A tale of sorrow
Sgeul bròin
Let's have a look at this discussion. By the end of this section, you will have learned some valuable phrases that you can use in lots of different conversations.
Och, tha mi dìreach a' leughadh mu na Fuadaichean a-rithist. 'S e sgeul brònach a th' ann, gun teagamh.
Oh, I'm just reading about the Clearances again. It is a sad story without a doubt.
Chan e sgeul a tha sin, ach eachdraidh—eachdraidh bhrònach. Ach tha thu ceart. Tha sgeul—iomadh sgeul—na lùib.
That is not a story, but history, a sad history. But you are right. There is a story—[there are] many stories—involved.
'S e sgeul a bhios a' sìneadh air ais ceithir linntean gu àm Thuinichean Fìobha agus a' fàgail sliochd nan Gàidheal sgapte air feadh an t-Saoghail.
It is a story that stretches back four centuries to the time of the Fife Adventurers and leaves the descendants of the Gaels scattered all over the World.
Nach tu a bha dìcheallach san sgoil?!
Weren't you diligent at school?!
Cha robh a leithid de dh'eachdraidh againn nuair a bha mise san sgoil.
We didn't have such a history when I was at school.
Seadh. Tha amharas agam gu bheil òraid gu bhith againn. Siuthad, Anna. Dè th' agad dhuinn?
Uh-huh. I suspect we are going to have a lecture. Go ahead, Anna. What do you have for us?
Dh'ionnsaich sinn ged a thòisicheadh Na Fuadaichean beagan an dèidh Chùil Lodair, cha do thachair na Fuadaichean no an imrich ann an aon chnap.
We learned that although the evictions would begin / were started a little after Culloden, neither the evictions nor the migration took place there in one fell swoop [in one lump].
Cha robh fhios agam air a sin.
I didn't know that.
Uill, mu thimcheall 1750 thòisich 'leasachadh' ann an àiteachas san fharsaingeachd, ach gu h-àraidh air na h-oighreachdan arbhartaichte, an dèidh Chùil Lodair.
Well, around 1750 'improvement' began in agriculture in general, but especially on the confiscated/forfeited estates, after Culloden.
Bha fhios agam gun do thachair droch, droch rudan an dèidh Chùil Lodair, ach cha robh fhios agam air 'leasachadh' an fhearainn.
I knew that bad, bad things happened after Culloden, but I didn't know about the 'improvement' of the land.
An uair sin, anns a' chiad ìre cheart eadar 1780 agus 1825, chaidh daoine a chur às an fhearann aca anns na srathan gu costa na mara. Chaidh an sparradh far an fhearainn! Bhiodh cuid aca a' faighinn obair ann an gnìomhachasan mar iasgach is ceilp, gnìomhachasan a chaidh bhuaithe tràth san naoidheamh linn deug.
Then, in the first phase between 1780 and 1825, people were driven from their land in the straths to the coast. They were forced off the land! Some of them would find work in industries such as fishing and kelp, industries that [subsequently] [disappeared]declined? in the early nineteenth century.
Nach do thachair fuadaichean ann an Cataibh mun àm sin?
Didn't the Clearances in Sutherland happen around that time?
Thachair, gu dearbh. B' iad sin, ma dh'fhaodte, na fuadaichean a b' ainmeile is a bu mhì-chliùitiche a bh' ann ann an naidheachd nam Fuadaichean.
They did [happen] indeed. Those were, perhaps, the most well-known and infamous clearances in the story of the Clearances.