Sunny side up

By Kathleen Jamie

Once upon a time there was an Irish king called Sweeney. Christianity was arriving on his pagan shores, and in anger or dismay Sweeney attacked a certain Saint Ronan. That cleric did what they did in those days: he cursed Sweeney, maddened him, and turned him into a creature half man, half bird.

In this form Sweeney roved through Ireland and, legend has it, leapt the sea to Scotland, to the Inner Hebridean island of Eigg, where he dwelt in a cave. Maybe there’s a touch of Sweeney in many of us, driven half daft by the modern world, seeking retreat. His name has been preserved in a new, purpose-built bothy on Eigg, a one-room off-grid artist’s retreat.