Angus MacLellan (1869–1966), styled Aonghas Beag mac Aonghais ’ic Eachainn ’ic Dhòmhnaill
’ic Chaluim ’ic Dhòmhnaill was the only tradition bearer to have received an MBE in recognition of
his services to folklore. He was from Poll Torain, Loch Eynort, South Uist, the youngest son of a
large family of four other boys and four daughters of Angus MacLellan, grass-keeper, and his wife,
Mary, née Wilson.
In 1961, the historian and folklorist John Lorne Campbell of Canna (1906–1996) edited and
published in translation Stories from South Uist, representing but a selection of MacLellan’s
repertoire. Moreover, Campbell also went on to edit and publish MacLellan’s autobiography as The
Furrow Behind Me: The Autobiography of a Hebridean Crofter (1962); a fascinating read for it
touches upon many facets that have both an historical and a sociological significance. The original
Gaelic version of the text, one of the longest to have been published in colloquial Scottish Gaelic,
appeared under the title Saoghal an Treobhaiche [‘The Ploughman’s World’] in a Scandinavian
journal as well as in book format in 1972. Campbell wrote that: “His stories and his memories are
told with a wealth of dialogue and characterization which would do credit to a professional
novelist.”
Campbell in his introduction to MacLellan’s collection of tales provides a fine portrait of the
ninety-year old tradition bearer:
Aonghus Beag is a sturdy, cheerful man, with a very alert mind. He looks far younger than his
ninety years and still conveys the impression of the bodily strength developed by his former
livelihood, that of a ploughman on mainland farms in Perthshire, Argyll, and Dumbartonshire…He
has the reputation of having been one of the most skilled sheep-shearers in South Uist…and as a
storyteller and conversationalist, he never wearies.
Dr Alasdair Maclean, a resident and GP in South Uist for over thirty years, and a brother of
Calum Maclean recalled that:
Angus MacLellan…was clearly jealous if interest was paid to the potential of his richly endowed
sister, Mrs Marion Campbell [known as Bean Nìll]. As they both lived in the same house, that
required tactful handling. I can well remember Calum’s delight in getting from Angus a splendid
version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, as well as many other priceless tales, but I often wonder if the old
lady took to her grave many gems which he might otherwise have unlocked. Her daughter Mrs Kate
MacDonald (Bean Eairdsidh) produced for him a phenomenal number of songs…
It is altogether remarkable that a story should have survived at all into the twentieth century and one
which is fairly faithful to the manuscript versions from whence it probably entered into the oral
tradition of Uist via the MacVuirichs, the hereditary bards to the Clanranalds. The learned tradition
of Gaelic culture as represented by these outstanding poets and historians had not a little influence
upon folklore that was later recovered by various collectors during the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries:
Last summer [1959] a variant of the Táin Bó Cúailnge was recorded from Angus MacLellan of
Frobost, South Uist, the tale of Cu Chulainn that took shape in the 7th century or probably earlier
and that was the subject of study by every great name in the Celtic scholarship of Europe from
Windisch and Thurneysen onwards.
Maclean who later published the transcribed text in 1959 along with a translation and notes gives
the following brief description of the tradition bearer telling the story:
On the 11th of June [1959] I saw Angus MacLellan of Frobost uncover his head in honour of Cu
Chullain and then proceed to tell the heroic saga of Cu Chullain’s first feat, his exploits to take
forcible possession of the Donn Ghuailleann, and his death after he had slain Fear Diad Mac
Deafain.
In his notes that accompany this ancient tale, Maclean records the background details of how it
entered MacLellan’s repertoire:
Angus heard the story about 70 years ago from the late Donald MacDonald of Peninerine,
Dòmhnall mac Dhonnchaidh, a stonemason who, it appears, built the MacLellan family house in
Loch Eynort…Donald was the father of the late Duncan MacDonald, a storyteller…Donald
MacDonald died, if I remember rightly, in the early twenties. He belonged to a line of noted
storytellers and poets to the MacDonalds of Skye, who had lands in North Uists…
Given that another South Uist storyteller called Duncan MacDonald was reckoned by Maclean to
have been the most skilful storyteller that he had ever met in either Scotland or Ireland, it is
remarkable that this tale, one of the most prestigious stories to be in any storyteller’s repertoires,
was not known to him, despite the very fact that MacLellan heard it from Duncan’s father himself:
Strangely enough, the Donn Ghuaillean story did not go further in the family than Donald himself,
for his son, Duncan, did not have it, although he inherited a great deal of his father’s store. If the
story came down directly in the family—although that cannot be ascertained now—it came, we can
assume, from North Uist.
MacLellan’s repertoire, however, came from a variety of sources, numbering a good dozen or more,
such as another outstanding South Uist storyteller:
Alasdair MacIntyre [Alasdair Mòr mac Iain Dheirg] was a shepherd and lived in a remote place to
the east side of Ben More. It was from him that old Angus MacLellan of Frobost learned most of his
tales, and old Alasdair used to walk from the back of Ben More to Ormiclate to record tales for the
late Dr Alasdair Carmichael over 70 years ago…
Such was the storytelling prowess of both Alasdair MacIntyre and MacLellan’s father, also called
Angus, that they could hold an audience captive for many a long hour:
Old Alasdair and Angus MacLellan’s father, Aonghas mac Eachainn, were close friends. One day
Alasdair Mòr called at the MacLellan home on his way to Lochboisdale. “No one went to bed in
their house that night. They all remained by the fire as the two old men went on storytelling,” said
Donald [MacIntyre from Loch Eynort]
Over many years Campbell recorded, initially at the behest of Calum Maclean, many of
MacLellan’s stories and reminiscences and, afterwards, was prompted to say something of his own
lifestory. Of over one hundred and thirty items recorded from MacLellan’s recitation, forty-two
were prepared for publication as well as his autobiography, recently reprinted. The range of material
in MacLellan’s repertoire is representative of earlier collections such as those made by the
collectors employed by John Francis Campbell during the nineteenth century.
At the grand old age of ninety-seven MacLellan died unmarried at Frobost, South Uist, on 19
March 1966, and was buried at Hanlainn on that island.