Dance The Isle of Skye 3152

The most northerly of the Inner Hebrides, the largest of the Western Isles and the nearest to the mainland, Skye is arrestingly, grandly beautiful. The island is shaped rather like a lobster, the body running from Waternish toward Broadford, the tail from Sleat across to Kyleakin, with the giant claw of Trotternish and the smaller claw of Durinish.

Skye – EIlean Sgiathanach, from the Norse Skuyo – Elean a Cheo, Isle of Mist – is about fifty miles long and twenty-three miles wide, a water-girt land of moors and hills, separated from the mainland by the Sound of Sleat, Kyle Rhea, Loch Alsh and the Inner Sound, and from the Outer Hebrides by the Minch. Skye’s misty ocean climate combines with its many lochs and its towering hills to create ever-changing scenic splendour. The island is a place of infinite variety, a presentation of great contrasts from ruined castles to the white-washed houses of Portree, from the lonely sheep-covered hills to the startling range of the Black Cuillins, surely a backdrop for Wagnerian opera.

From its very beginnings, Skye was a land of strife. In 794 the island was invaded by the Norse who used Skye as a stepping stone in their master plan for establishing Norse power from Shetland to the present-day Dublin. After 875 these Northerners came as settlers but their life on the island was not peaceful for they came under frequent attack from the Scottish mainland. King Haakon of Norway, hence “Kyle Akin” where he anchored his fleet, came to the aid of the harrassed Olav the Black, Norse King of the Isles, but he was defeated by Alexander III on 2 October, 1263, at Largs on the Ayrshire coast, an event that ended in the ceding of all the Hebrides to Scotland. With the eviction of the Norse, control was returned to the Gaels and the island was ruled by two clans, the MacLeods with their stronghold at Dunvegan Castle which Dr Johnson said looked “as though it had been let down from heaven by the four corners, to be the residence of a chief”, and the MacDonalds of Sleat, cadets of the Lords of the Isles and the Earls of Ross. For centuries Skye existed as a nearly independent kingdom until James V visited what was thereafter called Portree, Port an Righ, in 1540 and won over the islanders. It was left to his grandson, James VI, to end the feuding between the MacLeods and the MacDonalds.

Skye came into the limelight at the end of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and one single adventure brought Skye to the attention of the western world and created the mystique that has since attached itself to the island. From mid-April, after the defeat at Culloden, until late June, Prince Charles Edward had been fleeing the Hanoverian troops, with a price of £30,000 on his head and dependent upon courageous and sympathetic Highlanders willing to shelter him or to speed him on his way through the Western Highlands and the islands of the Hebrides. (See “The Eight Men of Moidart”) In June, 1746, the prince had taken refuge on the island of Benbecula, between North and South Uist, the territory of the MacDonalds of Clanranald. On Skye, Lady Margaret MacDonald, wife of Sir Alexander MacDonald and daughter of Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton (See “The Montgomeries’ Rant”), received information through Hanoverian officers of the prince’s plight and his general whereabouts and she set about arranging his escape from the British forces which were closing the net about him. Lady Margaret sent word to young Flora MacDonald (1722–1790), her protegée, daughter of Ranald MacDonald of Milton in South Uist whose widow had married Hugh MacDonald of Armadale on Skye who was, by an odd coincidence, at the time in South Uist in command of the militia searching for the prince. Flora was sent to visit her brother at Milton and after she had arranged for a boat to take the prince and herself to Skye she was arrested for questioning in the house of Lady Clanranald, who was aiding her in her plans. Fortunately, it was her step-father before whom she appeared and he, perhaps with full knowledge, arranged a safe conduct back to Skye for Flora and a new maid, one Betty Burke. Flora and the prince crossed the stormy Minch in an open boat and, after having been fired upon by watchful troops, managed to land at Trotternish very near to Monkstadt House, the home of Lady Margaret. Leaving the disguised prince hidden on the shore, Flora went in search of Lady Margaret whom she found entertaining Major General John Campbell of Mamore and his officers to dinner. When Flora could take Lady Margaret aside they arranged that the prince would spend the night at Kingsburgh House, the home of Alexander MacDonald and Flora’s future father-in-law. Next day, Prince Charles Edward and an escort set out for Raasay, via Portree where he said farewell to Flora. He found Raasay dangerously small and, after several more days of fugitive wandering, he went to Elgol on Loch Scavaig and in early July he returned to the mainland for another period of hiding by loyal adherents until 19 September when he boarded L’Hereux and sailed for France.

In November Flora was arrested for her part in the escape of the prince and was taken to London where she was held in custody until the passing of the Indemnity Act of 1747. She then returned to Skye, married Allan MacDonald and emigrated to North Carolina in 1774 where she and her family lived until she returned home in 1779.

A note appended to this dance in the R.S.C.D.S. Book 10 states that it was later set to “Twa Bonnie Maidens”, with words by James Hogg, “The Ettrick Shepherd” (1770–1835).

There are twa bonnie maidens, and three bonnie maidens,
   Cam’ owre the Minch, and cam’ owre the main,
Wi’ the wind for their way, and the corry for their hame,
   And they are dearly welcome to Skye again.
Come along, come along, wi’ your boatie and your song,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens,
For the night it is dark and the red-coat is gone,
   And ye are dearly welcome to Skye again.

There is Flora, my honey, sae dear and sae bonnie,
   And ane that’s sae tall, and sae handsome withall;
Put the one for my kind, and the other for my queen,
   And they are dearly welcome to Skye again.
Come along, come along wi’ your boatie and your song,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens,
For the Lady Macoulain she dwelleth her lane,
   And she’ll welcome you dearly to Skye again.

Her arm it is strong, and her petticoat is long,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens;
The sea mouillit’s nest I will watch o’er the main
   And ye are bravely welcome to Skye again.
Come along, come along, wi’ your boatie and your song,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens;
And saft sall ye rest where the heather it grows best,
   And ye are dearly welcome to Skye again.

There’s a wind on the tree, and a ship on the sea,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens,
Your cradle I’ll rock on the lea of the rock,
   And ye’ll aye be welcome to Skye again.
Come along, come along, wi’ your boatie and your song,
   My ain bonnie maidens, my twa bonnie maidens;
Mair sound sall ye sleep as ye rock o’er the deep,
   And ye’ll aye be welcome to Skye again.