by JOAN MICHAEL
RECENTLY I spent a bit of time on Am Baile, the Highland Council's website where you can find out lots on Highland history and culture. There are photographs, documents, film and audio clips.
One item in particular caught my eye. There are 15 audio clips of Essie Stewart recorded at Ullapool Book Festival in 2008. Essie Stewart is a traditional storyteller from Sutherland and one of the last people to have taken part in the traditional Summer Walking of the travelling families.
She is the granddaughter of Ailidh Dall Stewart (1882-1968), one of the greatest Gaelic storytellers. It was great to hear again extracts from that excellent session. One of my favourite of the stories Essie told was of how Macleod of Assynt made a deal with the Devil. The following is quoted from the transcription that is on the Am Baile website.
"And, you know, there's the, the lovely wee story how Macleod of Assynt was going to sell his soul to the devil to build Ardvreck; he hadn't got the wherewithal to build Ardvreck, and he made a deal with the devil that if he built him the castle then he could have his soul. But when push came to shove even Macleod of Assynt in his greed couldn't go through with it. But when they met, Macleod of Assynt and the devil met, the devil saw his daughter - beautiful young woman. And he said, "I'll tell you what," he said, "I'll build you a castle," but he said, "I want your daughter's hand in marriage." And that beautiful young girl didn't know who she was marrying till her wedding night, and rather than share a bed with the devil, she climbed onto the roof of that castle and threw herself off the roof. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you happen to be walking the shores of Loch Assynt on a beautiful summer's evening, you might still hear her weeping."
There are other audio clips (with transcriptions) from Ullapool. There are 23 entitled Ullapool - Voices from Their Past. This was part of a World War II project carried out by Ullapool Museum and Ullapool Primary School in 2005. Pupils had interviewed locals Mary Catherine Mackenzie and Donny Mackenzie. It's absolutely riveting - Mary Catherine talking about how it was here at home and Donny telling of his time in Burma as one of the Chindits.
You really must listen to it. The website address is www.ambaile.org. Click on Audio under Media Types then type in Ullapool. Fascinating - and humbling.
