Fairy Lullaby

[puxill]

{bhon Carmina Gadelica}

Air bainne nam fiadh a thogadh mi,
Air bainne nam fiadh a shelbhaich,
Air bainne nam fiadh fo dhruim nan sian,
Air bharr na sliabh 's nan garbhlach.

Comments

[kimuro]

In Scotland and Ireland, the daoine sìth are closely identified with deer. In some stories, they can transform into and out of deer form. In others, they seem to use them as cattle - milking them and tending to them.

The Scottish Gaelic word for deer used here is feidh which is pronounced fey - which happens to be my preferred word for one out of or associated with Faerie. When I read this poem, instead of "of the milk of deer", my mind provided "on the milk of fey" which gives me the mental image of a còineachan grown - a child stolen by fairies grown to full-size - singing the song to her own infant.