much as an arrow around
And without keen sight in the eye.
(in Menzies 2012, 92-93)
When he reached Taigh nam Fleadh – the House of Feasts, the triumphant party was all but over and most of the guests had gone home.
’S fada leam o sguir mi ’n fhiadhach,
’S gun ann ach an ceò de ’n bhuidheann
Leis am bu bhinn guth nan gadhar,
Gun mheadhair, gun òl, gun bhruidhinn.
It’s wearisome to me since I stopped hunting,
And there’s only the mist of the company
For whom the voice of the hounds was sweet,
No mirth, no drinking, no banter.
(ibid 96-97)
Dòmhnall decided it was time to head for home as well. He turned north down the narrow glen to Fersit – Fearsaid, where he had his winter quarters. While he was nearing Strone - An t-Sròn, possibly Sròn na Garbh-bheinne, he heard an owl hooting, from the nearby woods.
One tradition has it that this was the starting point for the composition of Òran na Comhachaig - Song of the Owl (Rankin 1958 & Menzies 2012). The song was composed in the last quarter of the 16th century and transcribed several times over by different writers. Various versions had become very popular in the Highlands through word of mouth by the middle of the 18th century. It is likely that Donnchadh Bàn Macintyre would have been familiar with Òran na Comhachaig (see next chapter).
The story is set in Lochaber on the northern and eastern edges of Rannoch Moor and focuses on; Loch Trèig, and Creag Ghuanach or Uanach (plate 18). This is a ‘territory of straths and mountains that are drenched with memories of the warrior society in its hunting aspect’ (MacInnes in Newton 2006, 303). On its southern and eastern boundaries, it marches with the domain of Donnchadh Bàn Macintyre in Breadalbane (figure 3). Reflecting Fenian tradition and anticipating the practice of Macintyre in many of his songs, Òran na Comhachaig makes frequent use of place-names to mark and define its preferred landscape and territory. Almost 30 are used in what MacInnes, in his essay on the Panegyric Code in Gaelic Literature, calls ‘an heroic roll-call’ (ibid 303). Òran na Comhachaig is clearly connected both thematically and stylistically with earlier Fian lore. Over 20 place-names can still be located with certainty on contemporary maps.
Plate 18: Creag Ghuanach and Loch Trèig, Lochaber.
Figure 3: Songlands in Breadalbane and Lochaber.
Although it is a long poem of 72 verses, Òran na Comhachaig can be divided into three parts, beginning and ending with the Fianloric device of dialogue, with which Dòmhnall must have been familiar. We begin with a conversation between the poet and an ancient owl. The upright posture and forward facing eyes set in a disc-like face meant that traditionally, owls were often attributed with the powers of speech. ’Nuair a bha Gàidhlig aig na h-eòin, b’ e sin linn an àigh - when the birds spoke Gaelic, that was the age of joy’, is a well known saying or seanfhacal (literally old word).
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