Buill-chluiche m’òige / Toys of my childhood
Leis an t-Ollamh Dòmhnall E Meek
This story was commissioned as part of our Gaelic Development work. Hopefully, you will enjoy it and find it useful for learning – both about language and about toys!
Am Bodachan-sàbhaidh
Nuair a bha mi nam bhalach anns a’ Chaolas, bhithinn tric a’ dol air chèilidh air Calum a’ Ghobhainn (Calum Dòmhnallach), a bha a’ fuireach ann an ceann a tuath a’ bhaile. ’S e fìor dheagh sgeulaiche a bha ann an Calum, agus bha e eòlach air eachdraidh a’ Chaolais agus Sruth Ghunna. Dh’ionnsaich mi mòran bhuaithe.
’S e gobhainn agus iasgair a bha ann an Calum, agus bha deagh làmh aige airson obair fhiodha cuideachd. Bhiodh e a’ dèanamh rudan beaga annasach a bhiodh a’ glacadh m’ aire nuair a bhithinn còmhla ris.
B’ e aon dhiubh sin am bodachan-sàbhaidh. ’S e cnap buntàta a bha anns a’ bhodachan, agus bhiodh pìos fada fiodha a’ tighinn a-mach às a chorp. Bha eagan no fiaclan anns an fhiodh, coltach ri sàbh. Bhiodh am bodachan-sàbhaidh na shuidhe air lùdagan geur aig ceann sgeilpe, an leithid de dhòigh ’s gun robh an aon chudtrom air gach taobh den lùdagan.
Bheireadh Calum buille da chorraig don bhodachan-sàbhaidh, ’s bhiodh e a’ dol sìos is suas, suas is sìos fad an fheasgair!
The little old saw-man
When I was a boy in Caolas, I would often visit Calum of the Smith’s family (Calum MacDonald), who lived in the north part of the township. Calum was a very fine storyteller, and he knew the history of the township and the Sound of Gunna. I learned a lot from him.
Calum was a smith and a fisherman, and he had a good hand for woodwork too. He used to make unusual little items which caught my attention when I was with him.
One of these was ‘the little old saw-man’. The ‘little old saw-man’ was a potato, with a long piece of wood protruding from his body. Notches or teeth were cut into the wood, resembling a saw. The little old saw-man used to sit on a sharp pivot at the end of a shelf, in such a way that the weight was the same on each side of the pivot.
Calum would give the little old saw-man a tap with his finger, and he would go up and down, down and up, all evening!
When I was a little boy, I was often a nuisance, playing where the big folk were working! Sometimes I would get under their feet, and although they were extremely patient, they would become weary of my tricks.
They had their own good tricks too. Maggie, my grandmother’s sister, was extremely nice to me, and she would look for a kind way of getting me out of the road. One of her ways was to make a ‘wind cock’.
She would take a potato from the ‘potato house’, and she would pull feathers from a bunch which was suspended from one of the rafters. She would put the feathers, one after the other, in the potato, until it resembled a round feathery ball.
Then she would throw the wind cock out the door, and I would chase it. It would run and leap all over the place, driven by the wind, and I would run and leap too, to see if I could catch it. And there was no sign of the nuisance who bothered the big folk!
