Story #1 – Cluny MacPherson & the Hen Wife

Click the triangular ‘play’ button below to listen to the story.

The Stories Behind the Stories #1 – Badenoch Folk Tales #1 – Cluny MacPherson & the Hen Wife

Hello all, Hamish Napier here, one of the storytellers for Badenoch Heritage. All of the stories contained within the new Badenoch – The Storylands smartphone app are here on the website now too. Each week I’ll go into a little more detail about the stories themselves: where they came from, where I read them, who I heard them from and a little more background about each one.

Cluny MacPherson was a beloved clan Chief of the 19th century. This story was collected by a great travelling folklorist called Calum MacLean who is the brother of the famous Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean. He collected the story from a local gentleman called Willie McKillop in 1950 when he was recording locals speaking Badenoch Gaelic in one of the Newtonmore hotels. He recorded it on an old tape recorder; he transcribed the recordings of these wonderful local stories but sadly the tapes were wiped, so we’re no longer able to hear what the original Badenoch Gaelic actually sounded like.

This is a hilarious story about a local aristocrat who visits Cluny MacPherson’s house and has clearly lost his marbles – he thinks that he is a brooding hen!

Local Voice Actors

• Hamish Napier – various characters
• Peter Mackay – Prof Blackie
• Sheila Mackay (Newtonmore) – Janet The Hen Wife
• Rob Ritchie (Newtonmore) – Old Cluny

Music

• Album Music: The Foragers, from Hamish Napier ‘The Woods’.
• Highland Pipes: Sandy MacDonell (Kingussie), playing the pibroch ‘The Phantom Piper of the Corrieyairack‘.
• Gaelic song: ‘B’fhearr leam fhin gum beireadh an teile’ sung by Sheila Mackay from Badenoch Waulking Group

Download and listen to all 18 stories on the free Badenoch – The Storylands smartphone app, or alternatively you can listen on your computer and download them here.