Beira
Queen of Winter
Dark Beira was the mother of all the gods and goddesses in Scotland. She was of great height and very old, and everyone feared her.Often on stormy nights in early winter she wandered about, singing this sorrowful song:
O life that ebbs like the seal
I am weary and old, I am weary and old--
Oh! how can I happy be
All alone in the dark and the cold.I'm the old Beira again,
My mantle no longer is green,
I think of my beauty with pain
And the days when another was queen.My arms are withered and thin,
My hair once golden is grey;
’Tis winter--my reign doth begin
Youth's summer has faded away.Youth's summer and autumn have fled
I am weary and old, I am weary and old.
Every flower must fade and fall dead
When the winds blow cold, when the winds blow cold.
The aged Beira was fearsome to look upon. She had only one eye, but the sight of it was keen and sharp as ice and as swift as the mackerel of the ocean. Her complexion was a dull, dark blue, and this is how she sang about it:
Why is my face so dark, so dark?Her teeth were red as rust, and her locks, which lay heavily on her shoulders, were white as an aspen covered with hoar frost. On her head she wore a spotted mutch. All her clothing was grey, and she was never seen without her great dun-coloured shawl, which was drawn closely round her shoulders.
So dark, oho! so dark, ohee!
Out in all weathers I wander alone
In the mire, in the cold, ah me!
It is told also that Beira let loose many rivers and formed many lochs, sometimes willingly and sometimes against her will, and that she also shaped many bens and glens. All the hills in Ross-shire are said to have been made by Beira.
The only tool that Beira used was a magic hammer. When she struck it lightly on the ground the soil became as hard as iron; when she struck it heavily on the ground a valley was formed. After she had built up a mountain, she gave it its special form by splintering the rocks with her hammer. If she had made all the hills of the same shape, she would not have been able to recognize one from another.
After the mountains were all formed, Beira took great delight in wandering between them and over them. She was always followed by wild animals. The foxes barked with delight when they beheld her, wolves howled to greet her, and eagles shrieked with joy in mid-air. Beira had great herds and flocks to which she gave her protection-nimble-footed deer, high-horned cattle, shaggy grey goats, black swine, and sheep that had snow-white fleeces. She charmed her deer against the huntsmen, and when she visited a deer forest she helped them to escape from the hunters.
Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend
By Donald Alexander Mackenzie, 1917
