Milford chronicle., 1889-04-19
IN THE HIGHLANDS.
Riddles and Music Enjoyed at orofters'
Gathering.


Riddles and Music Enjoyed at Crofters
Gathering.
The local gossip Of the township, being
fortunately unimportant, is quickly disposed
Of, and then it is that the entertainment
proper Of the evening begins The first thing
is a round Of riddles, which gives occasion tc
a great deal of ear scratching and lifting
Of eyes to the rafters overhead in eager
search of the solutions which, when an
nounced, are as often as not absurdly made
quate and astray, and give rise to no little
laughter and amusement These Gaelic rid
dies are mostly in rhymed couplets and are
difficult to render into English, but the fol-
lowing are specimens likely to be pronounced
on such occasions; those present who have
heard them already, and who know the solu-
tons, being considered out of the running,
and understood to be on their honor not to
tell:
who is it that goes across the water and
comes from over the water, whose voice is
not heard, who cannot speak word, and
who yet can tell us a storyP The answer is
( a newspaper. "A girl went out between two
/ woods and returned between two waters;
what was she doingr The answer is that
she went out with pair Of wooden water
returned with them full Of water who is
it that is always cross and combattive, that
never wears a coat of his own but somebody
else'sp The answer is a soldier crab, it is
always found in a whelk or buckle shell, with
threatening claws protruding through the
aperture. What is that species of caper
cailzie Qiteraley, horse of the wood that
owns numerous set Of sharpest teeth, whose
only food is wooden thread, that is always
double bridled but never saddled. and that
can 60 as fast as the wind and yet move not
from the same spotp The answer is a spin
ming wheel Hundreds of better riddles than
these go round, for the Gaels of Alba, as of
Erin, have from very early times been great
propounders of riddles, but as they cannot be
rendered into English without some loss Of
pith and point, and in many cases cannot be
rendered into English at all we must for the
present pass them by
The riddles ended Even Brocair, the fox
hunter of the district, bachelor of middle
age, blind Of TN eye, and with closely cropped
head and stubbly beard, which gives him
marvellous resemblace to one of his own ter
riers, volunteers awhile upon the trumps,"
as the Gaelic phrase is, a proposition which is
received with great favor, for Even is a
thoroughly good fellow, prodigiOus favor
tie wherever he goes, and at the same time
known to be ''as mastery performer on the
trumps," so our host puts it, las is to be
found in all the Highlands" Putting his hand
in one of his capacious pockets land capacious
they had need to be, as we shall afterward
EXPLAIN, he takes out a couple Of bottle corls
of the largest size, to each Of which a Jews
harp is closely bound by bit of string,
there being, as we noticed, notch or narrow
furrow or slit across the head of each cork
for the tongue Of the trump to lie in comfort
ably and without fear of damage while being
carried about in the pockets Of one so con
stantly on the tramp as a Highland fox
hunter, who is out among the hills in all sorts |
Of weather, and liable to any number of rude |
joltings and tumblings as, with dogs at heel |
he scrambles up and adown the toughest |
scaurs and sgridans
Ills Jews halps, we notice. are Of large |
size; in circumference of bulge and length of |
neck and breadth Of tongue more than twice /
the size OF the tiny schoolboy toy trump with |
which we are all familiar Taking the .
trumps, one in each hand, Even places them
in the corners of his mouth, and using the
little finger Of either hand as plectra, where
with to touch the tongue tips he strikes up
"Maclintosh's Lament, -" in a style that makes
exquisitely mellilluous and silvery notes. As
he runs through all the intricate lingering
and many variations Of the marvelously sug-
gestive and wildly plaintve melody, you are
convinced Of two things-that
there is a wealth of exquisite music in the
Jews harp for which you never before gave
it credit and that Even Brocair is thor
oughly and entirely master of all the instlu-
ment can yield He next plays the "Pio-
brachd Of DOnull Dubh, and after that the
wildly sweet and plaintive airs "Cha till mi
tuilleS and "Crodh Chalein mo GhaolP
During the time these beautifully paintive
airs are being played with deftness Of
touch and mastery Of execution even in
minutest details that nothing can surpass, all
the people sit hushed and still as if they were
carved of stone, and it is not little amusing
to see how suddenly, as if at an electric
-ouch, the attitudes and aspect Of us all I'M
lergo the change from grave to gay, when
Even, without hardly a moments interval !
)r intermediate note of prelude or warning,
aunches into the dance music, reels and
itrathspeys Of which Highlanders every s
where are so fond. Bob Of Fettercairn,n z
Lady Mary Ramsay" the Bridge Of
Perth" Lord Macdonald" the Marquis Of
duntley's Highland Flingn-these and other
avorites Even dashes off III a style that Is
imply perfect For airy lightness Of touch,
md faultless precision and pointedness of in
iividual note and phrase, from no other in
trument, not even the violin in the most
nasterly hands, could a eorrecter or more
lulcet rendering be extracted. Good Words