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about

According to one version of an old Scots Celtic seasonal myth, Beira
the Cailleach (the "Old Woman") - a one-eyed, blue giantess who rules over Winter, becomes the Summer goddess Bride when fertility spirit Angus the Bodach (a Gaelic word that nowadays means "Old Man", but which originally referred more to the sexual aspect of masculinity) kisses her at Beltane. She spends winter looking for his return. The description I read had the line “Beira looks for her hero”, which inspired the chorus of this song.

lyrics

Beira

Wance Beira made mountains
An haimert them doon
Wrocht rivers and glens wi a will
Loch Ness an Loch Awe
She made them an aa
Then sat doon tae rest oan her hill

She wis Winter’s blue dame
An she ruled dour an cowld
Frae her seat oan bare Nevis side
Whaur she searched wi her ee
Ower the laund an the sea
Fir somewan tae mak her a bride

Beira, she looks fir her hero
Tae gie her the kiss that caas Spring
Throu the nichts aw sae cowld
Withert an owld
Winter’s Queen waits fir her King

Beira, she looks fir her hero
Tae gie her the kiss that caas Spring
An wid mak her wance mair
A lassie sae fair
Winter’s Queen waits fir her King

Beira the Cailleach
Her herr white as snaw
Herds her deer while
the wind’s makkin mane
Her staff is their guide
Nivver faur frae her side
They’re aa that she hauds as her ain

While she stirs Corryvreckan
She cries tae the stars
An the burns burst their
banks wi her tears
Oan Nevis she stauns
An lays storms ower the laund
While awaitin a chynge in the year

Angus the Bodach
Is cloth’d aa in green
An his spirit is young as the year
As the Bhealltain fires burn
The season will turn
Wi each step tae his luve he draws near

Noo the Bodach he fechts
Throu the holly an broom
An climbs up the wild mountainside
Tae be wi his Queen
An tae him sae she seems
Fir his hert sees the maiden inside

Beira, she smiles at her hero
As he gies her the kiss that caas Spring
An Beira wance mair
Is Queen Bride sae fair
As she lies in the airms o her King

credits

from The Barren Fig (2019), released February 20, 2019

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Bob Leslie Glasgow, UK

Bob Leslie's music is now available on a "NAME YOUR OWN PRICE" basis!
****************
“I can think of no other songwriter who has mined this rich vein
with such lyrical ease and with no mean ear for melody. ”
Alan Reid, Battlefield Band ... more

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