TITE GAELIC EDEN. 101 



that the Lios-mor, as we ca' the great garden in Gaelic, 

 stood in its day joost far the nmir o' Badenoch lys noo, 

 an' in nae ither place aneth the sun : is no there an 

 island in the Loch Lhinne that bears the name o' the 

 Lios-mor to this blessed day ? fan I tell you that, an' that 

 I hae seen the island mysel, fa can doubt my word ? " 



"But, Mac, the Bible says the garden was planted 

 eastward, in Eden." 



" Hoot ! ay ; but that disna say but the garden might 

 be in Badenoch ! for Eden is a Gaelic word for a river, 

 an' am shure there 's nae want o' them there ; an' as for 

 its bein' east o'er, that is, when Adam planted the Lios- 

 mor, he sat in a bonny bothan on a brae in Lochaber, 

 an' nae doot lukit eastwar to Badenoch, an' saw a' thing 

 sproutin' an growin' atween 'im an' the sun fan it cam 

 ripplin' o'er the braes frae Atholl in the braw simmer 

 mornings." 



" But, Mac, the Bible further says, they took fig leaves 

 and made themselves aprons ; you cannot say that figs 

 ever grew in Badenoch." 



" Hout-tout ! there's naebody can tell fat grew in 

 Badenoch i' the days of the Lios-mor ; an' altho' nae figs 

 grow noo, there's mony a bony fiag runs yet o'er the 

 braes o' both Badenoch and Lochaber. It was flags' 

 skins, an' no fig blades that they made claes o'. Fiag, I 

 maun tell you, is Lochaber Gaelic for a deer to this 

 day ; an' fan the auld gudeman was getting his repreef for 

 takin' an apple frae the guidwife, a' the beasties in Lios- 

 mor cam roon them, an' among the rest twa bonny raes ; 

 an' fan the gudeman said, f See how miserable we twa 

 are left : there stands a' the bonnie beasties weel clade 



H 3 



