Important Events in Hebridean History
Pictish Life (with audio)
Main Article
David Simon
It is my job to mind the baby while the older ones work. The men are out on the shore, fishing for saithe while the boys gather bait.
The women are up on the hill where the sheep are grazed, turning the peats. I have work to do too, the cow to keep off the roof of the house, and all this barley grain to grind while the baby sleeps. In the old days they did it by rubbing a round stone back and forth against a hollowed stone. That was hard work, and sometimes it made your fingers bleed. But now I turn this quern round and round with a stick, as I chant a lullaby over and over, but still it makes me weary. If the baby wakes, I'll make him a rattle from the barley straw.
When the rain comes, I'll take him down into the warm deep darkness of the house, and we'll sit at the fire away from the shadows and stir the pot until the others come home for their food.
Sometimes the men come back with strange stories. There is talk of Northmen who fly across the ocean in dragon boats. They kill the men with glittering swords, and steal the women. If they stay, they wreck the villages and build their longhouses there instead, and take over the land.
Surely these stories cannot be true. I pray that we can always live here in peace as we do now, and that the Northmen will never come.
'S mise a bhios ag altramas an leanaibh fhad 's a tha an fheadhainn as sine ag obair. Tha na fir ag iasgach airson saoitheanan a-muigh air a' chladach, agus na balaich a' cruinneachadh baoit.
Tha na boireannaich shuas anns a' mhonadh far a bheil ionaltradh nan caorach, a' togail na mònach. Tha obair agamsa ri dhèanamh cuideachd, a' cumail na bà air falbh bhon tobhta, agus a' bleith na tha seo de mhin-eòrna fhad 's a tha an leanabh na cadal. Anns na seann làithean 's ann a bhiodh iad a' suathadh clach chruinn air ais agus air adhart ri cloich eile anns an robh sloc. Bha an obair sin cruaidh, agus uaireannan thigeadh an fhuil às do chorragan. A-nis cha bhi mi ach a' cur na brà seo mun cuairt le maide, agus a' seinn tàladh a-rithist agus a-rithist, ach tha e a cheart cho sgìth orm. Ma dhùisgeas an leanabh, nì mi gliogan dhi le gasan eòrna.
Nuair a thig an t-uisge, thèid sinn sìos a dhorchadas bhlàth an taighe, agus suidhidh sinn ris an teine air falbh bho na sgàilean a' cur na praise troimhe-chèile gus an tig càch dhachaigh airson am biadh.
Uaireannan thig na fir air ais le sgeulachdan neònach. Tha iad a' bruidhinn mu Lochlannaich a bhios a' sgèith tarsainn air a' chuan ann am bàtaichean dràgoin. Bidh iad a' marbhadh nam fireannaich le claidhnean lainnireach, agus a' toirt air falbh nam mnathan. Ma dh'fhuiricheas iad, bidh iad a' sgrios nam bailtean agus a' togail an taighean-fada nan àite, agus a' gabhail a-null an fhearainn.
'S cinnteach nach eil na sgeulachdan sin fìor. 'S e mo ghuidhe gum faod sinn fuireach an seo gu bràth ann an sìth mar a tha sinn an-dràsta, agus nach tig na Lochlannaich a-chaoidh.
Audio Interpretations
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Associated Locations
This event is associated with some locations in the Hebrides. For more details on these, see the list below, or go to the Interactive Explorer.
