The following two stanzas refer to the Mackenzies of Kilcoy and their property:—
Nuair a ghlaodhas paisdean tigh Chulchallaidh, ‘Tha slige ar mortairean dol thairis!’ Thig bho Chròidh madadh ruadh Bhi’s ’measg an t-sluaigh mar mhadadh-alluidh, Rè da-fhichead bliadhna a’s corr, ’S gum bi na chòta iomadh mallachd; ’N sin tilgear e gu falamh brònach Mar shean sguab air cùl an doruis; A’s bithidh an tuath mhor mar eunlaith sporsail, ’S an tighearnan cho bochd ris na sporais— Tha beannachd ’san onair bhoidhich, A’s mallachd an dortadh na fola.
Nuair bhitheas caisteal ciar Chulchallaidh Na sheasaidh fuar, agus falamh, ’S na cathagan ’s na rocuis Gu seolta sgiathail thairis, Gabhaidh duine graineal comhnuidh, Ri thaobh, mi-bheusal a’s salach, Nach gleidh guidhe stal-phosaidh, ’S nach eisd ri cleireach no caraid, Ach bho Chreag-a-chodh gu Sgire na Toiseachd Gum bi muisean air toir gach caileag— A’s ochan! ochan! s’ ma leon, Sluigidh am balgaire suas moran talamh!
When the girls of Kilcoy house cry out, ‘The shell (cup) of our murderers is flowing over.’ A fox from Croy will come Who shall be like a wolf among the people During forty years and more, And in his coat shall be many curses; He shall then be thrown empty and sorrowful, Like an old besom behind the door; The large farmers will be like sportful birds, And the lairds as poor as the sparrows— There’s a blessing in handsome honesty And curses in the shedding of blood.
When the stern Castle of Kilcoy Shall stand cold and empty, And the jackdaws and the rooks Are artfully flying past it, A loathsome man shall then dwell Beside it, indecent and filthy, Who will not keep the vow of the marriage coif, Listen neither to cleric nor friend; But from Creag-a-Chow to Ferrintosh The dirty fellow will be after every girl— Ochan! Ochan!! woe’s me, The cunning dog will swallow up much land.
The history of the Kilcoy family has been an unfortunate one in late years, and the second and last lines of the first stanza clearly refer to a well-known tragic incident in the recent history of this once highly-favoured and popular Highland family.
Mr. Maclennan applies them to an earlier event, and says:—“The second and last line of the first stanza refer to the following story—Towards the latter end of the seventeenth century a large number of cattle, in the Black Isle, were attacked with a strange malady, which invariably ended in madness and in death. The disease was particularly destructive on the Kilcoy and Redcastle estates, and the proprietors offered a large sum of money as a reward to any who should find a remedy. An old warlock belonging to the parish agreed to protect the cattle from the ravages of this unknown disease, for the sum offered, if they provided him with a human sacrifice. To this ghastly proposal the lairds agreed. A large barn at Parkton was, from its secluded position, selected as a suitable place for the horrid crime, where a poor friendless man, who lived at Linwood, close to the site of the present Free Church manse, was requested, under some pretence, to appear on a certain day. The unsuspecting creature obeyed the summons of his superiors; he was instantly bound and disembowelled alive by the horrid wizard, who dried the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and reduced them to powder, of which he ordered a little to be given to the diseased animals in water. Before the unfortunate victim breathed his last, he ejaculated the following imprecation:—‘Gum b’ ann nach tig an latha ’bhitheas teaghlach a Chaisteil Ruaidh gun oinseach, na teaghlach Chulchallaidh gun amadan’. (Let the day never come when the family of Redcastle shall be without a female idiot, or the family of Kilcoy without a fool.) It appears, not only that this wild imprecation was to some extent realised, but also that the Brahan Seer, years before, knew and predicted that it would be made, and that its prayer would be ultimately granted.”