Heartbreak Through Her Eyes By Maggie McPhee
I want to tell you about my son, Jamie Macpherson. His father and I met at a wedding, he was a Highland laird and a very charming man. Back then I was a young Traveller girl. A few months later, in 1675, Jamie was born in Banff, Scotland. His father took my wean fae me to be brought up in Invereshie House. Those years without my Jamie were hard. I would travel far to his father’s kain and watch him quietly from the shadows of the trees as he played gird and cleek with his nurse-maid in the garden.
Many times I wanted to cry out to him, to hold him but I couldn’t and it broke my heart. When Jamie’s father died a few years later he came looking for me and my people. We took Jamie into our clan and he fitted just right. As time went on Jamie grew to be a handsome young man. He was so tall and strong and could out-fence any man with a sword. Musically gifted, he would often sit aroond the campfire, playing the fiddle and we would listen as his beautiful melodies filled the air.
As Jamie got older he wandered the countryside with a puckle of nae yoosers, robbing from the bien hantle. But he was always good and kind to the poor. Everyone liked my boy, except for his enemy the sleekit Lord Braco, a rich landowner with a grudge. One day, Jamie and his friends were at the St Rufus Fair in Keith, Braco and his men attacked them viciously, killing one man. Jamie’s armed crew fought back with all their might but they were overpowered and taken to Banff prison.
Soon, Judge Dunbar, a friend of Lord Braco, sentenced my Jamie to be hung just for being a Traveller. With fear and desperation, I made my way to Turriff where I begged and pleaded for my laddie’s life. They took pity on me and showed mercy for my boy and gave him a reprieve. I fled from the courtroom. I rode back fast to Banff but I was too late – my boy was gone from this world. Lord Braco heard about the reprieve, he knew it was going to save my boy’s life so he put the clock forward 15 minutes and Jamie was hanged. My heart broke into a million pieces and I fell to the grund sobbing.
It was later on that they told me how brave Jamie was – how he stood at the bottom of the gallows and played a soulful tune on his fiddle. When he finished, he offered up his fiddle to anyone who was standing there but nae haet would take it. So, he broke it on the gallows and flung it on the grund. After the hanging, one of Jamie’s friends picked up the fiddle, wrapped it in a shawl and gave it to me. I locked it in the family kist as it was all I had left of my son.
Jamie Macpherson died on November 16th 1700.
I’ve lived a life of sturt strife
I die by treachery
At once my heart, I must depart
And not avenged be.
Maggie McPhee, the author of this piece
Maggie McPhee, the author of this piece