Transcript

Agus chaith mé seal tamailt ar cuairt
Go mbreathnóchainn uaim an spéir,
Ó, thart fá na hoileáin ar ruaig
Mar (sheilg) is cú ina déidh.
Sé a deireadh 'ach duine fán chuan
Nuair a thuirinn[1] mé anuas fán chéidh,
"Ó, aithnim[2] go maith ar do ghruaim
Gur fear thú a bhfuil ruaig i do dhéidh."

Órú, chonaic mé fear as tír mór
Is é ag reathaigh[3] go mór inné,
Agus deir siad gur tusa an fear óg
A bhfuilthear le tóir ina dhéidh.

Órú, thuit mé 'un tursa is 'un bróin
Nuair a tharlaigh an óigbhean daom,
"Cá háit a bhfaighinn gloine le n-ól
A thógfadh an brón seo daom?"
"Tá teach beag i leataobh an ród
Is coinneann[4] sí i gcónaí braon,
Gabh thusa agus rapáil an bord
'S ní dhíolfaidh do phócaí aon phínn."

(Órú, ar a) choil[5] isteach ' dtoigh an óil domh,
B'fhaiteach go leor mé ag suí,
Ar eagla is go dtiocfadh an tóir
Is go mbainfí an óigbhean daom.
Ní rabh mise i bhfad ' dtoigh an óil
Gur chruinnigh an t-aos óg 'un toighe,
'Ach duine is a jug ina dhorn
Le comóradh ' thabhairt don (digh).

Bhí biotáilte fairsing go leor
Is beagán dá hól sa tír,
Dá n-ólfainn galún Uí Dhónaill
Ní dhíolfadh mo phócaí aon phínn.

(Órú, ar a) choil amach as toigh an óil domh
D'fhiafraigh an óigbhean daom,
"Cá háit a mbíonn tú i do chónaí
Nach gcoinneann tú cró duid féin?"
"Ó bím, arú, seal dtoigh an óil,
Is ní théanaim[6] mo chuid lóin den phínn,
Ach an méid a shaothraim sa lá, arú,
A chaitheamh le spórt san oích'."

Agus (is amaideach) cruinniú an lóin
Nó tiocfaidh cuid mhór dár saol,
(Óir is fearr duid toiseacht go hóg)
Is beidh cuidiú (ár gcomhair) arís.
Ara, stad de do mhagadh níos mó,
Ní duine den tseórt sin mé,
Nach rachainn os coinne do shróin,
Amach as tír mór a[7] léim.

Ó, is doiligh do mholadh (le feabhas),
Is tú a lagaigh go mór mo chroí,
Gan duine dá bhfeicfeadh an tseod
Nach dtuitfeadh 'un bróin (san digh).
Do leithéid ní fhacas go fóill
Ó, i mbealach ná i ród dá mbínn,
Dá gcasfaí thú i mBéal an Áth' Móir
Bheadh cailíní óga (ar pínn).

Translation

And I spent a while travelling
So that I might see the sky before me,
Oh, around the islands being chased
Like game(?) with a hound after her.
Everyone around the harbour said
When I descended down at the pier,
"Oh, I can easily tell by your gloom
That you are a man who is being chased."

Oh, I saw a man from the mainland
Running swiftly yesterday,
Any they say that you are the young man
Who is being pursued.

Oh, I became tired and sad
When I met the young woman,
"Where would I get a glass to drink
Which would lift this sorrow from me?
"There is a small house by the road
And she always keeps a drop,
Let you go and rap on the table
And your pockets will not pay any penny."

Oh, when(?) I went into the drinking house,
I was scared enough as I sat,
Afraid that the pursuing party would come
And that the young woman would be taken from me.
I had not been in the drinking house for long
When the young people gathered to the house,
Everyone with a jug in their fist
To celebrate the drink(?).

The spirits were plentiful
And little of it was being drunk in the country,
If I drank O'Donnell's gallon
My pockets would not pay a penny.

Oh, when(?) I went out of the drinking house
The young woman asked me,
"Where is it that you live
Do you not keep a place for yourself?"
"Oh, I spend a while in the drinking house,
And I do not make enough money for myself (?),
But the amount I earn in the day, oh,
Is spent with fun in the night."

And (...) to gather supplies (?)
Much of our lives will come (?),
Because you had better start young (?)
And there will be help (...) again.
Ara, stop your teasing now,
I am not that sort of a person,
Wouldn't I go in front of you,
Out of the mainland with a jump.

Oh, it is hard to praise you (...),
It is you who weakened my heart greatly,
Everyone who would see the jewel
Wouldn't they fall to sorrow in drink(?).
Your sort I have not seen yet
Oh, in the paths or roads where I go,
If you happened to be in Bellanamore
There would be young women for a penny.

Footnotes

Commentary

This song, 'Amhrán Pheadair Bhreathnaigh', is attributed to Peadar Breathnach, Glenfinn, county Donegal. Énrí Ó Muirgheasa published a version in Céad de cheoltaibh Uladh (Dublin, 1915), 65-7, 231-2, 333-5. It is a collated version, consisting of nine verses that were originally collected from Rose Gallagher, Dungloe, and Paidí Mac Pháidín, Rannafast, both county Donegal. According to Ó Muirgheasa: '[Breathnach] made many songs, but this is one of the best known. It describes an adventure of his to one of the western islands – Arranmore I believe – and his meeting with a very serious-minded young girl, who was quite willing to enter partnership with him provided he had a competence to support her. This was not a strong topic with Peter, and he was surprised at the difficulty of satisfying the damsel on this question of means. In the end the poet unguardedly made some reflections on the girls of Ballinamore near where he lived in Glenfinn. When the song became known in Ballinamore it raised a big storm, and Peter dare not appear at fair or market until he had made a song in praise of the girls of Ballinamore.' (Céad de cheoltaibh Uladh, Dublin, 231; new edition by T. F. Beausang: Énrí Ó Muireasa, Céad de cheolta Uladh, Newry, 1983). A version collected by Seán Ó Dúgáin, a pupil at Scoil Dhún Lúiche, from his mother, Maighréad Bean Mhic Aoidh, Glentornan, county Donegal, as part of the Irish Folklore Commission's Schools Collection in 1937-8, appears in Dónall Ó Baoill, Amach as ucht na sliabh: imleabhar 2 (Gaoth Dobhair, 1996), 92-4, 269-70.