard from Rev. Budge on a BBC Radio nan Gàidheal programme in 2008:

"She wasn't there long, behind the Bealach, tending the calves and dairy cattle for the Martins, when she and young Martin, son of Donald Martin, fell in love, a love that lasted as long as they both lived. All the songs that have been passed down to us today are about Martin and her love for him."

It was Catriona Douglas who collected and wrote down the little information we have today about Beathag, referring to the circumstances in which the songs were composed. Rev. Budge based the programme on that information.

Once, it seems, Beathag and other dairymaids were sleeping at the sheiling when the cattle broke out of the enclosure during the night:

"That's where the uproar was, that's where the fun was. In the middle of the night they were all running around the cattle, with the young calves at their heels, before they could cause any damage. The cattle did not stop until they reached the shore, at Lag na Feamainn. It was daylight, on an early summer morning, before the cattle were gathered safely back at the sheiling."

As Beathag put it:

Tha fonn gun bhith trom
Hùgaibh ò air a' bhanaraich
Tha fonn gun bhith trom.

Bhrist an crodh a' bhuaile
'S an t-suain air a' bhanaraich.

Nuair a chual' i 'n èigheach
Ri lèine chan fhanadh i.

Fhuair mi leisgeul àlainn
Bha dhà 'n Lag na Feamainn dhiubh.

'S a Mhàrtainn duinn an Dùine
Gun siùbhlainn air m' aineol leat.

Cha sgrìobh mi is cha leugh mi
'S gur fheudar dhuinn dealachadh.

As Beathag did not come from nobility, Young Martin was not allowed to marry her, even when they had a child together.

She went to visit Martin's family, but his father did not welcome her, as she described in a song she composed for her son:

Gur e mo ghaol am fireannach thug ginidh air an fhàinne
Gur e mo ghaol am fireannach thug ginidh air an fhàinne
Gur e mo ghaol am fireannach thug ginidh air an fhàinne
Thug ginidh air, thug ginidh air, thug ginidh air, 's a phàigh e.

An cuala tusa, ghaoil, an-diugh, gun ghabhadh air do mhàthair?
An cuala tusa, ghaoil, an-diugh, gun ghabhadh air do mhàthair?
An cuala tusa ghaoil, an-diugh, gun ghabhadh air do mhàthair?
Air mo chuipigeadh le cuip nan each, an doras Dhòmhnaill Mhàrtainn

The song An Cùl Bachallach, which she composed after she left service for the Martin family, was often sung in Trotternish during waulkings. Rev. Budge explains the name of the song:

"It was the fashion in those days for the men to wear their hair in long locks over their shoulders. And there was no man in the vicinity, in Beathag's eyes, as fair and handsome as Martin. She was so taken with Martin and his hair, the back of which was golden and curly, that she would often look out of the door in the hope that the man she loved would come her way."

There were rumours that Martin was going to marry, but he never did. He left Skye.

According to history, and the patronymic of Clan Martin, Martin became a learned and famous man and is still well known to this day. It was Martin, son of Dòmhnall a' Bhealaich, who wrote a book which is as popular as any written about the Western Isles. That book is Martin Martin's A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland.

Martin passed away in London.

It is believed that Beathag married John Black (mac Iain 'ic Aoidh 'ic Dhòmhnaill) and that her son was raised by the Martin family. But that isn't the end of the story.

A while after she married John Black, a war ship docked in Loch Uig on the Isle of Skye, and there was a ceilidh for the crew and the people in the village. As would be expected, Beathag went to the ceilidh. While she was dancing with a young mariner, going around in a reel, she realised that he was her own and Martin's son, from whom she had separated and had not seen for many years. This meeting awakened the spirit of poetry and music in her. Beathag grew joyful at the happy memories which their meeting brought back to her and she composed, in that moment, the song known as Ruidhle Beathaig [Beathag's Reel].

Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Na ribinnean 's na teafanan a' ruith air feadh mo phòca.

Na ribinnean 's na teafanan a' ruith air feadh mo phòca
Na ribinnean 's na teafanan a' ruith air feadh mo phòca
Na ribinnean 's na teafanan a' ruith air feadh mo phòca
Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh.

Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Nuair a bha mi 'n cùl a' Bhealaich, b' aigeannach mo lòn dhomh
Ged tha mi 'n-diugh aig Iain Dubh, mac Iain 'ic Aoidh 'ic Dhòmhnaill.

List of compositions

An Cùl Bachallach